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"But with that size comes responsibility." Why would European regulators even care about Facebook? It's a completely voluntary service and anyone's free to cr

"But with that size comes responsibility." Why would European regulators even care about Facebook? It's a completely voluntary service and anyone's free to create an alternative. It's non-essential. If a huge U.S. retailer muscled into the EU markets and started driving mom-and-pop retailers and smaller chains out of business, I can see where the regulators would go nuts and try to stop them. It's a clash of U.S. capitalism versus European style capitalism and if they don't like the raw knock-down-drag-out American approach, it's understandable. If huge Asian car manufacturers started undercutting European makers with high quality, low cost vehicles, causing thousands of factories and parts suppliers and dealerships across the continent to go out of business, I can see how regulators would want to limit or stop the disruption. But Facebook? Just don't use it. Don't browse to facebook.com, problem solved. Nothing is affected. What am I missing here? It looks like just another shakedown of a highly successful foreign company that the regulatory bureaucracy regards as a threat of some kind. Too profitable, too entrepreneurial, too brash -- some combination of too many ick factors, I suppose. As jakozaur says, why not promote and encourage domestic competition? There are brilliant computer folks in Europe and I'm sure they can come up with a few classy, high quality alternatives to Facebook. As an American, I'd love to see some competition to FB.

mpoloton 11y ago
This is not a very good argument. There are many products and services that are voluntary but regulated such as tobacco and alcohol. There are many laws that are designed to protect people even against their own will. Laws such as minimum wage. The point is that notions such as privacy is not universal (at least not yet) and we should accept and respect that each region has their own value systems. I am not rejecting that their opposition is not political. In fact, Europe and US have had many similar cases such as agriculture subsidies.
DanBC 11y ago
> Why would European regulators even care about Facebook? It's a completely voluntary service and anyone's free to create an alternative. It's non-essential. Tthe problems are 1) privacy setting 2) unfair competition The EU has strict privacy and data protection rules. Facebook appears to trample those, and if they want to continue to be allowed to operate in EU they should probably have a look at whether their rules are compatible with laws of democratic nations. Facebook probably have tight internal auditing. I have no doubt that a Facebook employee using engineer access to creep on FB users would quickly lose their job. So, partly all FB has to do is demonstrate that to regulators. The rules are pretty simple: tell people what you're collecting and why you're collecting it; don't collect too much; don't keep it for too long; make sure other people don't get hold of it. That's not onerous for FB. As for unfair competition: well, I dunno. You might have a point there. I see that eg Amazon has decided to start following a more sensible tax reporting scheme so EU pressure does seem to work to change behaviour. I'm not sure if this is a French NIH problem - see also Courrier électronique, galileo, and the continuing anti-Google measures (first a competitor search engine, and then drives to force google to present alternative search engine results, etc)
Sir_Substance 11y ago
>Why would European regulators even care about Facebook? It's a completely voluntary service Not if your employer insists you use it.
bko 11y ago
I just finished reading The Facebook Effect [0] and the author there suggests that countries are worried that Facebook poses a threat to a countries sovereignty. Facebook often has more information on citizens of a country than the political body does. If Facebook plays along and is willing to share that information, the politicians would probably be happy. But it is still an uncomfortable thought to some that a private entity holds that much influence. Facebook has been aggressive in establishing deep roots in the web such as universal login and tracking information. You can argue their entire worth depends on being deeply integrated with the lives of its users. Integrating Facebook information with things like passports and voting doesn't seem so far fetched. I'm curious as to what a democratic country can do to punish a service like Facebook. I don't think most governments have the authority to force ISPs to block access to a website. What could happen if Facebook doesn't comply? [0] http://www.amazon.com/The-Facebook-Effect-Company-Connecting/dp/1439102120 http://www.amazon.com/The-Facebook-Effect-Company-Connecting...
Riesling 11y ago
> Why would European regulators even care about Facebook? It's a completely voluntary service and anyone's free to create an alternative. It's non-essential. Is it really too much to ask for a foreign company to play by the rules and the values of the country it is doing the business in? I know many foreign car manufacturers adjust their cars according to U.S. laws before exporting? Couldn't one use the same argument and say: Driving a foreign car is completely voluntary? Who cares if it does not include all the safety features demanded by U.S. law? Just use a different car instead. I know, this issue is debatable. But I fail to see the difference to other industries. > If a huge U.S. retailer muscled into the EU markets and started driving mom-and-pop retailers and smaller chains out of business, I can see where the regulators would go nuts and try to stop them. It's a clash of U.S. capitalism versus European style capitalism and if they don't like the raw knock-down-drag-out American approach, it's understandable. Call me old-fashioned, but I remember a time where the goal of regulation was to create competition and not protectionism. > As jakozaur says, why not promote and encourage domestic competition? A great way of promoting domestic competition would be to oblige facebook to create an open API that would enable other social networks to connect to Facebook and vice versa. This way the social network with the best features (for example privacy protection of their users) would win and not the one enjoying the advantages of having a monopoly (which includes the user lock-in).

mpoloton 11y ago

This is not a very good argument. There are many products and services that are voluntary but regulated such as tobacco and alcohol. There are many laws that are designed to protect people even against their own will. Laws such as minimum wage. The point is that notions such as privacy is not universal (at least not yet) and we should accept and respect that each region has their own value systems. I am not rejecting that their opposition is not political. In fact, Europe and US have had many similar cases such as agriculture subsidies.

DanBC 11y ago

> Why would European regulators even care about Facebook? It's a completely voluntary service and anyone's free to create an alternative. It's non-essential. Tthe problems are 1) privacy setting 2) unfair competition The EU has strict privacy and data protection rules. Facebook appears to trample those, and if they want to continue to be allowed to operate in EU they should probably have a look at whether their rules are compatible with laws of democratic nations. Facebook probably have tight internal auditing. I have no doubt that a Facebook employee using engineer access to creep on FB users would quickly lose their job. So, partly all FB has to do is demonstrate that to regulators. The rules are pretty simple: tell people what you're collecting and why you're collecting it; don't collect too much; don't keep it for too long; make sure other people don't get hold of it. That's not onerous for FB. As for unfair competition: well, I dunno. You might have a point there. I see that eg Amazon has decided to start following a more sensible tax reporting scheme so EU pressure does seem to work to change behaviour. I'm not sure if this is a French NIH problem - see also Courrier électronique, galileo, and the continuing anti-Google measures (first a competitor search engine, and then drives to force google to present alternative search engine results, etc)

Sir_Substance 11y ago

>Why would European regulators even care about Facebook? It's a completely voluntary service Not if your employer insists you use it.

bko 11y ago

I just finished reading The Facebook Effect [0] and the author there suggests that countries are worried that Facebook poses a threat to a countries sovereignty. Facebook often has more information on citizens of a country than the political body does. If Facebook plays along and is willing to share that information, the politicians would probably be happy. But it is still an uncomfortable thought to some that a private entity holds that much influence. Facebook has been aggressive in establishing deep roots in the web such as universal login and tracking information. You can argue their entire worth depends on being deeply integrated with the lives of its users. Integrating Facebook information with things like passports and voting doesn't seem so far fetched. I'm curious as to what a democratic country can do to punish a service like Facebook. I don't think most governments have the authority to force ISPs to block access to a website. What could happen if Facebook doesn't comply? [0] http://www.amazon.com/The-Facebook-Effect-Company-Connecting/dp/1439102120 http://www.amazon.com/The-Facebook-Effect-Company-Connecting...

Riesling 11y ago

> Why would European regulators even care about Facebook? It's a completely voluntary service and anyone's free to create an alternative. It's non-essential. Is it really too much to ask for a foreign company to play by the rules and the values of the country it is doing the business in? I know many foreign car manufacturers adjust their cars according to U.S. laws before exporting? Couldn't one use the same argument and say: Driving a foreign car is completely voluntary? Who cares if it does not include all the safety features demanded by U.S. law? Just use a different car instead. I know, this issue is debatable. But I fail to see the difference to other industries. > If a huge U.S. retailer muscled into the EU markets and started driving mom-and-pop retailers and smaller chains out of business, I can see where the regulators would go nuts and try to stop them. It's a clash of U.S. capitalism versus European style capitalism and if they don't like the raw knock-down-drag-out American approach, it's understandable. Call me old-fashioned, but I remember a time where the goal of regulation was to create competition and not protectionism. > As jakozaur says, why not promote and encourage domestic competition? A great way of promoting domestic competition would be to oblige facebook to create an open API that would enable other social networks to connect to Facebook and vice versa. This way the social network with the best features (for example privacy protection of their users) would win and not the one enjoying the advantages of having a monopoly (which includes the user lock-in).