Keldon Bester

exec director @monopolyproject
board member @cinemaincanada
fellow @CIGIOnline
previously @CompBureau @openmarkets

[Keldon Bester @KeldonB]

Good to see the link between privacy protection and surveillance pricing made in Canada's AI strategy. Feds and the provinces both have a role in fair pricing.

[Luther Lowe @lutherlowe]

The threat isn't AI - it's three companies owning AI. The answer isn't to freeze it or nationalize it. It's to break it open so 10,000 startups can build on it.

[Keldon Bester @KeldonB]

I wonder if its time for the U.S. to set up a Department for Agriculture

[Blake Allen @Blake_Allen13]

Screwworms coming back into the U.S. cattle herd/stock is going to potentially devastate the industry and jack up meat prices. Worst part is, this was preventable. Trump & DOGE pushed funding cuts on/destroyed agencies that were directly responsible for fighting this pest

[asad ramzanali @asad09]

We need rules to protect fair competition when vendors compete with their customers. https://t.co/g9BBiEVoSx

[David Eaves @daeaves]

Really excited about our new report on Competition and the Cloud. There are no easy solutions to this problem, but there are tools at our disposal to increase agency for the public and private sector.

[Fighting Fascism Podcast @FightFascismPod]

"A monopoly is a mini-dictator over an industry. And if you have enough mini-dictators over industries, then you stop living in a free society." @matthewstoller explains why monopolies aren't just an economic problem -- they're an alternative and antidemocratic political system.

[Keldon Bester @KeldonB]

Important article on the proposed acquisition of Cboe by TMX. Regulators need to block this harmful transaction and create an environment where new entrants can mount a serious challenge.

https://t.co/YpbCoioslX

[Evan Swarztrauber @SayreEvan]

Americans' trust in technology companies has been on the decline for years.

[James Rosen-Birch ⚖️🕊️ @provisionalidea]

It’s not a comms problem, true; it IS a “you used public policy channels as a way to inflate your valuations at the cost of panicking the public and are now reaping what you sowed” problem

[The Globe and Mail @globeandmail]

Three U.S. tech giants hold 85% of Canadian cloud market, report warns https://t.co/C2oh8INwAQ

[Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project @monopolyproject]

Canada's compute market is dominated by American hyperscalers, risking competition and sovereignty. But swapping foreign monopolies for domestic ones is no solution.

Check out CAMP's new report, Parting Clouds, on what the right path forward looks like
https://t.co/t3Dowveaqh

[Keldon Bester @KeldonB]

Well at least anxiety appears to have plateaued

[Evan Swarztrauber @SayreEvan]

Interesting piece on how the AI startups meant to disrupt Big Tech incumbents are dependent on those very same tech giants for investment, cloud services, and compute.

Given the potential antitrust implications, the FTC opened inquiries into "AI partnerships."

[Matt Stoller @matthewstoller]

Turns out targeted advertising has allowed Iran to target U.S. troops by buying data on where they are. https://t.co/7eOzX2xvkD

[Keldon Bester @KeldonB]

"40 per cent of Canadians oppose prediction markets... with 26 per cent who favour permitting them... But even those who support the platforms called for strict regulations."
https://t.co/ypr5q15u0R

[Keldon Bester @KeldonB]

"Without far-reaching change, the government, farmers and consumers will be doomed to fight an endless battle against corporate combines. Consumers will keep paying too much, and farmers will continue to get too little."
https://t.co/ySHi9lFIbn

[ron knox @ronmknox]

“you hate it but you have to be on it” is a much better definition of a monopoly than any arbitrary market share

[Nathan Proctor @nProctor]

great thread on the case, which PIRG also submitted an Amicus in regards to.

This conduct is unfortunately pretty common -- and not just in the medical industry. Printer companies do the same to reprocessed ink cartridges. However, the consequences in medicine are dire.

[Keldon Bester @KeldonB]

Probably unrelated.

[Investigative Journalism Foundation @IJFMedia]

The Boys and Girls Club of Canada pulled out of a coalition advocating for the government to regulate tech companies weeks before it announced a funding deal with Google.

https://t.co/FjStFeNt8Y

[Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project @monopolyproject]

4 years into Canada's cost-of-living crisis, grocery bills are still climbing and global disruptions mean more is on the way.

Canadians need grocery markets that work for them. In a new brief, CAMP lays out what governments at all levels can do about it🛒
https://t.co/GX7nihDmXo