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Google Is Target of European Backlash on U.S. Tech Dominance

nytimes.com

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Re: Google Is Target of European Backlash on U.S. Tech Dominance

#41

Post by ghostdiver »

ocb wrote: post #28
spindritf wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is pretty embarassing that we completely rely on Americans for tech. And that's despite larger population and higher density, better Internet connectivity, free higher education in many places... I don't think it's Google's fault though.

Perhaps the US has stronger entrepreneurial culture? I've seen this discussed before.

That's not the case. Entrepreneurial culture is there in Europe even though there are many bureaucratical barriers.

US startups have at least one very important handicap: over 300mln people speaking the same language. On

For Europeans it's a very strong growth barrier, we can easily grow within one country, but then we hit the wall.

Re: Google Is Target of European Backlash on U.S. Tech Dominance

#42

Post by dannyr »

thrownaway2424 wrote: post #36
threeseed wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google is the default search engine in Safari, Chrome, Firefox on both mobile and web. Nobody is going out of their way to look for or type Google.com. And not sure why on earth you are bringing up Yandex or Baidu which are both country specific engines with very strong ties to their respective governments.

I rebut your naked assertion with anecdata. Once a retailer offered to look up something on her computer for me. She opened up internet explorer, the default browser on her operating system. It loaded Bing. Then she typed "Google" into Bing. Then she clicked the first result. Then she typed her question into Google.

Saw this on High School Students too.

The default search engine was Yahoo. They search for "Google", click on the link and search from there.

Re: Google Is Target of European Backlash on U.S. Tech Dominance

#43

Post by bowlofpetunias »

Yes, we hate them for their freedom.

Oh, wait, we're trying to protect our freedom. US tech companies are on a rampage attempting to destroy civil rights, consumer rights and labor rights in Europe. Often openly breaking laws that aren't outdated and in need of "disruption", but very much explicitly exist to prevent what these companies are trying to do.

This insanity has got to end at some point. Imagine if a foreign companies started liquor stores across the US that sold alcohol to under 21 year olds, flaunting US law, claiming to be innovative and disruptive, and accusing the US of just trying to protect it's internal market.

We've been pretty fucking tolerant of this shit so far, acknowledging that some things may be up for debate. Regulators have mostly limited themselves to diplomatically urging companies to adjust their practices.

But it's getting ridiculous. Especially Uber has demonstrated that US companies have absolutely no scruples anymore about launching businesses that openly and deliberately break local laws. This isn't business, it's organized crime.

Re: Google Is Target of European Backlash on U.S. Tech Dominance

#45

Post by jedmeyers »

ghostdiver wrote: post #41
ocb wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps the US has stronger entrepreneurial culture? I've seen this discussed before.

That's not the case. Entrepreneurial culture is there in Europe even though there are many bureaucratical barriers. US startups have at least one very important handicap: over 300mln people speaking the same language. On For Europeans it's a very strong growth barrier, we can easily grow within one country, but then we hit the wall.

I would not call a 300 million people speaking the same language a "handicap" for the US startups. It's more of the opposite.

Re: Google Is Target of European Backlash on U.S. Tech Dominance

#46

Post by jedmeyers »

bowlofpetunias wrote: post #43

Yes, we hate them for their freedom. Oh, wait, we're trying to protect our freedom. US tech companies are on a rampage attempting to destroy civil rights, consumer rights and labor rights in Europe. Often openly breaking laws that aren't outdated and in need of "disruption", but very much explicitly exist to prevent what these companies are trying to do. This insanity has got to end at some point. Imagine if a foreig…

> Imagine if a foreign companies started liquor stores across the US that sold alcohol to under 21 year olds, flaunting US law, claiming to be innovative and disruptive, and accusing the US of just trying to protect it's internal market.

We have literally discussed this idea at work last week. Air France should park their Airbuses in some airport and sell wine there to 18-year-olds during their prom nights since the laws of France are in effect aboard a ship.

Re: Google Is Target of European Backlash on U.S. Tech Dominance

#47

Post by yohui »

bowlofpetunias wrote: post #43

Yes, we hate them for their freedom. Oh, wait, we're trying to protect our freedom. US tech companies are on a rampage attempting to destroy civil rights, consumer rights and labor rights in Europe. Often openly breaking laws that aren't outdated and in need of "disruption", but very much explicitly exist to prevent what these companies are trying to do. This insanity has got to end at some point. Imagine if a foreig…

Grouping "US tech companies" together based solely on their place of origin, and tarring them all with the same brush, is naked nationalism.

Re: Google Is Target of European Backlash on U.S. Tech Dominance

#48

Post by wfjackson »

res0nat0r wrote: post #39
threeseed wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The hostility comes from Google being the gatekeeper to the internet for most people. And them using that privilege to unfairly promote their products above alternatives. And you must be deluded if you think the privacy concerns aren't a serious concern for Europeans. The US was implicated in hacking the phones of the German Chancellor and Snowden showed the extent of NSA data capture/mining. What do you expect them…

So google became popular because people have found them to be the most useful. Anyone can switch to a different search engine with a few keystrokes. They haven't forced themselves to become the default browser on anything, nor any quid pro quo I believe. Yet another comment that seems to hate google since now they are the big guy, and we hate the big guy, since we on HN are the broke little guys. Until of course we b…

> They haven't forced themselves to become the default browser on anything, nor any quid pro quo I believe.

Wrong.

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/02/12/documents-shed-light-...

Re: Google Is Target of European Backlash on U.S. Tech Dominance

#49

Post by wfjackson »

pippy wrote: post #12
plesner wrote: post #7

"Google competitors say: google is bad"

It's ridiculous to label Google a monopoly. People have to go out of their way to type in Googles URL, and anyone can type in something different. Yandex and baidu are valid non-US competitors. Quality is the reason why people go back to Google. Compare this to the monopolistic practices of Mircosoft; who still viciously fend competitors from installing their software on OEM devices, amongst other horrible business p…

>Compare this to the monopolistic practices of Mircosoft; who still viciously fend competitors from installing their software on OEM devices, amongst other horrible business practices

Reference? Google has been paying OEMs to bundle Chrome since a very long time.

Re: Google Is Target of European Backlash on U.S. Tech Dominance

#50

Post by mbesto »

threeseed wrote: post #20
mbesto wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has plenty of competitors. I think you forget that someone typing in a search isn't the customer opening their wallet up to pay for Google. http://www.techdisruptive.com/2013/04/16/breaking-down-the-o...

Not in the search space they don't which is what EU companies have an issue with. It's Google with about 70%, Bing with about 20% and Yahoo with about 10%. The others are basically rounding errors. When Google puts its own products before organic search results then that clearly is monopolistic behaviour i.e. attempting to extend dominance in one sector to another.

I think you missed by point. "Search" isn't their product. Advertising is.
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