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Google hit with €1.5B fine from EU over advertising

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Re: Google hit with €1.5B fine from EU over advertising

#391
post #287
post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The zeitgeist of 1923 during Trotsky's statement, and the idea of unifying Europe, since 1923 was also the year that Paneuropa was published by Coudenhove-Kalergi. I don't read 1984 as a roadmap, or with literal parallels to the EU, but only as a cautionary tales against large super states. It is not too clear how the world arrives at this scenario in the book. Warring is a distraction to keep the public in line. I h…

You either didn’t understand the point I was making, or you are intentionally ignoring it. So let me be direct: How is the EU structurally more similar to a Trotskyist superstate than to the USA? How do you justify comparing the EU, but not the USA, to the totalitarian, quasi-fascist nightmare from 1984?

Both of your leading assumptions are incorrect: I understand your point, and I am not ignoring it. I didn't bring up the USA, you did, so I didn't bother making your argument for you. My guess was that you assume I am fine with the US, but not the EU. I brought up 1984 and the Cold War as things that shaped my thoughts on the subject of one-world government or super states in general. I brought up Trotsky to show that there were different ideas of a united Europe, not to say its modern incarnation, the EU is a Trotskyist superstate - your words. I am more of a free-market anarchist, so the US and the EU both are not at all my cup of tea, if we're going to idealize or dream. I have nothing to justify per your remark in comparing them. But now, for fun I'll bite on a comparison for you. The US even during the early years was not as defined by so many different languages and regions as Europe was and is, even if you include the English, Dutch, Spanish, and French settlers/explorers/colonizers, and the Native American population. The US is a young nation. The idea of a United States came early on in the country's formation into a Federal Republic. Each European nation, even with shifting borders and leaders over time, remained separate until realtively recently with the formation of the EU. You may choose to invoke Trump as the tip of your spear in this argument about the US, he's an easy target, but there is more than just one populist leader in Europe with AfD in Germany, the Freedom Party in Austria, Macron in France (almost Le Pen), Italy (oh, boy), Hungary, Slovenia and Poland to name a few. People seem to get confused over the electoral college's role in US politics. I am confused on how Juncker got elected, and now Salvini has his sights on the coming May elections. With Brexit and the rise of populism in Europe, I can paint a few nightmares, but I am an optimist.

Re: Google hit with €1.5B fine from EU over advertising

#392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understood the argument (it wasn't that complicated to make.) By this reasoning, Google Ads is a different product from Google Search and as such gets preferential treatment by being the only one presented in Google's search results. It's not hard to see these line of fines against Google for what they are: Money-grabbing attacks. With no knowledge on the matter, as an external observer, I wish this doesn't lead Go…

By this reasoning, Google Ads is a different product from Google Search and as such gets preferential treatment by being the only one presented in Google's search results. I'm not sure what reasoning you're using, but it appears you aren't grasping the complexity of the argument. For starters, Google search placement is a fundamental part of the search product, and is a wholly different product from Google Ads (which…

Not sure you understood why Google was fined. Search placement is irrelevant in this context. This pertains to search results restricted to a third-party site, embedded on that site.

If you want to make a general argument about Search placement that is conditioned on plainly wrong assumptions (Google _never_ prioritizes organic search results based on buying Google Ads) then, sure, go right ahead.

Re: Google hit with €1.5B fine from EU over advertising

#393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think there was any prospect of war between the EU countries while the USSR was around, it seems folly to pin peace to an institution when it was a greater enemy that actually united us.

IMHO the EU is a direct result of the two World Wars, not the Cold War (we're only starting to see the results of the Cold War now).

Yes, after two failed attempts to conquer Europe by military force, Germans finally realized they can achieve the same effect much easier with their economical power and then created EU :)

Re: Google hit with €1.5B fine from EU over advertising

#394
post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why shouldn't we all get off easy (or easier)?

Imagine if the punishment for stealing was to be fined for 10% of the amount you stole. Like, you get to keep 90% of it. You'd rob a bank and then drop by the police station to drop off their cut just to avoid the hassle of "getting investigated" later. So obviously the punishment has to be worse than the value of doing it. But not 1:1 either, if you know you'll only catch 50% of robbers, then the fine would have to…

In European law, jail times and fines are multiplied by consecutive infringements to be punished. Meaning if you stole three times in a row and get caught after the third, you get sentenced three times the theft sentence.

Re: Google hit with €1.5B fine from EU over advertising

#395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like there are ways to avoid tax and ways to "recover" it back.

I happen to believe that the excessive "fines" that the EU has been directing at the technology industry are a brazen plan to extract money from large technology companies without violating international taxation treaties signed with the United States.

If that's the case, they need to start issuing more fines to more companies to really make a dent.

These fines are big, but as a percentage of the tech industry revenue, they're still under 0.1 percent

Re: Google hit with €1.5B fine from EU over advertising

#396

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First, the vast majority of the world does not use the day-fine system. But more importantly, it makes no sense to index corporate fines to a firm's revenue because corporations can be split/combined (unlike people). Indexing fines to firm size would lead to market distortions, especially in the case when those fines are a significant fraction of total revenue.

At this point it might actually make sense for Google to create a separate European entity so they won't get fined so heavily all the time in the EU. I guess they'd have to see how much of a benefit that would be relative to the amount of taxes they would save by being in Ireland (I'm not sure if that's still a thing).

Google has already started the process of splitting to a Google EEA.

They sent notices recently about a transfer of data custodianship to GSuite customers.

Re: Google hit with €1.5B fine from EU over advertising

#397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This really puts things in to perspective. Subscription startups looking to get some percentage of the population to pay $10 a month can never reach the scale of google advertising when they are extracting nearly that much value on average from every single person.

Well that's part of the problem inherent with the subscription model, isn't it? Google can make >$100 a click for ads on mortgages or insurance keywords, but subscription models are locked in to revenue that doesn't scale with the category of use - unless they become some sort of affiliate service.

A friend of mine bought a house from a cost-per-click ad...

If the seller has $1000 per click, that's really going to distort the market...

Re: Google hit with €1.5B fine from EU over advertising

#399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a EU citizen I like my personal data protected. I left facebook and all other networks except Twitter and usually do not give data for any coupons in shops. GDPR is a mess not from the goal but the implementation. Currently no one knows how to implement GDPR correctly - e.g. how to exchange business cards, how to store information from sales leads etc. Compare this with PCI compliance (which is about CC data prote…

> Compare this with PCI compliance (which is about CC data protection) and it's very clear if you're compliant and if you are not and what to do As someone with an interest in this space, I can say that the PCI DSS is not as clear as you say - there is plenty that is ambiguous and open to interpretation, and often a pass/fail for each requirement hinges on your QSA's interpretation.

Implemented PCI DSS and GDPR several times, I do think there is a huge difference.

Re: Google hit with €1.5B fine from EU over advertising

#400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to go down the slippery road of analogies, a better one would be: Google is Walmart, offering all kinds of products. Carrying Kellog’s cereals (and many others). Recently it started producing its own brand, Cerealify. Once it started producing its own brand, it’s the only brand you can now buy at Walmart. It’s also the only brand featured in marketing materials (catalogs, flyers, posters). Kelloggs, and o…

The Google Search page is not a market place and the original argument against Google is absurd. For instance, if I search for "The Art of Computer Programming" on Google, the first result through which I can actually buy the books is Amazon, arguably one of the largest competitors of Google. I understand the desire of playing Devil's Advocate here, but it's difficult to stomach. Google has been such a force for posi…

Positive change globally? Source?
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