• EU set to call for breakup of Google
    108 replies, posted
[quote] The European parliament is reportedly poised to call for a break-up of Google in a drastic escalation of Europe’s long-running antitrust case against the tech giant. A draft motion seen by the Financial Times, and expected to be agreed next week, calls for the “unbundling [of] search engines from other commercial services” as a potential solution to Google’s dominance of the search market in Europe. The European Commission has been investigating concerns that Google has abused its dominant position in search since 2010 and the dispute has become increasingly bitter. In September the EU’s incoming digital commissioner Günther Oettinger warned that any settlement with Google could “cement its strength in the market rather than diluting it”. German, French and Spanish politicians have attacked the company over a variety of issues including revelations from National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden and “right to be forgotten” legislation that allows people to delete information from search results. Joaquín Almunia, then the EU’s competition commissioner, rejected Google’s third attempt to settle the antitrust case in September after political support for the deal collapsed. He reopened the inquiry after “very, very negative” comments from complainants. His successor, Margrethe Vestager, has told the European Parliament she will “need some time to decide on the next steps” in the case. Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s economy minister and vice-chancellor, suggested a break-up of the company in May but suggested regulation was a better move. “We must give serious thought to the possibility of ‘unbundling’ the internet market, in a similar way to the electricity and gas networks,” Gabriel wrote in an op-ed published in German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The case against Google is being backed by rival Microsoft, which faced its own antitrust suits in the 1990s, German publisher Axel Springer and a host of smaller rivals that claim Google is squeezing them out of the market. [/quote] [url]http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/21/european-parliament-break-up-of-google[/url]
[QUOTE]German publisher Axel Springer and a host of smaller rivals that claim Google is squeezing them out of the market.[/QUOTE] To be honest, this is ridiculously true. There needs to be competition with google :\
Google hasn't done anything particularly bad that I'm sure a lot of other companies would do I don't really give a shit if they stay on top, monopolies are only bad if they're actually treating customers badly. Instead we get cheap fiber and unintrusive ads.
Just being very good at doing what you do isn't antitrust, that's like kicking out an athlete from a competition because he's way much better than everyone else. If you want to compete with google, you have to be better than google, simple as that.
I choose google because I like their service more. Oh no! Evil!
Think of the alternatives though [img]http://i.cubeupload.com/bQCt4y.jpg[/img] *shivers*
[QUOTE=hrak;46545394]Google hasn't done anything particularly bad that I'm sure a lot of other companies would do I don't really give a shit if they stay on top, monopolies are only bad if they're actually treating customers badly. Instead we get cheap fiber and unintrusive ads.[/QUOTE] thing is, google will invariably start doing shit sooner or later(and according to the complaints they are doing shit), because it's a matter of time till an asshole gets in charge, still hilarious that microsoft of all companies is backing this.
[QUOTE=joshuadim;46545385]To be honest, this is ridiculously true. There needs to be competition with google :\[/QUOTE] Google doesn't make a single product that doesn't have a competitor
Thing about the internet is, you can choose whichever website you want. This is nothing like gas, water, or electricity, as the antitrust movement states.
Very important to note that the European Parliament can't actually carry this out and AFAIK has basically no involvement in the process of breaking up a company
[QUOTE=joshuadim;46545385]To be honest, this is ridiculously true. There needs to be competition with google :\[/QUOTE] so do apple and microsoft not count or what
I use bing all the time now, so this is great. Maybe google will get off their arses and make google apps for windows phone.
[QUOTE=Skanic;46545461]I use bing all the time now, so this is great. Maybe google will get off their arses and make google apps for windows phone.[/QUOTE] "i prefer another service and since my service's competitor doesn't make apps for their competitors benefit, i think they should be crippled"
[QUOTE=bitches;46545396]I choose google because I like their service more. Oh no! Evil![/QUOTE] Now think beyond your personal case in isolation and maybe you'll see the situation changes dramatically for both competitors and users once you get to the big scale. Turns out, context is important.
[url]www.altavista.com[/url] [editline]22nd November 2014[/editline] shit, it's just yahoo
The problem is I Google weird shit like SteamIDs and use a bunch of "advanced" search keywords like site:example.com, and as far as I'm aware Google is the only search engine where that sort of thing works as I expect it to. [editline]21st November 2014[/editline] Just double checked, site:facepunch.com works on Bing, but "STEAM_0:1:18129285" doesn't pop up my profile as the first result
This is nothing more than the EU attempting to knee cap an American company. Google doesn't prevent anyone from using other search providers, it provides a [B]free[/B] service and at any point and time you can cease using it and migrate to a competitor. Secondly, Google was investigated by US anti-trust regulators and they came to the same conclusion and closed the case. Not to mention as far as anyone can tell the EU legally can't break Google up.
[QUOTE=joshuadim;46545385]To be honest, this is ridiculously true. There needs to be competition with google :\[/QUOTE] Microsoft is a pretty large competitor with Bing Though bitching about how established Google is, is like bitching about how established windows is.
[QUOTE=bitches;46545472]"i prefer another service and since my service's competitor doesn't make apps for their competitors benefit, i think they should be crippled"[/QUOTE] You sure are funny, didn't say i prefer it or anything i use bing mostly only google sometimes. And youtube is google as well. I didn't say they should be crippled, only spanked on ass.
[QUOTE=Marik Bentusi;46545499]Now think beyond your personal case in isolation and maybe you'll see the situation changes dramatically for both competitors and users once you get to the big scale. Turns out, context is important.[/QUOTE] What a loaded statement. You need to specify what you mean.
I'm willing to bet that if Google had it's way, the world will look like this 50 years from now: [t]http://pixartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/WALL-E-Buy-N-Large.jpg[/t]
[QUOTE=Cuel;46545509][url]www.altavista.com[/url] [editline]22nd November 2014[/editline] shit, it's just yahoo[/QUOTE] Which is powered by Bing.
[QUOTE=Skanic;46545620]You sure are funny, didn't say i prefer it or anything i use bing mostly only google sometimes. And youtube is google as well. I didn't say they should be crippled, only spanked on ass.[/QUOTE] Using one service much more often than another is the definition of preference. Breaking up a company as an antitrust action is crippling. but hurr hurr you are funny
[QUOTE=GoldenDargon;46545630]I'm willing to bet that if Google had it's way, the world will look like this 50 years from now: [t]http://pixartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/WALL-E-Buy-N-Large.jpg[/t][/QUOTE] That's true of pretty much every company ever though.
[QUOTE=Rufia;46545651]That's true of pretty much every company ever though.[/QUOTE] Yeah but it's more likely to happen with Google imo
-snip- damn title
No self-driving cars for the EU, then
[QUOTE=Vodkavia;46545389]But google is a benevolent corporation who could never do bad :rolleyes:[/QUOTE] I remember when FP actually was serious when they said this few years back.
[QUOTE=GoldenDargon;46545630]I'm willing to bet that if Google had it's way, the world will look like this 50 years from now: [t]http://pixartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/WALL-E-Buy-N-Large.jpg[/t][/QUOTE] Although not quite to [i]that[/i] scale, the web is close enough like this. Ever since I disabled any requests to Google services, countless sites have broken to an almost unusable state, including the ratings here. On the plus side, pages load much quicker thanks to the lack of YouTube videos loading. [editline]e[/editline] [url=https://duckduckgo.com/]Plus we have better search engines out there.[/url]
[QUOTE=hrak;46545394]Google hasn't done anything particularly bad that I'm sure a lot of other companies would do I don't really give a shit if they stay on top, monopolies are only bad if they're actually treating customers badly. Instead we get cheap fiber and unintrusive ads.[/QUOTE] That's because in a lot of ways you aren't google's customer. You're mostly a beneficiary to a lot of their stuff (isn't true for everything of course). Their customers on the other hand can easily feel issues with google. Like issues with payments, getting your site relisted and many other stuff
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