Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 20/07/2026My latest Op-Ed: If lawmakers want to stop "surveillance pricing," they should ban personalized price increases -- not personalized discounts. MD and CT got that balance right, but NY and NJ risk raising families costs. www.northjersey.com/story/opini... 100
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 20/07/2026I was out last week when this new thing ⬇️ launched, but it looks like at least 80% of @LittleTechOrg's members are just @ycombinator portfolio companies. It's YC's portfolio, repackaged as a "trade association." Presumably YC is picking up the costs. x.com/LittleTechO... 010
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 15/12/2025I'm not a fan of most of what Trump is doing, but one thing his Admin has gotten right is standing up for US workers and businesses against Europe's blatant discrimination. Europe would cry foul too if we did this to them. x.com/adamkovac/s... 030
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 15/12/2025The DMA has been such a disaster for Europeans that you'd think other countries would steer clear of it. Unfortunately, EU bureaucrats spend a lot of time and $ traveling around the world evangelizing their regulations to other countries - in order to validate the EU's approach. 120
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 15/12/2025EU officials like to think of themselves as insulated from public opinion. But a survey of 5000 European consumers found that a majority of people are finding search and travel booking harder post-DMA. www.nextradegroupllc.com/impact-of-t... 100
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 15/12/2025This was entirely predictable, because advocates (including @ProgressChamber) warned about it at the time. But EU officials dismissed the likely negative effects - and are still denying them. x.com/KayJebelli/... 100
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 15/12/2025My colleagues @KayJebelli @hopelledford published a report calling the DMA "Europe's Digital Curtain." The DMA was touted as a catalyst for Euro innovation. But its effect has been the opposite: turning Europeans into second-class digital citizens. thedigitalcurtain.eu/thedigitalcurtain.euEurope's Digital Curtain - Chamber of ProgressTouted as a catalyst for European innovation and competition, the Digital Markets Act has done the opposite: isolating European consumers from the full potential of the digital age. 100
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 15/12/2025The @JudiciaryGOP is holding a hearing Tuesday looking at how Europe's discriminatory Digital Markets Act is spreading around the world. The DMA has resulted in: - Degraded services for European consumers - Less safe apps - Some apps not even launching judiciary.house.gov/committee-a...judiciary.house.govAnti-American Antitrust: How Foreign Governments Target U.S. Businesses | House Judiciary Committee Republicans 120
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 15/12/2025It makes sense that rideshare costs more in higher-cost-of-living cities. But four US cities in particular - Las Vegas, L.A., Seattle, and NYC - vastly exceed even the rideshare costs you would expect to see in those cities. medium.com/uber-under-... 030
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 10/12/2025My colleague @DaveV15's new post shares new voter polling that contradicts @revolvingdoorDC's anti-business purity tests. Normie voters like and value people w/ business experience serving in presidential administrations. pub.bluehorizonproject.org/p/voters-wa...pub.bluehorizonproject.orgIgnore the Revolving Door Project. Voters Want Business Leaders in the AdministrationI view the Biden Administration staffing choices as an absolutely vital part of understanding the relationship between Democrats and the technology community. 010
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 10/12/2025It's true that Dem partisans tend to prefer Admin officials drawn from govt, unions, academia, or nonprofits. But independent swing voters consider a biz background as the most positive attribute an appointee could have. The next Dem prez should appoint businesspeople. 120
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 10/12/2025Link: pub.bluehorizonproject.org/p/voters-wa...pub.bluehorizonproject.orgIgnore the Revolving Door Project. Voters Want Business Leaders in the AdministrationI view the Biden Administration staffing choices as an absolutely vital part of understanding the relationship between Democrats and the technology community. 000
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 10/12/2025The @revolvingdoorDC's whole schtick is to bully Democrats into stocking their Admins with only people from academia, nonprofits, and govt - and blocking business people. But voters *like* that business people will help presidents grow the economy. 110
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 10/12/2025It's a real upside-down moment when Republicans are siding with Pornhub. But they like @JohnJamesMI' ASAA bill too. 110
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 10/12/2025...Because it puts responsibility back on them. But unlike Meta's bill, POPA respects minors' privacy, covers virtual reality and the open web, and is bipartisan. x.com/RepAuchincl... 120
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 10/12/2025This ⬇️ is the project that Meta created and funded to advance app store legislation to: - Hurt its rivals Google and Apple; - Shift liability from itself to app stores; & - Move from defense to offense That's also why it hates @JakeAuch's POPA bill... x.com/DigiChildAl... 120
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 12/11/2025Wu and Doctorow see themselves as speaking up for people against elites. But their disdain for consumers' agency and judgment couldn't be more elite. Tech consumers aren’t NPCs. They’re informed, adaptive, and vocal. Link: progresschamber.org/insights/ti...progresschamber.orgTim Wu and Cory Doctorow’s NPCs: Non-Player Consumers: - Chamber of ProgressIn video games, non-player characters (NPCs) are coded to advance the plot by dutifully delivering their scripted lines, oblivious to what’s happening around 000
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 12/11/2025MY LATEST: @superwuster and @doctorow's new books claim to defend consumers -- but they're really looking down on them. They treat people like NPCs: Non-Player Consumers. Passive, duped victims of Big Tech. That says more about Wu & Doctorow than it does about tech. 110
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 05/11/2025This was a huge mistake, which deprived the Biden admin of connections to, and intel from, the US economy's most important companies. It happened b/c Biden's senior staff didn't send a clear signal to talk with industry. My colleague @DaveV15 with more: pub.bluehorizonproject.org/p/warren-sc...pub.bluehorizonproject.orgHow Elizabeth Warren Scared the Biden Administration Into Not Meeting with Tech LeadersWhen California Governor Gavin Newsom sent prepaid “burner” cell phones to roughly 100 top executives of California-headquartered companies, he was not simply distributing novelty gifts. 010
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 05/11/2025One of the things I hear a lot from tech co's is that they don't love everything Trump is doing, but they genuinely appreciate that they can get a meeting w/ his staff. In contast, Biden's WH ended up adopting @SenWarren's view that Dems should never meet with companies. 120
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 31/10/2025It's silly to me that Dayen says we're a "front" group. Since I founded the group in 2021 we have listed our corporate partners on our website. Wow, a real gotcha there. x.com/ddayen/stat... 000
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 31/10/2025And of course, we didn't ask Trump to "block" lawsuits - he can't do that. But the Administration can file amicus briefs to express its view - just like the Biden DOJ in the Epic v. Apple antitrust case. 100
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 31/10/2025Dayen's article is the perfect encapsulation of how the "anti-monopolists" are really just "anti-big tech", and how they will reject pro-competition principles in order to stick it to Google and Meta. prospect.org/2025/10/31/...prospect.org‘Progressive’ Tech Group Asks Trump to Block AI Copyright Cases - The American ProspectThe Chamber of Progress’s campaign to promote fair use, which they have created a campaign around called “Generate and Create,” comes as at least three of the nonprofit organization’s past or current backers are being sued over copyright claims. 110
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 31/10/2025A masks-off moment for the "anti-monopolists" when they side with Hollywood studio monopoly rights over fair use -- a pro-competition legal principle that helps AI startups compete vs incumbents. Weaken fair use and you only entrench Big Tech 🤷♂️ x.com/ddayen/stat... 100
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 08/10/2025The most galling thing about this "movement" is that it claims to speak for consumers when it's actually disdainful of consumers' choices. Because millions of consumers are choosing "obviously" awful co's like Amazon & Google, consumers must be clueless! Ivory tower populism. 010
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 08/10/2025It's no wonder that the anti-corporate populist crowd love "Enshittification." It endorses their world view that consumers are ignorant and unable to choose alternatives, and that technology markets are static with no new entrants or innovation. x.com/ChopraUSA/s... 100
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 08/10/2025In Doctorow's world, an unhappy Amazon user is incapable of shopping at Target or Walmart. An unhappy Google search is incapable of using ChatGPT. And yet, Doctorow himself promotes decentralized alternatives to Twitter... x.com/doctorow/st... 100
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 08/10/2025And Doctorow's "policy solutions" are all deeply anti-consumer ideas that would raise prices for consumers, and force Amazon packages to be delivered less slowly. That would all make Amazon's alleged "enshittification" worse! 100
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 08/10/2025220M people worldwide belong to Amazon Prime, but Doctorow can't imagine that people actually value the service. In his view, all it sells is "low-quality, high-priced junk." Apparently those 220M people are mindless idiots, incapable of assessing the true value of Prime. 100
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 08/10/2025In Doctorow's world, consumers aren't choosy - they're fools. They stand by idly while services and products get worse, without pursuing alternatives. If they still like the service, they're "prisoners of neoliberal mind palace." x.com/doctorow/st... 100
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 08/10/2025Cory Doctorow's @doctorow"Enshittification" really ought to have been called "Ensheepification." It claims to be pro-consumer, but in truth it perpetuates an elite view of consumers as mindless sheep incapable of judging quality/value for themselves. x.com/linamkhan/s... 110
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 26/09/2025Angwin developed an acute case of Google Derangement Syndrome years ago, which looks increasingly out of touch with the competitive Internet of today as well as the AI revolution. This op-ed reads like something from ten years ago - not at all relevant today. 000
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 26/09/20255. Congress should impose mandatory data sharing b/c Google is too vulnerable to govt's whims. Does Angwin really believe smaller companies are *more* likely to withstand Trump pressure? 100
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 26/09/20254. We need new rival search engines - for shopping, scholarly papers, and custom news search I suggest Angwin check out: Shopping → Amazon Scholarly papers → JSTOR, SSRN Custom news search → ChatGPT This all exists already. 100
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 26/09/20253. Angwin: Courts should break up Google bc Trump is trying to censor speech Reality: DOJ antitrust head Gail Slater argued that Google should be broken up *because* she didn't like the way it had allegedly censored conservatives! Of course, the case was never *about* speech 100
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 26/09/2025The LLM Leaderboard ranking the quality of LLMs doesn't even put Google's Gemini in the top 10! artificialanalysis.ai/leaderboard... 100
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 26/09/20252. Angwin: "Even the best AI models can't compete without regular access to Google's search index." Tell that to OpenAI, Meta (Llama), and Anthropic. AI models are a lot more complicated than just access to a web search index. And 100
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 26/09/2025I wrote about this in @Newsweek: if you don't want Trump overseeing Google's search results (and I don't), be glad Judge Mehta rejected the DOJ's proposed technical committee that would have done exactly that: www.newsweek.com/trump-bendi...newsweek.comTrump Wants To Control Google's Search Results | OpinionPresident Donald Trump stands to gain unprecedented influence over the world's most powerful information tool. 100
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 26/09/20251. Angwin worries that the remedy opens door for the Trump Admin to start pressuring Google on search results. But Trump has already been doing that, just like Biden Admin did before him. But the technical cmte Trump's DOJ was seeking in the G case would have gone further! 100
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 26/09/2025NYT's @JuliaAngwin has a new piece out on the Google search case, long on Google panic and short on facts and reality. A few things that jumped out... 🧵 110
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 02/09/20255. The original liability finding will be appealed, and it’s likely that these remedies will also be put on hold until those appeals are exhausted. So Google is unlikely to be required to adopt these changes soon - and maybe never, if it wins its appeal. 010
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 02/09/20254. Google can’t do exclusive search distribution deals, but it can still pay for non-exclusive deals. Google will have to adopt a ballot screen on Chrome and its own hardware, and can incentivize its partners to do the same. 100
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 02/09/20253. Biggest thing here is Google being forced to hand over its search index to help rival search engines. Google must share a list of "ingredients"(search index), not "recipes" (how they rank based on it). And it excludes the Knowledge Graph and sponsored shopping results. 100
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 02/09/20252. Mehta spent 29 pages of his ruling discussing how competitive the AI space has become, and how that threatens traditional search engines. It’s a reminder of how competitive innovation is a hare to antitrust law's tortoise. x.com/Sherman1890... 100
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 02/09/2025That led him to reject a slew of far-reaching proposals, including: - the breakup of Google - divestiture of Chrome and Android - a proposed campaign by Google to educate consumers on alternative search engines - sharing of user queries/clicks - remedies for website publishers. 100
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 02/09/2025In rejecting Google critics' fantastical remedies, his ruling today cited the MSFT precedent nine different times: Remedies must be “tailored to fit the wrong creating the occasion for the remedy.” 100
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 02/09/2025Takeaways on the Google search antitrust remedies: 1. Longtime Google haters wanted Judge Mehta to throw the book at Google. But he was mindful of the precedent from the Microsoft case. 🧵 x.com/nytimes/sta... 101
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 31/08/2025Link: unherd.com/2025/08/lin...unherd.comLina Khan: Woke and anti-woke serve Big Business 000
Adam Kovacevich @adamkovac.bsky.social · 31/08/2025It wasn't that Bidenomics or anti-corporate populism failed, Khan says. It's that they needed more time to unwind neoliberalism. The self-delusion runs deep. This was a political and policy dead-end that Dems need to chuck for good. 210
