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This is called a "capital strike" and it is an attack on national sovereignty. A mere dictatorially run company can tell an entire democracy what to do?
by tehjoker 6y ago
This is called a "capital strike" and it is an attack on national sovereignty. A mere dictatorially run company can tell an entire democracy what to do?
- missedthecue 6y agoShould Australia be able to force US companies to do what they want?
- lvs 6y agoWithin their jurisdiction? Yes absolutely. That's call the rule of law.
- Silhouette 6y agoOne interesting possibility here would be if Google closed down all Australia-based operations -- no more offices, no legal presence, no employees -- and offered its services to Australians purely over the Internet from somewhere else. At that point, Google wouldn't necessarily be within Australia's jurisdiction any more, and all Australia could really do would be either attempt to block access to Google services that was desired by its citizens (and look like China Lite) or attempt to exert some form of leverage on the host nation(s) from which Google was then offering its services (and since that list would presumably start with the US and possibly be followed by lots of places that want to do business with the US, good luck with that one).
- asdfasgasdgasdg 6y agoBut Google won't be in their jurisdiction any more, right? So everything is working as it should? Not a capital strike on democracy. Simply Google and Australia deciding to go their separate ways.
- missedthecue 6y agoI think that's called slavery. I'm not talking about having rules. I'm talking about forcing them to work and continue to provide services when they don't want to.
- lvs 6y agoI certainly don't think anyone is forcing Google to do business in any country or anywhere on earth.
- missedthecue 6y agoThe parent comment I initially replied to seemed to lament that this wasn't occurring.
- lvs 6y agoI think you either misunderstand the comment or the concept of sovereignty. If you live or do business in a country's sovereign territory, you fall under the jurisdiction and authority of their laws. If you don't live or work there, then you don't.
- Fordec 6y agoWell flip that around for a second to step beyond the US focused bias and see if the logic still holds up. Should the US be able to force Chinese companies to do what the US wants?
- MattGaiser 6y agoYes, but the Chinese companies also have the right to withdraw services based on the rules imposed on them.
- Silhouette 6y agoA mere dictatorially run company can tell an entire democracy what to do? To be fair, Big Media have been doing something not unlike that for generations, as have big businesses in numerous other industries through various forms of lobbying, regulatory capture and revolving door politics. It's not as if Big Tech getting in on the act is a unique or original move. Not that this necessarily makes it any better, of course. One interesting potential difference this time is that in a very direct way, Google are only strong enough to make this strategy work if they have a lot of popular support for their services continuing to operate, which is another way of saying that their services are providing a significant public benefit and possibly they have a point. If their services aren't all that and competitors can readily step in to provide a similar value to society, as various comments here have already suggested, then this strategy by Google is doomed to fail and will also leave them in a considerably weaker position when it comes to playing poker over other regulation in the future.
- stretchcat 6y agoIn the past there have been companies that had their own navies. Maybe in a few years..
- MattGaiser 6y agoGoogle refuses to operate a search engine in China because of the laws it imposes. Mad about that too?
- stretchcat 6y agoChina isn't a democracy, is it?
- lorenzhs 6y agoSo just because a country is a democracy, Google has to do business there, and if they choose not to, that's dictatorial and an attack on the country's sovereignty? That's a strange argument. What other companies would you apply this standard to? Because there are lots that offer their digital services only in specific markets.
- stretchcat 6y agoAttacking a democracy, which represents the will if the people, is not morally equivalent to attacking a dictatorship. Are you drunk or something?
- gerash 6y agoThey are not telling a democracy! what to do. They are saying if you want to do a money grab we're out.
- koonsolo 6y agoWhat? Google just says it won't do business under those circumstances. How is that telling a democracy what to do? They just tell what they will do under those circumstances.