5 ms·

Google’s Steely Foe in Europe

29 points by carlchenet 12y ago

father_of_two 12y ago
(...) jobless builders presented her with a gift: a life-size sculpture of a hand with a raised middle digit. She keeps the artifact prominently displayed on a coffee table at her office in the European Commission. Got to love the Danes :)
josu 12y ago
>“Consumers depend on us to make sure that competition is fair and open, and it’s my responsibility to make that happen. Really? Then why not go after banks, energy companies, telecom giants...? As a consumer I have the choice to choose to trust google when I search for a product, however I have only two choices when I choose my ISP, or no option at all to choose my electricity provider. Consumers don't depend on "them" to have fair and open competition, it's the companies that depend on the governments to have unfair or nonexistent competiton.
- Lewton 12y ago
  Where do you live?
- thescrewdriver 12y ago
  > Really? Then why not go after banks, energy companies, telecom giants...? Banks: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-07-01/europe-banks-in-u-s-scrutiny-as-bnp-pays-8-97-billion http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-07-01/europe-ban... http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-1208_en.htm http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-1208_en.htm Energy companies: http://en.mercopress.com/2008/10/01/europe-fines-nine-oil-companies-for-the-paraffin-mafia http://en.mercopress.com/2008/10/01/europe-fines-nine-oil-co... Telecoms giants (incl. Deutsche Telekom): http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-39_en.htm http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-39_en.htm http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-1140_en.htm http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-1140_en.htm It seems that the standard response to the EU probing Google is to say it's unfair and "what about European companies" without actually doing any research into the matter.
  - tormeh 12y ago
    Agreed. It's basically an unrelenting torrent of dumb streaming down the internet pipes. Thanks for refuting. Someone's got to do it.
    - eternalban 12y ago
      Do you expect the EU to openly state that this is political and entirely about who gets to curate the information available?
      - thescrewdriver 12y ago
        Care to substantiate the accusations you're making so matter-of-factly?
        eternalban 12y ago
        It is not an accusation. It is a point of view that computes on my end. This forum is becoming entirely useless as a venue for 'discussion'.
- makeitsuckless 12y ago
  Where do you live? Because inside the EU, we already "went after" telcos, banks and energy companies, which is why as a consumer in the Netherlands I have plenty of choice on all fronts you mentioned. Granted, not all countries have moved as fast when it comes to implementing, but over here there's a whole generation that doesn't even remember the time when we only had one telco and one electricity provider.
zubairq 12y ago
This article is incorrect. Denmark says it will do something about large companies practices, but it is just talk. As an example Denmark has alot of laws regarding data protection. But the rules are only enforced for the small companies. Larger companies like LinkedIn and Google have been ignoring the data protection rules for years and the Danish government ignores it, as they are too hard to prosecute.
- Lewton 12y ago
  This article isn't about Denmark? But about Vestager and the work she's doing in the EU to go after Google

29 points by carlchenet 12y ago

(...) jobless builders presented her with a gift: a life-size sculpture of a hand with a raised middle digit. She keeps the artifact prominently displayed on a coffee table at her office in the European Commission. Got to love the Danes :)

josu 12y ago

>“Consumers depend on us to make sure that competition is fair and open, and it’s my responsibility to make that happen. Really? Then why not go after banks, energy companies, telecom giants...? As a consumer I have the choice to choose to trust google when I search for a product, however I have only two choices when I choose my ISP, or no option at all to choose my electricity provider. Consumers don't depend on "them" to have fair and open competition, it's the companies that depend on the governments to have unfair or nonexistent competiton.

Lewton 12y ago
Where do you live?
thescrewdriver 12y ago
> Really? Then why not go after banks, energy companies, telecom giants...? Banks: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-07-01/europe-banks-in-u-s-scrutiny-as-bnp-pays-8-97-billion http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-07-01/europe-ban... http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-1208_en.htm http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-1208_en.htm Energy companies: http://en.mercopress.com/2008/10/01/europe-fines-nine-oil-companies-for-the-paraffin-mafia http://en.mercopress.com/2008/10/01/europe-fines-nine-oil-co... Telecoms giants (incl. Deutsche Telekom): http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-39_en.htm http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-39_en.htm http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-1140_en.htm http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-1140_en.htm It seems that the standard response to the EU probing Google is to say it's unfair and "what about European companies" without actually doing any research into the matter.
- tormeh 12y ago
  Agreed. It's basically an unrelenting torrent of dumb streaming down the internet pipes. Thanks for refuting. Someone's got to do it.
  - eternalban 12y ago
    Do you expect the EU to openly state that this is political and entirely about who gets to curate the information available?
    - thescrewdriver 12y ago
      Care to substantiate the accusations you're making so matter-of-factly?
      - eternalban 12y ago
        It is not an accusation. It is a point of view that computes on my end. This forum is becoming entirely useless as a venue for 'discussion'.
makeitsuckless 12y ago
Where do you live? Because inside the EU, we already "went after" telcos, banks and energy companies, which is why as a consumer in the Netherlands I have plenty of choice on all fronts you mentioned. Granted, not all countries have moved as fast when it comes to implementing, but over here there's a whole generation that doesn't even remember the time when we only had one telco and one electricity provider.

zubairq 12y ago

This article is incorrect. Denmark says it will do something about large companies practices, but it is just talk. As an example Denmark has alot of laws regarding data protection. But the rules are only enforced for the small companies. Larger companies like LinkedIn and Google have been ignoring the data protection rules for years and the Danish government ignores it, as they are too hard to prosecute.

Lewton 12y ago
This article isn't about Denmark? But about Vestager and the work she's doing in the EU to go after Google