Tax really is a good word for it. When you basically have a monopoly on or just act as gatekeeper to something and there is no market and no real competition the fee and profits you are making is basically taxation.
OSs kinda also act like natural monopolies because of software compatibility. People tend to gravitate towards the option that has most software support for ease of use. Windows should either be taken over by taken over by international bodies to be handled as global commons (of which I seen never happening) or it should be replaced with a open OS like Linux. Same could be said with social media, because it’s equally removed to have the agoras used by the public as a profiteering tool for capitalists who abuse their power and leech from their monopoly, when the user base is the only thing that gives a platform any value.
Add digital identification and payment to that list. As society is going cash-less we’ve got to depend on privately owned proprietary software to do shopping, banking, taxes, to use public transport, and to access healthcare. There are a few different companies providing digital IDs here, but none of them have a client that runs on Linux. Their mobile apps require either an iPhone or Android with Google Play Services.
Tax really is a good word for it. When you basically have a monopoly on or just act as gatekeeper to something and there is no market and no real competition the fee and profits you are making is basically taxation.
OSs kinda also act like natural monopolies because of software compatibility. People tend to gravitate towards the option that has most software support for ease of use. Windows should either be taken over by taken over by international bodies to be handled as global commons (of which I seen never happening) or it should be replaced with a open OS like Linux. Same could be said with social media, because it’s equally removed to have the agoras used by the public as a profiteering tool for capitalists who abuse their power and leech from their monopoly, when the user base is the only thing that gives a platform any value.
Add digital identification and payment to that list. As society is going cash-less we’ve got to depend on privately owned proprietary software to do shopping, banking, taxes, to use public transport, and to access healthcare. There are a few different companies providing digital IDs here, but none of them have a client that runs on Linux. Their mobile apps require either an iPhone or Android with Google Play Services.