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OpenAI's move to allow generating "Ghibly stlye" images isn't just a cute PR stunt. It is an expression of dominance and the will to reject and refuse democratic values. It is a display of power (tante.cc)

submitted 5 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I agree on the double standard. I also think there's an element of Cory Doctorow's point that "it's not a crime of we do it with an app."

Running an unlicensed taxi service or hotel business? No no we're not criminals, we're disrupting stagnant markets!

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/25/potatotrac/

It's basically a blanket pass for tech bros to bend and break laws

[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 days ago (1 children)

But they don't have to rely on personal connections to rig the price of potatoes: they do it through a third-party data-broker called Potatotrac. Each cartel member sends all their commercially sensitive data – supply costs, pricing, sales figures – to Potatotrac, and then Potatotrac uses that data to give "advice" to the cartel members about "optimal pricing."

This is the real sick stuff, same with RealPage. They're just offering a service that could allow the businesses they serve to collude, but because they're just doing it through a third party service it's suddenly not collusion.

Doctorow pretty spot on as usual. I'm glad he's come a long way, because I actually kind of disliked his writing on Boing Boing in the early 2000's because he often got some simple facts wrong. He's much more thorough and rigorous now.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago

This kind of price-fixing was central to the enforcement actions of the Biden administration's trustbusters at the FTC, and their investigations and actions inspired state AGs and private parties to bring their own antitrust suits.

Saddest part of that article. We had someone trying to end this shit, and you brainwashed fuckers hated him for it.