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> Why big tech should fear Europe Big Tech decides regulations are too costly, leaves Europe completely European bureaucrats: suprised_pikachu.jpg But seriou

by jimmy1 8y ago

> Why big tech should fear Europe Big Tech decides regulations are too costly, leaves Europe completely European bureaucrats: suprised_pikachu.jpg But seriously, If this does happen I am sure the tech talent can rebuild what left, and that might be better overall for general prosperity, or it might not be, and the crippling cost of compliance shutters new growth. I guess we will soon enough figure out either way.

mk89 8y ago
> Big Tech decides regulations are too costly, leaves Europe completely That will never be the case as long as Europe has a functioning economy. Look at countries like China -> everyone (Google, Microsoft, Facebook...) wants to get in, although the price to pay is really high. These fines only affect small/medium sized companies that don't have a strong business in Europe, so it doesn't make any sense for them to get fined.
- sbacic 8y ago
  That's absolutely true. However, there is one thing that isn't mentioned nearly enough - not all European countries (markets?) get the same levels of service. For example, there is still no iTunes store in my country or Amazon Prime delivery. I can't even sell apps on the Google Play store because my country is not supported. And those are just the examples I can think of off the top of my head.
  - anoncake 8y ago
    The issue here is too little regulation. The EU really needs to outlaw discriminating against its member states.
    - sbacic 8y ago
      I'm not sure if you can do that - what you're essentially suggesting is that the EU forces companies to provide their services in certain EU members, whether it makes sense for them or not.
      - anoncake 8y ago
        Exactly. Forcing companies to do things that dont make sense for them is kind of the whole point of regulations.
- jimmy1 8y ago
  > price to pay is really high. I definitely agree and this is my main point: If Google or others have to fundamentally restructure their business model, or the cost of keeping up with the regulations outweighs the potential upside (and here cost includes all metrics: real cost, opportunity cost), then they will most definitely back out, scale down, offer a reduced service, or worst of all, charge for their software! -- gasp!
Teknoman117 8y ago
In 2011, 33% of all internet traffic went though Google hardware even if it wasn't destined for a Google service. With the rise of Azure, AWS, Compute Engine, etc., I can only imagine that number is a lot worse today. How seriously could the cloud companies cripple Europe's internet if they all banded together? If they were to block and European traffic though any device they owned...
- rocqua 8y ago
  There's a difference between not doing business in a country and sabotaging a country because it fined you.
- CharlesColeman 8y ago
  > How seriously could the cloud companies cripple Europe's internet if they all banded together? If they were to block and European traffic though any device they owned... That sounds a lot like an internet blockade...and blockades are acts of war: https://www.britannica.com/topic/blockade-warfare https://www.britannica.com/topic/blockade-warfare I'm sure the US Government would have something to say to companies that decided to wage a kind of private war on allied nations.
  - oaiey 8y ago
    It is not the government which will intervene but the thousand of companies relying on the cloud vendors. Europe is in average 10% of the world market (just by people).
- pjc50 8y ago
  Well, this would result in them losing a lot of income, being fined heavily, losing all their European staff, capital writeoffs from their European datacentres, and would absolutely guarantee replacement European services appearing.
- Hamuko 8y ago
  Well, hopefully none of Google's stakeholders live or own anything in Europe if they were planning to do that.
hugi 8y ago
As a European I'm perfectly fine with predatory corporations and business practices being outlawed. I'm just grateful for having a government that has my back.
- jimmy1 8y ago
  > I'm just grateful for having a government that has my back Oh sweet summer child... They will chase away all these "predatory" corporations, and then you are left with staggering numbers of youth unemployment. It's been on average what now, in the range of 20-25% for years now? In some member countries north of 40% like my native land. If anything the EU should be relaxing regulations to encourage more business growth. There are simply not enough jobs.

by jimmy1 8y ago

mk89 8y ago

> Big Tech decides regulations are too costly, leaves Europe completely That will never be the case as long as Europe has a functioning economy. Look at countries like China -> everyone (Google, Microsoft, Facebook...) wants to get in, although the price to pay is really high. These fines only affect small/medium sized companies that don't have a strong business in Europe, so it doesn't make any sense for them to get fined.

sbacic 8y ago
That's absolutely true. However, there is one thing that isn't mentioned nearly enough - not all European countries (markets?) get the same levels of service. For example, there is still no iTunes store in my country or Amazon Prime delivery. I can't even sell apps on the Google Play store because my country is not supported. And those are just the examples I can think of off the top of my head.
- anoncake 8y ago
  The issue here is too little regulation. The EU really needs to outlaw discriminating against its member states.
  - sbacic 8y ago
    I'm not sure if you can do that - what you're essentially suggesting is that the EU forces companies to provide their services in certain EU members, whether it makes sense for them or not.
    - anoncake 8y ago
      Exactly. Forcing companies to do things that dont make sense for them is kind of the whole point of regulations.
jimmy1 8y ago
> price to pay is really high. I definitely agree and this is my main point: If Google or others have to fundamentally restructure their business model, or the cost of keeping up with the regulations outweighs the potential upside (and here cost includes all metrics: real cost, opportunity cost), then they will most definitely back out, scale down, offer a reduced service, or worst of all, charge for their software! -- gasp!

Teknoman117 8y ago

In 2011, 33% of all internet traffic went though Google hardware even if it wasn't destined for a Google service. With the rise of Azure, AWS, Compute Engine, etc., I can only imagine that number is a lot worse today. How seriously could the cloud companies cripple Europe's internet if they all banded together? If they were to block and European traffic though any device they owned...

rocqua 8y ago
There's a difference between not doing business in a country and sabotaging a country because it fined you.
CharlesColeman 8y ago
> How seriously could the cloud companies cripple Europe's internet if they all banded together? If they were to block and European traffic though any device they owned... That sounds a lot like an internet blockade...and blockades are acts of war: https://www.britannica.com/topic/blockade-warfare https://www.britannica.com/topic/blockade-warfare I'm sure the US Government would have something to say to companies that decided to wage a kind of private war on allied nations.
- oaiey 8y ago
  It is not the government which will intervene but the thousand of companies relying on the cloud vendors. Europe is in average 10% of the world market (just by people).
pjc50 8y ago
Well, this would result in them losing a lot of income, being fined heavily, losing all their European staff, capital writeoffs from their European datacentres, and would absolutely guarantee replacement European services appearing.
Hamuko 8y ago
Well, hopefully none of Google's stakeholders live or own anything in Europe if they were planning to do that.

hugi 8y ago

As a European I'm perfectly fine with predatory corporations and business practices being outlawed. I'm just grateful for having a government that has my back.

jimmy1 8y ago
> I'm just grateful for having a government that has my back Oh sweet summer child... They will chase away all these "predatory" corporations, and then you are left with staggering numbers of youth unemployment. It's been on average what now, in the range of 20-25% for years now? In some member countries north of 40% like my native land. If anything the EU should be relaxing regulations to encourage more business growth. There are simply not enough jobs.