[GTALUG] Google is ruled a monopoly so Firefox is at serious risk

[Karen Lewellen]

Hi there,



On Tue, 13 Aug 2024, Dhaval Giani wrote:

>>
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Corporation
>
> At least wikipedia claims that Google pays Mozilla Corporation which is a
> taxable entity. I could have misread and misunderstood the article though.
Thanks for that link, most informative indeed.
The setup seems to be that  Mozilla corporation manages the commercial 
business, the things that would limit the foundation in terms of  funding, 
then turns around and reinvests all of the profits not consumed by 
business costs back to the foundation.
Someone should update those numbers, the percentage provided is from 
2006..and  Google is spending billions on  blocking their search engine 
competitors.
And,  basically, that is the problem.  Antitrust is rooted in the idea that 
a company with very deep pockets uses those pockets to prevent others in 
the same industry from reaching the market equally.
I note too that the click-through add process likely? means those doing ad 
business  with google are persuaded by numbers showing how much of the 
search engine market Google controls.
The point is that  Google is  not earning that  market share fairly, they 
are 
basically paying companies not to allow for any other default search 
options.
Consider how strongly that impacts even popular culture. How often you 
have come across the term search, with google, as in I googled to reach 
xYZ.
This is not about an end user's  ability to change their default search 
engines, it is about Google insuring that the first engine much of the 
market things of is google, by buying  others out of equal market 
consideration.
When i do a search for example, I can type
elinks www.duckduckgo.com
For the market to be reasonably balanced, any end user should be able to 
type the search engine wish, no default gui wise at all.  Certainly no 
need to manipulate that choice.
Speaking to the topic behind this thread,  Mozilla should be  able to 
negotiate  deals with others, and other companies should reasonably feel 
they have a fighting chance at some of the browser market.  How ever that 
might look.
The media coverage on this ruling touches on just how much money google was spending 
to   insure they were the default.
Yes, even tax exempt organizations stateside can, after a fashion, 
produce revenue outside of donations.
However, after a certain level that income becomes subject to taxes 
there.
Girl scout cookies are a simple example.  after a certain percentage, the 
money earned from sales is considered taxable.  it seems Mozilla is 
avoiding this limit by  having the corporation  as a separate subsidiary, 
with  that subsidiary  supporting the foundation's mission by reinvesting 
the profits back to them.

Kare




>
> Dhaval
>