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Posted by D Sherman on Wednesday, September 03, 2008 at 20:09:01 :
In Reply to: i agree to a certain extent... but posted by mannyc on Tuesday, September 02, 2008 at 15:09:01 :
I understand what you're saying about not wanting government regulation, but these high tech companies can only exist BECAUSE OF government regulation. They're given a monopoly on their software, data format, business models, etc by the patent and copyright laws. Did you know ebay even has a patent on the "buy it now" button? If it wasn't for government protection, I could open a site that was exactly like ebay except without the BS, and there's nothing they could do to stop me. It's not like, say, the coal business, where anybody with a coal mine can start selling coal. When companies like ebay and microsoft can only make money due to government protection via patent and copyright laws, I think it's quite reasonable for that same government to keep the market open to free competition.