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Europe Is Going After Google Hard, and Google May Not Win

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Re: Europe Is Going After Google Hard, and Google May Not Win

#21

Post by raverbashing »

criley2 wrote: post #7

Is anyone surprised that Google didn't come from Europe, and the next one isn't either? Good for Europe. Go out there and extract that pound of flesh from the foreign company and show domestics what a powerful government regulator looks like, show them that their business is better started in another country. Is what it is. Hope the tax revenue offsets the lack of innovation and talent flight. But I think Google News…

> Are Europeans not upset that they're being forced into sub-standard foreign technology by their government

Oh you're so funny. As opposed to the US where people overpay for sub-standard local technology?

People in the US still use cheques. And they have to pay (a lot) to print those.

Chip cards? No, let's use our fraud-prone magnetic stripe cards.

It's cheaper for me to call the US using an MVNO from Europe than picking up a phone and calling the US from within with a pre-paid cell phone there.

Talent flight? Sure let me wait for an H1-B (that you might not get after all). Meanwhile a non-EU worker visa takes about a month to process (sometimes less).

Re: Europe Is Going After Google Hard, and Google May Not Win

#22

Post by nebulon »

LoSboccacc wrote: post #9
criley2 wrote: post #7

Is anyone surprised that Google didn't come from Europe, and the next one isn't either? Good for Europe. Go out there and extract that pound of flesh from the foreign company and show domestics what a powerful government regulator looks like, show them that their business is better started in another country. Is what it is. Hope the tax revenue offsets the lack of innovation and talent flight. But I think Google News…

they already killed small startups with the disarmonized VAT rules :/

From my experience at cloudron.io this is hardly true. I feel there is lots of misinformation spread about the new VAT rules. I don't know how the situation is outside of Germany, but the process here is super straightforwards. In fact it is easier to report taxes in other EU countries as it is in Germany itself. Using the Mini One Stop Shop system you have a central entity to report them and the provided webinterface to do so is simple.

Re: Europe Is Going After Google Hard, and Google May Not Win

#23

Post by Kurtz79 »

criley2 wrote: post #7

Is anyone surprised that Google didn't come from Europe, and the next one isn't either? Good for Europe. Go out there and extract that pound of flesh from the foreign company and show domestics what a powerful government regulator looks like, show them that their business is better started in another country. Is what it is. Hope the tax revenue offsets the lack of innovation and talent flight. But I think Google News…

"Are Europeans not upset that they're being forced into sub-standard foreign technology by their government for which they have no superior domestic alternative, also suppressing domestic innovation as innovators seek greener regulatory pasture, all in the name of today's tax revenue?"

No (of course I only can speak for myself).

Are Americans not upset that the absence of regulations creates the conditions for corporations to be above the law, where individuals rights are trampled in the name of corporate profit ?

I guess not, and I'm fine with it, to each his own.

Re: Europe Is Going After Google Hard, and Google May Not Win

#24

Post by tyfon »

criley2 wrote: post #7

Is anyone surprised that Google didn't come from Europe, and the next one isn't either? Good for Europe. Go out there and extract that pound of flesh from the foreign company and show domestics what a powerful government regulator looks like, show them that their business is better started in another country. Is what it is. Hope the tax revenue offsets the lack of innovation and talent flight. But I think Google News…

As a European (though not a EU citizen), I'm not sad that companies have to follow the rule of law. Personally I'm not sure that Google has been abusing the monopoly, but I don't have the code they use to rank search results. If they indeed abuse their position they should pay the price like everyone else. As a side note, the initial complaint against Google was filed by Microsoft. Microsoft is a US company.

Re: Europe Is Going After Google Hard, and Google May Not Win

#25

Post by EliRivers »

criley2 wrote: post #7

Is anyone surprised that Google didn't come from Europe, and the next one isn't either? Good for Europe. Go out there and extract that pound of flesh from the foreign company and show domestics what a powerful government regulator looks like, show them that their business is better started in another country. Is what it is. Hope the tax revenue offsets the lack of innovation and talent flight. But I think Google News…

all in the name of today's tax revenue?

The article doesn't mention tax.

Re: Europe Is Going After Google Hard, and Google May Not Win

#26

Post by uola »

criley2 wrote: post #16
rufus42 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think Europeans care or have to care. If it looks different, there will be other StartUps/innovations for the missing pieces. Here are many sub-search sites which doesn't deliver like Google, but are famous because they are more ethical. The question is: Is it real innovation or just an addiction for everything new and shiny.

My comment is troll level? I consider European regulators behavior to be "troll level", asking for the troll tax :) Guess it's all about perspective.

Of course it's about perspective, I just don't think you have a very broad one. That Google didn't come from Europe has little to do with the current situation. Europe doesn't lack innovation at all, in fact the reason that startups aren't very popular is that there are many other interesting engineering companies to work for. Talent flight is not particularly significant, especially with the US visa rules.

European startups often out innovate companies like Google, but there's no way you can win when Google owns the platform. We already have sub-standard foreign technology when US companies don't roll out features in European countries. Yet, again you can't win because who's going to fund a company that any minute can be crushed by a much larger US competitor.

Being able to compete with US companies is very much a problem for European startups, not because of talent flight or innovation but because they have such strong market positions that they don't mind taking advantage of.

The funny thing is of course that a decade ago no one in the US cared about Europe, but now with all the shit going on in the US you constantly see shallow argument how horrible Europe is. I see that as a good sign.

Re: Europe Is Going After Google Hard, and Google May Not Win

#27

Post by viraptor »

jswny wrote: post #20
galfarragem wrote: post #6

"Don't be evil." -- Google, early 2000's [1] [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_be_evil Edit: Despite the strong HN bias I will keep this comment.

Are people just downvoting this because they think Europe is in the wrong?

Mostly because it's known, obvious, and doesn't add to the discussion. We know it had that idea, and we know what followed. If the OP wants to make an actual point/statement, then they could do that instead.

Re: Europe Is Going After Google Hard, and Google May Not Win

#28

Post by k-mcgrady »

ythl wrote: post #12
criley2 wrote: post #7

Is anyone surprised that Google didn't come from Europe, and the next one isn't either? Good for Europe. Go out there and extract that pound of flesh from the foreign company and show domestics what a powerful government regulator looks like, show them that their business is better started in another country. Is what it is. Hope the tax revenue offsets the lack of innovation and talent flight. But I think Google News…

> Is anyone surprised that Google didn't come from Europe, and the next one isn't either? Disruptive/innovative startups require an "ask for forgiveness" mentality, and not a "ask for permission" mentality which Europe tries so hard to cultivate.

Comparing how regulators are acting towards Google now vs. How they would act when Google was a startup is ridiculous. The investigations are largely based on Google abusing power, you can't do that when you're a couple of people. We need to stop looking at Facebook/Google etc. as innovative little startups. They're behemoths that can afford to ask for permission.

Re: Europe Is Going After Google Hard, and Google May Not Win

#29

Post by ebbv »

Shivetya wrote: post #3

I am not a fan of the "Right to be forgotten" but I am an even less happy with the idea that just because they are so good are providing searching that somehow they aren't allowed to favor their own interests. Are we to treat them as a utility or such simply because they spent the time and effort to become so good?

Framing it that way ignores that Google has always presented its rankings as fair. If they had always been up front about giving an unfair advantage to their own sites then that would have possibly changed history and opened up space for a competitor who did nothing but search. But Google has always presented itself as benign and benevolent. That misrepresentation is a real issue.

Re: Europe Is Going After Google Hard, and Google May Not Win

#30

Post by electic »

raverbashing wrote: post #21
criley2 wrote: post #7

Is anyone surprised that Google didn't come from Europe, and the next one isn't either? Good for Europe. Go out there and extract that pound of flesh from the foreign company and show domestics what a powerful government regulator looks like, show them that their business is better started in another country. Is what it is. Hope the tax revenue offsets the lack of innovation and talent flight. But I think Google News…

> Are Europeans not upset that they're being forced into sub-standard foreign technology by their government Oh you're so funny. As opposed to the US where people overpay for sub-standard local technology? People in the US still use cheques . And they have to pay (a lot) to print those. Chip cards? No, let's use our fraud-prone magnetic stripe cards. It's cheaper for me to call the US using an MVNO from Europe than p…

...and at the end of the day it still doesn't produce Google scale companies.
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