Speakers: Jenny Hawkins, Associate Professor of Economics, Weatherhead School of Management, CWRU, in conversation with Anet Alon-Beck, Associate Professor, School of Law, CWRU.

Google, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft are the 4 most valuable American companies and 4 of the top 5 most valuable companies in the world. More than 90% of all search queries are performed via Google. Microsoft controls 70% of the world’s computer operating systems with 6 billion computers running Windows.   Apple controls 55% of US smartphone sales and its App Store contains 2.18 million apps for download.  Amazon has 39% of the US e-commerce market, and delivers over 4.75 billion US packages per year. 

If these tech companies control most of the world’s information and own the digital space, what’s the effect on our communities, personal lives or the internet? How can competition be regulated? The Justice Department has an ongoing anti-trust suit against Google. What will be the future of the internet or our dependency on it?