I think there are different sets of “we” that you might be addressing the question to. The instinct to use government is understandable, but without an understanding of what is actually monopolized, it’s unlikely to be effective. Note also that the network effect is a recognition of a whole lot of value being created, at least some of which is NOT captured by the monopoly. Simply reducing the effect (by limitation or forced disaggregation) could easily hurt consumers a lot, in addition to hurting the monopolist.
For some values, forced interoperability (published least-common-denominator APIs and specifications) can help, but they’re slow and the providers are very well trained in how to extend them to preserve their value-add in protected(monopolistic) ways.
And the fundamental network-effect value is _very_ hard to open up. That value is identity/addressing. The exact right balance of (feeling of) privacy and accessibility is fragile and not very portable.
I think there are different sets of “we” that you might be addressing the question to. The instinct to use government is understandable, but without an understanding of what is actually monopolized, it’s unlikely to be effective. Note also that the network effect is a recognition of a whole lot of value being created, at least some of which is NOT captured by the monopoly. Simply reducing the effect (by limitation or forced disaggregation) could easily hurt consumers a lot, in addition to hurting the monopolist.
For some values, forced interoperability (published least-common-denominator APIs and specifications) can help, but they’re slow and the providers are very well trained in how to extend them to preserve their value-add in protected(monopolistic) ways.
And the fundamental network-effect value is _very_ hard to open up. That value is identity/addressing. The exact right balance of (feeling of) privacy and accessibility is fragile and not very portable.