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EU To Hit Google With Antitrust Charges
Bruce66423 sends news that the European Union has decided to hit Google with antitrust charges that could lead to fines of over $6 billion. The EU has been investigating Google for five years now. "The European Commission has highlighted four main areas of concern in its investigation: potential bias in Google’s search results, scraping content from rival websites, agreements with advertisers that may exclude rival search-advertising services and contracts that limit marketers from using other platforms." They're also keeping an eye on Android-related business practices.
Exactly! Looks like we need to have all the antitrust discussions again - how it's ok to have a monopoly but not ok to use that to grab market share on other markets, how monopoly power does not mean 100% market share etc. Too many are too young to remember from the MS antitrust days or maybe they have forgotten all that.
And if you think that it's wrong of EU to investigate an American company, think about it this way: with EU and US doing these investigations, we can have more faith in that all monopoly abusing companies will be investigated somewhere - even if their home country is turning a blind eye. This is good on both sides - it's not like this will really have a huge effect on Google anyway.
Well, the sociopathic profit-seekers who work for companies whose customers can go elsewhere. The sociopathic profit-seekers in government get to abuse to their heart's content. And lest there be any doubt about the latter, the regulator in question was yesterday specifically calling for abuse of "antitrust" action against American companies.
In Europe we already tried allowing a winner-takes-it-all strategy where a very good leader keeps the monopoly over a (market/region/population), it was called an absolute monarchy.
It looks good for as long as the original manager (who reached the position as the best in a meritocracy) stays in place. It lasts for a generation, when the competent leader legates the role to their heirs, who may or may not be prepared to maintain the same level of quality service.
By that time, it is too late to displace the incompetent newcomers - all the network effects that entrenched the original leader as a monopoly are still in place and are too strong to overcome even when there are better alternatives, except by a disruptive process that redefines the rules of the game in full. I heard you Americans didn't like absolute monarchies? You should then understand the EU's position.
Singularity: a belief in the "God" idea with the "demiurge" relation inverted.
Google has changed from their original "don't be evil" attitude to a "grow, grow, grow" attitude. And it's showing up in court. From their 0 year lawsuit with Skyhook Wireless, ;documented at http://www.gpsbusinessnews.com...:
> Later on, while Skyhook had signed a contract with Motorola where the device maker was to use Skyhook XPS technology, but shortly after the deal was publicly announced (April 2010) Google forced Motorola to used its own geo-location technology threatening its licensee to not give them access to the Android App Store.
And they've apparently kept pulling similar stunts with Android phones in the years since. So yes, they've been an abusive monopoly.
There's nothing stopping motorola or any other user of the Android OS from rolling their own store. No one held a gun to their head and FORCED them to be certified.
This is more about the EU wants more money. Probably to offset the HUGE financial bottomless pit being created by the broke Greeks.