Hacker News Reader

The end goal here is to force everyone to make a google account. Right now, we can get around it with Aurora Store etc, but with this, which WILL become the default, mark my words, google is attempting to close the lock.

They are using their monopolistic position to force everyone to do business with them. If that's not illegal, it should be.

View on HN

This is a really good observation!

Now that you point it out - it's very similar to what Microsoft has been doing with Windows for the past few years - pushing users harder and harder to create accounts in order to use Windows (by leveraging their monopoly). Hardware vs software, sure, but similar principle.

Regulation is a sharp knife that is hard to wield properly, but we're well past the point of needing it here.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com