“The European parliament is poised to call for a break-up of Google, in one of the most brazen assaults so far on the technology group’s power,” Henry Mance, Alex Barker and Murad Ahmed report for The Financial Times.
“The gambit increases the political pressure on the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, to take a tougher line on Google, either in its antitrust investigation into the company or through the introduction of laws to curb its reach,” Mance, Barker and Ahmed report. “A draft motion seen by the Financial Times says that ‘unbundling [of] search engines from other commercial services’ should be considered as a potential solution to Google’s dominance. It has the backing of the parliament’s two main political blocs, the European People’s Party and the Socialists.”
“A vote to effectively single out a big US company for censure is extremely rare in the European parliament and is in part a reflection of how Germany’s politicians have turned against Google this year,” Mance, Barker and Ahmed report. “German centre-right and centre-left politicians are the dominant force in the legislature and German corporate champions, from media groups to telecoms, are among the most vocal of Google’s critics.”
Read more in the full article here.
Sheer stupidity.
Google is not a monopoly.
You are free to use any other Web search, mobile OS or online services. You have choices.
People use Google because it is the most recognizable brand and arguably the best in Web search.
Rising to the top because you are not mediocre is not a crime.
Would they be pulling this if it were a European company? I highly doubt it, and although I myself detest Google I think this move is a crock of you know what. They did the same thing to Microsoft over IE which was also a total load.
Just destroyed your credibility, Microsoft was using its position to not only stifle competition it was effectively using its power to destroy any threat to its hegemony. We should be thankful to the EC (I don’t often say that ) or cutting off their anti competitive behaviour at the knees. A monopolistic company dominating you economy or vital parts thereof leads to a monolithic economy which will wither under competition from other parts of the World. No economy is too big to decline and creating a fair competitive playing field is vital to maintain that. The EC certainly is not averse to such actions against European companies indeed banks and industrial companies have often been forced to sell off parts of their business though one might argue because of their unhealthy political influence it doesn’t apply so much to German or French businesses as others. All that said I’m not sure that we have reached a point with Google where breaking up is required but I do agree that if in Europe it is seen as becoming restrictive or monopolistic then it’s business should be restricted in some way to encourage competition. I’m sure if an European company abused its position in the US there would be considerable even rabid objections from many.
Well Google goaded the EU into taking action against Microsoft… what could they expect? live be the sword…
Their laws are different then the USoA’s. You may not like it but if unless you know what their definition of what monopoly is then it’s tough to make a legitimate argument.
The EU does some dumbshit. The governments get too involved in business. Trying to run businesses themselves. Plus they move super slow. It is a big reason we don’t see any technological development coming out of the EU.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM
The EU knows as much about business as Jerry Jones knows about football.
Really? Where do you think the technology for the ARM processors that Apple uses for all of its iOS devices comes from?
And how about the fifty Airbus aircraft with their Rolls Royce engines that Delta Airlines have just put in a multi-billion dollar order for?
Fuckwit.
Phas….. non register person…
You miss the argument. The European Parliament is holding countries back. Yes technology comes from the companies but it is the overlord group that is trying to run the group of countries.
So that would make your comment pretty lame since you cussed while being wrong. Just saying.
PS, how is the lighting in the basement? Just tell your mom that you need a bigger light bulb. /s
en, cussing is not as bad as ignorance.
First check out the difference between the European Parliament and the European Commission, and country governments. Second consider how much Europeans pay for cable and mobile and how much choice they have. Third check out their banking systems, more secure and easier to use than the the third world situation in America. Touch to pay? NFC? Been commonplace for years. Fourth, research the provenance of the drugs you use, the chips in your iPads and iPhones.
America is a great place and I love it dearly but it is not the only source of good.
Haha Looks like someone had their jimmies rustled. Oh well.
While the UK is part of the EU it tends to be an outlier among the EU. Because Delta just order 50 airbus aircraft does not mean these aircraft technologically superior to anything else out there. ARM is a multi national company with facilities world wide which can help it get around many of retarded rules in place in the EU.
Acorn computers a british company started ARM they based there designs on white papers published by Berkley RISC project an american university. Acorns to leading engineers visited the Western Digital Center in Phoenix Arizona to gain additional knowledge there there ideas might be sound. The then contacted VLSI and American company based in California as a partner to produce the first ARM chips. (ARM stands for Acorn Risc Machine). In the late 1980’s Apple became a development partner with ARM and produced together the first Modern ARM Processor the ARM 6. Which became the brain for apples Newton.
So if you want to argue that ARM was all developed by EU engineers thats complete BS. Learn to get your facts straight.
In fact most of the modern ARM designs are based off the work that Apple and ARM did together and up until Steve Jobs Came back to Apple, Apple was the majority stock holder of ARM.
Brought to you by the people who’s governments started and run Airbus, since their weak free enterprise systems can’t compete.
Next they’ll be coming for Apple.
Yup. They smell money
A LOT of money.
What’s to break up? All they have is search and betaware.
LoLLiPoP is pure ALPHAware.
Yea you know they have been running alphabet-ware all along with Android versions A through L. … Alpha Beta ware. … Google boys having their little joke that the list is pretty sweet. I have a good idea what comes next: Marzipan. Y’all heard it here first.
I heard it was M for mudpie.
As much disdain as I hold for Google, I can summarily dismiss the EU as a bunch of red bureaucrats trying exert themselves into every aspect of their “citizens” and “businessmens” lives. Enough already. I hope the UK pulls out and the dominos start to fall. Bunch of anti-democratic C*nts.
I’ll now don my asbestos suit.
Free market capitalism and democracy are not the same. You can have one without the other. I would argue many parts of Europe are more democratic than the usa. Precisely because the government still acts in favour of the will of the people ahead of the will of corporations.
damn, i came here to read insanity and you just polluted it with your sanity!
wish i could vote a hundred times, 5 for you and 1 for the C*nt in the asbestos suit
Lessee, asterisk has to stand for a vowel. ‘A’ works…one meaning of CANT is ‘the insincere use of pious words’ according to Merriam-Webster. ‘E’ works…CENT obviously suggests money. ‘I’ and ‘O’ don’t work…that leaves ‘U’.
That works.
eMo.
Thanks for the compliment. You have confirmed my point. And buzz you have not said anything that is not understood. But free market and democracy are intertwined since the market is defined by the buyers and producers, i.e, the people. The people have very little say on what goes on in Brussels unless they have a lot of money to buy into the Brussels elite.
The Eu Parliament just had a vote for a new commission president to replace Barosso. There was only one candidate, Mr. Junckie. How is that democratic? The people in Europe are pathetically alienated from anything resembling democracy. They have no way to hold their “elected officials” accountable. Sorta like the USA but worse.
Yes. Let’s face it, most of the EUs faults and apparently stupid decisions are the results of corporate lobbying. One might say US style corporate lobbying.
well, the EU is gonna have some stiff competition from Canamerico, Inc.
To say that the EU acts in favour of the will of the people is almost as daft as saying china is the most democratic country on the planet.
The EU government is a corrupt, money grubbing bunch of sell outs who are only interested in lining their pockets and creating as many laws as possible to bully the population into servitude.
It’s a broken system that doesn’t work and hopefully the UK will soon be free of their stranglehold.
When you overreach, you turn bad guys into good guys. Google is now the victim.
Stupid move.
So, they want Google Glass to stand on its own? 😉
The EU will break up before Google does — as it should.
Please EU: Don’t force me to start rooting for Google!
:-Q*****
For gawd’s sake. Gone a bit too socialist, have we???
I don’t recall your rooting for Microsoft when they were having their own troubles with EU back in the 2000s
Certainly not. But Google ≠ Microsoft. Not yet anyway.
The main issue is privacy of services and any abuse of the powers of monopoly.
If Google is innocent in those areas, then I doubt this story would exist.
Google and Microsoft actually do suck break them up.
Yep, let the EU smash Google into a million pieces of Schidt.
Good times ahead for Euro PR companies, Google’s about to payroll a campaign worth billions
The EU Sucks Big Time!
American Outrage is visceral … visceral! I say.
They deploy the thing they do best
– American Redneck Nationalism.
thus ~
MDN (Nashunal Murikan Dfense) “Cry ‘Havoc!’, and let slip the dogs of war” …to battle the Eurotards, especially the European People’s Party, a political party that inherently shares the same political and social paradigms as the American Republican party … only, a little bit less spikey and a little bit more velvety.
I’m guessing this has something to do with Google/NSA spying on Germans and German leaders.
For years Google’s search was much better than the competition. But, over the last few years they began to heavily censor search results and because of this, alternatives like Yahoo search and DuckDuckGo are the better choice.
The monopoly Google Android has in Europe is a laughable joke. Apple smartphones and computers are vastly superior to Google’s ecosystem. There is no debate. It’s like the difference between a bicycle and a Porsche 911.
This whole situation is a perfect example of socialism’s aftermath: The result is a general population that becomes complacent and lazy. This lack of motivation and mental stimulus either kills millions of brain cells or thwarts the connections from firing properly. The final result is sheep being easily manipulated by negative marketing and then purchasing/using inferior products. And now, these zombified Europeans need to be saved from the evil Google. Hilarious.
I agree with the assessment of what I call ‘dire socialism’. Whether it actually ‘kills millions of brain cells or thwarts the connections…’ is highly unlikely. From my POV it’s a matter of learned behavior that involves both the Sheeple Factor and the natural response of people creating their own incentives/motivations, typically found in crime.
(Every ‘communist’ nation swiftly becomes a criminal nation, with long term detrimental effects after the purple haze of ‘communism’ wears off, as seen in modern day Russia).
Google does plenty of evil on a regular basis. Tracking of victim behavior across the Internet is not acceptable IMHO, although there are tools to stop it dead. But this loon level liberal paranoia regarding Google is beyond the edge. There IS competition to use instead.
I use Duck Duck go as my default search engine, but if I am doing work or looking up tech information, coding info, answers, google is far better. I am of mixed feelings about our lady of perpetual beta: they should not be squashing so many independent development companies by copying inferior free versions of pay software.
If the EU wants to do something about it, build an open, free EU search Engine that works better than Google – a EUoogle – HELLO EUROPE know any computer scientists?
Check out this BOOT that just fell from the sky:
European Legislator Urging the Breakup of Google Has Ties to a Law Firm
Andreas Schwab, a German member of the European Parliament, has been making headlines in the last week after drafting a resolution that calls for the breakup of Google.
But Mr. Schwab is not just a legislator, he is also “of counsel” at the German law firm CMS Hasche Sigle, which has represented some of the German publishing interests that have been most eager to declaw Google. He earns roughly $15,000 to $75,000 annually from the firm, according to a disclosure filing. The firm’s website lists his expertise as competition policy. . . .
Mr. Schwab is a member of the center-right European People’s Party. The nonbinding resolution, seen as having a strong chance of approval, comes up for a vote on Thursday.
IOW: This is high level ‘lobbying’ at work in the EU, aka another oligarchy at work. Or so say I.
And here we go:
European parliament votes in favor of breaking up Google
Although the vote is non-binding, it’s a definite setback for the company.
Well, this isn’t actually what the headline implies:
Although Google is not named specifically in the resolution, it’s clearly targeted at the dominant search engine.
IOW: There’s hype/spin/bullshit involved in what we’re reading via the ‘news’ sources. But Google would suffer if this resolution was more than simply EU opinion, which it’s not (so far).