Deutsche Telecom Calls For Google and Facebook To Be Regulated Like Telcos

An anonymous reader writes Tim Hoettges, the CEO of the world's third-largest telecoms company, has called for Google and Facebook to be regulated in the same way that telcos are, declaring that "There is a convergence between over-the-top web companies and classic telcos" and "We need one level regulatory environment for us all." The Deutsche Telekom chief was speaking at Monday's Mobile World Congress, and further argued for a loosening of the current regulations which telcos operate under, in order to provide the infrastructure development that governments and policy bodies are asking of them. Hoettges' imprecation comes in the light of news about the latest Google Dance — an annual change in ranking criteria which boosts some businesses and ruins others. The case for and against regulating Google-level internet entities comes down to one question: who do you trust to 'not be evil'?

Comments

Re:Monopoly Control

[Anonymous Coward]

Google and Facebook do not have monopolies.

A monopoly is when there is no other other option. Only one telco has a phone wire going to your house. You don't like Google? Fine, use Yahoo, or MSN, or DuckDuckGo, or any of the other million search engines out there. Just because Google is the most common search engine does not mean it's a monopoly.

Who do I trust to 'not be evil'?

[XxtraLarGe]

Nobody, especially the regulators. The question that I'm more concerned about is which services are voluntary, and which ones are compulsory. I use Google's search engine and Facebook, but I don't have to. There are a ton of alternatives to each for internet search and social media. The fact that they happen to be the largest/most popular should not make them subject to special rules.