4 ms·

You're conflating two entirely different issues here (though you're not alone in that, the French government itself is likely to play one issue as a leverage to

You're conflating two entirely different issues here (though you're not alone in that, the French government itself is likely to play one issue as a leverage to the other). The French newspapers that are whining about google indexing their content, are already heavily subsidized by the government and have missed every conceivable opportunity to offer something worthwhile online or on dead paper. There are a handful of very vocal op-eds who keep advocating censoring or curating the internet, coming from the hurtful realization that anybody can express its not so special opinion on the internet - thus levelling the field (in France, like in most places I suspect, celebrity journalists mostly offer vapid copycat opinions). So, I agree, they're despicable. Now, there's an entirely different issue: how big companies can get away not paying taxes. This is what this news item is about.

guylhem 14y ago
You're right, they are different issues. It's just the timing of bring such issues to the attention of the public that seems suspect to me - especially after I noticed how the downs in google stock suddenly became newsworthy. IMHO, it's not a coincidence.
- abolibibelot 14y ago
  You're right it's not, and that's what makes it infuriating since both Google and the French government storytelling benefit from lumping these issues together ("look at ze seellee control-freaks French" vs. "we raise high the light of Justice and Equality for Humanity as a whole").
- anigbrowl 14y ago
  That's conspiracy theory logic. The tax issue has been bothering multiple governments, and many non-European media companies have problems with the news aggregation. Google is a very large entity, just because it is challenged on two different fronts does not mean that there's a coordinated assault.
  - guylhem 14y ago
    You know the saying - once is bad luck, twice is a coincidence, thrice is usually an enemy action. I see the google news strongarm with france and germany, the tax issues with other european countries, the reports about the stock lows in the french press, anger against youtube allowing the diffusion of anti-religion movies - with protests in the uk and continental politicians explaining it is hurting sensibilities - it just seems more than pure randomness to me. I make a judgement call. Call that conspiracy theory if you prefer. Maybe google is just a very large entity, but it's a) profitable, b) non european and c) advocating free speech, which makes it a good target for populist european politicians.
    - anigbrowl 14y ago
      A hole in your theory is that France is among the least tolerant European countries as far as Islam is concerned. Head-to-toe Islamic garments for women are forbidden by law, for example. So I don;t think they'd be bent out of shape about an inflammatory video on YouTube to the extent of wanting to punish Google; any more than they were bent out of shape about French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo publishing cartoons of Mohammad at the same time. As for the stock lows, that was worldwide news in the financial press because it surprised everyone.
      - guylhem 14y ago
        I wouldn't call that a hole, considering that between 85% to 93% of muslims voted for Hollande (depending on which polls you prefer to take), the current president of France. It makes even more sense if you remember that these laws were mostly supported by the previous government. Charlie Hebdo is certainly a leftist satirical magazine, but you should know that polls showed around 47% of the population considered it should not have published of Mohammad cartoons - even AFTER it was firebombed, death threat were issued and several arrested. In the end, this is IMHO a good move by Hollande in realpolitik : show to those who care about you that you care about them too. Even better if you can claim it's about "increasing tolerance".
  - ruby_on_rails 14y ago
- epsylon 14y ago
  Of course it's not a coincidence. Eric Schmidt met the president of France. They don't meet every other day, so it's normal for them to talk about various issues at once.
jobu 14y ago
To be fair, the article itself mentioned both of those issues together, and I think they are related simply because they're both chips on the same poker table.

guylhem 14y ago

You're right, they are different issues. It's just the timing of bring such issues to the attention of the public that seems suspect to me - especially after I noticed how the downs in google stock suddenly became newsworthy. IMHO, it's not a coincidence.

abolibibelot 14y ago
You're right it's not, and that's what makes it infuriating since both Google and the French government storytelling benefit from lumping these issues together ("look at ze seellee control-freaks French" vs. "we raise high the light of Justice and Equality for Humanity as a whole").
anigbrowl 14y ago
That's conspiracy theory logic. The tax issue has been bothering multiple governments, and many non-European media companies have problems with the news aggregation. Google is a very large entity, just because it is challenged on two different fronts does not mean that there's a coordinated assault.
- guylhem 14y ago
  You know the saying - once is bad luck, twice is a coincidence, thrice is usually an enemy action. I see the google news strongarm with france and germany, the tax issues with other european countries, the reports about the stock lows in the french press, anger against youtube allowing the diffusion of anti-religion movies - with protests in the uk and continental politicians explaining it is hurting sensibilities - it just seems more than pure randomness to me. I make a judgement call. Call that conspiracy theory if you prefer. Maybe google is just a very large entity, but it's a) profitable, b) non european and c) advocating free speech, which makes it a good target for populist european politicians.
  - anigbrowl 14y ago
    A hole in your theory is that France is among the least tolerant European countries as far as Islam is concerned. Head-to-toe Islamic garments for women are forbidden by law, for example. So I don;t think they'd be bent out of shape about an inflammatory video on YouTube to the extent of wanting to punish Google; any more than they were bent out of shape about French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo publishing cartoons of Mohammad at the same time. As for the stock lows, that was worldwide news in the financial press because it surprised everyone.
    - guylhem 14y ago
      I wouldn't call that a hole, considering that between 85% to 93% of muslims voted for Hollande (depending on which polls you prefer to take), the current president of France. It makes even more sense if you remember that these laws were mostly supported by the previous government. Charlie Hebdo is certainly a leftist satirical magazine, but you should know that polls showed around 47% of the population considered it should not have published of Mohammad cartoons - even AFTER it was firebombed, death threat were issued and several arrested. In the end, this is IMHO a good move by Hollande in realpolitik : show to those who care about you that you care about them too. Even better if you can claim it's about "increasing tolerance".
- ruby_on_rails 14y ago
epsylon 14y ago
Of course it's not a coincidence. Eric Schmidt met the president of France. They don't meet every other day, so it's normal for them to talk about various issues at once.

jobu 14y ago

To be fair, the article itself mentioned both of those issues together, and I think they are related simply because they're both chips on the same poker table.