Where is the FTC?
Since the launch of the new iTunes store, there have been stories published by major newspapers that Wall-Mart has been threatening the movie industry with retaliation if they signed a distribution deal with Apple. This story has some credibility as it is well known that Wall-Mart controls 40% of the DVD retail market and they are probably less than thrilled at the idea of losing it. The question here is where is the Federal Trade Commission, which is responsible to protect free trade in the U.S. A simple announcement that they would take a look into this matter would have been more than enough to scare Wall-Mart and have them back-down. Instead, it has been the reaction of the users of the Internet that has prompted Wall-Mart to issue a denial of the accusations. Meanwhile the FTC has continued ignoring the story. This proves that once again, big business is not really threatened by the FTC, but we already knew that. In the monopoly suit against Microsoft it was the States that carried the burden of the lawsuit, not the Federal Government. It is clear to me that the FTC is not working and that something needs to be done in order to fix it.