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Unjust enrichment of disgusting bureaucrats. In this case, google did nothing wrong other than display what they want on their own site, and for that they have

by Kenji 9y ago

Unjust enrichment of disgusting bureaucrats. In this case, google did nothing wrong other than display what they want on their own site, and for that they have to pay their hard earned money to an undemocratic authoritarian commission. No thanks.

calcifer 9y ago
Yeah, no. The fine is not paid to any commission, it goes to the EU budget and is taken off from the amount member states (hence, citizens) have to pay for that year.
johngruber 9y ago
Companies are free to do (or not) business wherever they want; they must follow the rules and regulations. We just have stronger laws and regulations about monopolies in Europe and apparently Google is ignoring them. Then it has to be fined to comply the rules as it makes sense. A similar thing is going on with the food. We have a more strict regulation, and there was some talks about deregulating it to do more business with USA; however this would in practical terms mean lowering the quality of our food. Of course everyone complained! The same is going on with the internet.
simion314 9y ago
So Google should have the right if they want show the results they prefer and hide or push on 10th page results that may affect their profits? As an example say I have a very popular source code hosting or email service, so popular that is on top search results on all other search engine but in Google search is hidden intentionally, that seems fair to you and not an abuse of a search service to promote unrelated products? Would it be still be fair if Google would have deals like pay me X and you will be on front page, pay me Y and your competitor is not on front page, it is Google service so they can show anything they want.
zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 9y ago
Yeah, and if I am scamming you, I have just said what I want out of my own mouth, makes sense.
jamesbrownjr 9y ago
"Survival of the fittest" does not scale to society level. The EU tries to regulate the market to allow more participants to profit from it. This strive for a less divided population is probably a reason why right-wing populist (or "undemocratic authoritarian") parties don't appeal to a majority in EU countries.
ionised 9y ago
> In this case, google did nothing wrong Well that's just factually incorrect isn't it?

by Kenji 9y ago

calcifer 9y ago

Yeah, no. The fine is not paid to any commission, it goes to the EU budget and is taken off from the amount member states (hence, citizens) have to pay for that year.

johngruber 9y ago

Companies are free to do (or not) business wherever they want; they must follow the rules and regulations. We just have stronger laws and regulations about monopolies in Europe and apparently Google is ignoring them. Then it has to be fined to comply the rules as it makes sense. A similar thing is going on with the food. We have a more strict regulation, and there was some talks about deregulating it to do more business with USA; however this would in practical terms mean lowering the quality of our food. Of course everyone complained! The same is going on with the internet.

simion314 9y ago

So Google should have the right if they want show the results they prefer and hide or push on 10th page results that may affect their profits? As an example say I have a very popular source code hosting or email service, so popular that is on top search results on all other search engine but in Google search is hidden intentionally, that seems fair to you and not an abuse of a search service to promote unrelated products? Would it be still be fair if Google would have deals like pay me X and you will be on front page, pay me Y and your competitor is not on front page, it is Google service so they can show anything they want.

zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 9y ago

Yeah, and if I am scamming you, I have just said what I want out of my own mouth, makes sense.

jamesbrownjr 9y ago

"Survival of the fittest" does not scale to society level. The EU tries to regulate the market to allow more participants to profit from it. This strive for a less divided population is probably a reason why right-wing populist (or "undemocratic authoritarian") parties don't appeal to a majority in EU countries.

ionised 9y ago

> In this case, google did nothing wrong Well that's just factually incorrect isn't it?