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India Pushes Back Against Tech 'Colonization' by Internet Giants (nytimes.com)
In India, American companies dominate the internet. Facebook's WhatsApp is the most popular app on phones. Virtually every smartphone runs on Google's Android system. YouTube is the favorite video platform and Amazon is the No. 2 online retailer. For some Indian political leaders, it is as if their nation --which was ruled by Britain for a century until 1947 -- is being conquered by colonial powers all over again. And they are determined to stop it. From a report: "As a country, we have to all grow up and say that, you know, enough of this," Vinit Goenka, a railways official who works on technology policy for India's governing Bharatiya Janata Party, said at a conference last week. In recent months, regulators and ministers across India's government have declared their intention to impose tough new rules on the technology industry. Collectively, the regulations would end the free rein that American tech giants have long enjoyed in this country of 1.3 billion people, which is the world's fastest-growing market for new internet users. The proposals include European-style limits on what big internet companies can do with users' personal data, a requirement that tech firms store certain sensitive data about Indians only within the country, and restrictions on the ability of foreign-owned e-commerce companies to undercut local businesses on price. Matthew Prince, CEO of Cloudflare, commented on the story, saying, "India is currently the most important country in term of defining the future of Internet policy. It sits at the fulcrum between the United States and China. As it goes, so goes the world."
In the 1960's, IBM chose to leave the market in India because of how the government tried to force them to do business.
Begun, the trade wars has. -Yoda
Table-ized A.I.
and restrictions on the ability of foreign-owned e-commerce companies to undercut local businesses on price.
What is the incentive for Indian companies to lower prices?
Ken
US pushes against tech worker colonization by India.
Inevitable, and only reasonable that instead of foreign conglomerates exploiting their markets through colonialism, that it be replaced by indigenous exploitation of their own people through corruption. :-) See "India Continues To Rank Among Most Corrupt Countries In The World" ( https://www.forbes.com/sites/r... ).
Start passing out the MIGA hats!
"For some Indian political leaders, it is as if their nation -- which was ruled by Britain for a century until 1947 -- is being conquered by colonial powers all over again. And they are determined to stop it."
How about this: we will keep our tech sites (and our technology) and you can keep your H-1Bs. Sound fair?
Globalization is a two-way street, bitches.
Who is forcing them to use American products? If they don't want to use the stuff that we made, then they should stop complaining, and make and use their own stuff.
Please Visit, do me the needful when it comes to regulation!
> it is as if their nation --which was ruled by Britain for a century until 1947 -- is being conquered by colonial powers all over again.
How can they dream to be different from almost all other countries?
If you skip the self colonized USA and Cina, everyone else is colonized by the tech giants.
Can they afford the difference?
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
The Indian government and associated corporations has been big promoters of sending their countrymen abroad to earn money in order to bring it back into the country.
This is in complete disregard the damage it does to the local population, in terms of finding jobs or wage suppression.
In short, they're basically performing a reverse British trade empire (in the 19th century, Indians often went abroad to serve as labor instead of using locals).
The practice was abusive then and it's abusive now.
I mean, maybe there's a smidge of a thing somwhere in here...but let's be real: it's not like India is incapable of rolling their own alternatives. In aggregate, they've got enough programming talent, and it's not like WhatsApp is some unicorn of an app that has impossible-to-replicate requirements. If India wanted to make a legit alternative to Android, WhatsApp, and Youtube, they are not lacking in the human or technical resources to do it within a very short period of time. It might take a little bit for the network effect to kick in, but if North Korea can roll their own Linux distro, it is well within the realm of India to provide competitive applications.
They are born in filth and die filth.
India, a nation of street shitters.
they are not shy about doing what it takes to get market share. People may even be assassinated if they are perceived to be too big of an obstacle in the expansion of American markets and the establishment of American corporation dominance.
Just look at these things played out in south and latin America during the 20th century. India is an even bigger and more desirable market.
You got an upvote! Good on you, you petty little American shit racist. Something to help you through the next week of your miserable life.
Also, how are the loans, mortgages and the other debt? Still struggling with that cancer and diabetes, or was that the other family members?
You guys sure are living it.
"Indians use these services, but profits from these services go overseas. And I just happen to have some wealthy local friends who would like a slice of this pie. And, being a politician, I am playing a patriotism card for them, to pave the way for the popular movement to support local product-to-be."
Nothing wrong or even unusual about it though; it's about as ethical (or unethical, depending on one's PoV) as the "eat locally grown food" slogan. In theory, if they are capable of creating an alternative to (at least some subset of) Google services, some new competition is always good for the market and so good for everyone. But what usually happens is they start applying external pressure by putting services in unequal conditions by subsidizing locals or even doing darker things like throttling traffic at state level or limiting their capability to earn revenue through regulatory measures. Eh, I'm not a globalization fan either, so whatever.
As a product of meager per capita income, ballooning population and rampant corruption, it's what's the end product is. As an Indian, I have been seeing a number of changes these last 10 years, where improvement is happening, but sometimes the hordes overcome the progress and the overall shitty mentality of the crowd does not help.
E.g. Littering, spitting in public, red streaks of Paan spitting here and there, and then (now much less) outside defecation. These are things that public should be aware to not do. But when you don't have an iota of education, don't know if you are going to get your lunch or dinner, then you stop caring about a clean country! India's main problem is overpopulation, and the successive governments have failed (some even exploited for vote-bank politics) to manage this problem.
So San Francisco without the expensive real estate and drugs.
... Why as a Chinese or Indian person should I use American companies that provide no benefit over domestic institutions?
They've compromised principles of freedom of speech... kowtowed to the censorship of Tienanmen Square etc... why would I bother with the American version when the domestic version is the same thing?
They hollowed out a lot of the American infrastructure, outsourced like crazy, adopted a lowest common denominator policy regarding how they conduct freedom of speech...
And what did they get for it?
As soon as they're done hollowing out the IP advantage they're going to cut these companies out of the loop and laugh.
Frankly, it can't happen soon enough. The nauseating arrogance out of Google etc can't end soon enough.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
yeah https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharat_Operating_System_Solutions
No drugs?
Damn, there's always a catch.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
If you don't want to buy from abroad, it's time to make your own.
But when I look at the quality we usually get from our outsourced "partners"... I have a hunch I know why you don't.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
They are born in filth and die filth.
India, a nation of street shitters.
San Francisco, California, USA, is giving India a run for its money in terms of street shitters.
In the 1960's, IBM chose to leave the market in India because of how the government tried to force them to do business.
On the other hand IBM still operates in China.
Does that mean India treats foreign companies worse than China does?
...the Chinese handset makers, who absolutely eating their lunch in market share right now.
free rein = fastest growing
tough new rules = slowest growing
If you want you people to be wealthy like the US and Europe, you have to be like them. You can be different and yet expect that result.
If the world depends on India, we are DOOMED! but expect delays with this realization, like anything else coming from India.
India leads the world in cold-calling supposed Microsoft support phone calls and virus removal.
Because responding to Windows problems takes a billion-person support team.
Colonialism is an emergent property of power:
https://www.businessinsider.co...
ASCII is no good in India.
aaaaaaa
"Indians use these services, but profits from these services go overseas."
and with the profits of those services they pay the wages of the programmers, which are most likely... in India.
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
Supporting home team good spirit but might not be the smart bet. Create an environment to compete and develop tech capabilities. Plenty of Indians contributing to the tech as staff and increasingly execs just in overseas companies where investors more confident in parking capital. Impatient populist politics have a fair risk of underperforming yet may still pass.
So how's the air quality index today, Patel? About 500 again? Did your family inhale enough burning plastic to make it through the stench-filled day? I think breathing fumes directly from an iron smelter might be safer. And the rest of the world is only struggling with cancer because they don't have inducing tumors down to a science, let alone a public service.
Pour some more industrial waste effluent in your Chai. Might help kill some of those deadly pathogens that were eradicated in more civilized areas.
Yes, it's not like the US where industry bribes funneled through PACs grease all the bits that could use a little more grease.
India, a nation of street shitters [planetcustodian.com].
Kinda like San Francisco is becoming?
Ken
Do people in San Fransico dump their dead relatives in a river? Then bathe and drink from said river because they think it's holy? They don't? Then kindly stfu. Shitting in the street is one thing. Having dead bodies by the hundreds floating in your rivers and river banks is a totally different thing.
Yea America has problems. But why are you ignoring India's problems, in a thread about India's problems? Instead you'd rather post but Americans shit in the street. Yes we do, but you also wanna know what we do? We properly bury our dead. Something India has no concept over. The government has middlemen setup to bribe people for burning a body. It's sickening.
I mean Indian is one of the few countries in the world that doesn't allow double citizenship... how are they going to being back all the brains that left to work for these American companies? Certainly not with these big empty words.
please to do the needful and nuke that shithole from orbit (only way to be sure)
There has been no move by the Indian government to levy protectionist policies against Internet giants. What the government is trying to do is push the SaaS companies to host the data out of the Indian territory, something most of the western governments are already doing as part of regulations to some extent or the other. It is a matter of security (There is the other extreme of over policing that we have to worry about). But it does not put the multinationals at any disadvantage as all the companies have to bear the same cost of hosting the data infrastructure within the country. This manipulative agenda is nothing but a cowardly attempt at building pressure on Indian agencies to withdraw and playing the protectionist card.
At first, not. But if cuts are forced, companies would have to remove some of the bloated and excessive layers of CSS and JS libraries to make their sites maintainable with less staff.
There's a lot of fat that can be trimmed. Craigslist runs just fine, and fast, without eye-candy and UI toys. If the H1-B's were cut back, the PHB's would just have to learn to say "no" to me-to gimmicks. (Craigslist is perhaps an extreme case, but something half-way between is possible.)
Table-ized A.I.