Techtonic with Mark Hurst | WFMU Milestones for Big Tech... and Techtonic from Sep 8, 2025
Sep 8, 2025
The host reflects on eight years of the show, highlighting milestones and community support. A deep dive into Google's antitrust challenges reveals concerns about its market dominance. The discussion extends to tech giants' influence in politics, particularly a controversial White House dinner with CEOs. Ethical considerations around Big Tech’s power are examined, alongside humorous takes on personal style and creativity. The excitement for a new music schedule is palpable, bringing in fresh sounds to the mix.
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Eight Years Of Independent Tech Critique
- Mark Hurst marks Tectonic's eighth anniversary and 377 episodes as a milestone for independent tech critique.
- He frames the show's aim as truth-telling about technology's harms and rising concentration of power.
Search Monopoly Enables Mass Surveillance
- Mark Hurst states the court found Google a monopoly in search and links that power to pervasive surveillance and monetization of user data.
- He argues this asymmetry is ethically wrong and underlies degraded search quality and exploitative practices.
Default Deals Lock In Dominance
- Hurst highlights Google's annual payments to Apple (reported ~$20 billion) as a tactic to remain the default and block competition.
- He claims this payment shows Google needs bribes to maintain users despite declining product quality.