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European Parliament votes in favour of breaking up Google

bbc.co.uk

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Re: European Parliament votes in favour of breaking up Google

#21

Post by wfjackson »

cbeach wrote: post #15

Why is this story showing on HN, whilst the following one (on the breakup of Google) has more points, and was previously top of the HN front page? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8666921 Interestingly the above story has comments that are far more scathing about Google, whereas the story I am now commenting on, which HN has favoured has mostly arguments in defence of Google. What's going on, PG?

Most likely it got penalized by the flamewar detector, since it had many more comments than points.

http://www.righto.com/2013/11/how-hacker-news-ranking-really...

Also, dang is in charge now, not PG.

Re: European Parliament votes in favour of breaking up Google

#22

Post by praptak »

Elrac wrote: post #9
brador wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know collectively Europe is the largest economy in the world? It's not something any company can just shrug away. I believe the goal of this and recent similar decisions is to fracture the internet, allowing for easier law making and rent seeking.

I know that. But I think you fail to realize that Europe is not the same as its government, just as the US is not the same as the US government. The analogy isn't perfect, but the citizens of the US want drugs. The American government pours untold billions into its War on Drugs, and as a result there are more drugs available in the US than ever before. Similarly, Europe's Internet users want a smart, convenient maste…

> Europe is not the same as its government, just as the US is not the same as the US government.

Btw, European Parliament is also not the same as Europe government. It has much weaker influence on things than a typical parliament of a country.

Re: European Parliament votes in favour of breaking up Google

#23

Post by lumberjack »

FreakyT wrote: post #2

It's pretty clear that this and other their other specifically anti-Google rulings are about protectionism and nothing more.

There isn't yet an EU based competitor for this protectionism to make sense. But if there was, I see no reason why the EU shouldn't try to help it gain market share. It's in their interest for various reasons and more competition in search would really benefit everyone but Google.

Re: European Parliament votes in favour of breaking up Google

#26

Post by Brakenshire »

To copy from the previous discussion. These are the issues that are up for debate:

>The manner in which Google displays its own vertical search services compared with other, competing products

> How Google copies content from other websites - such as restaurant reviews - to include within its own services

> The exclusivity Google has to sell advertising around the search terms people use

> Restrictions on advertisers from moving their online ad campaigns to rival search engines

In my opinion, there's zero chance of Google being broken up, what's more likely is that limited regulations get introduced for services as they are provided in Europe. I recall there being a great hoo-haa about the EU breaking up Microsoft, what actually happened were regulations that they unbundle Media Player and Internet Explorer, and provide some networking specifications to allow for third party clients to interface with Windows. I imagine something similar will happen here.

Re: European Parliament votes in favour of breaking up Google

#27

Post by celticninja »

XorNot wrote: post #18
thret wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just a ploy to grab headlines and appear relevant, nothing will come of it.

There's a distinct category of "edgy" activist types which have decided Google must be some sort of evil monopoly on the internet by a sheer failure of understanding of why infrastructure business models can be monopolies, whereas "being a popular search engine" really isn't.

Being a monopoly is not necessarily a bad thing. It can lead to consumers being negatively affected but that is not a foregone conclusion. YKK, the zip manufacturer, has effectively had a monopoly on zips for a long time but they produce high quality goods at a low price. The consumer gets a great deal and the monopoly knows to keep the customer happy to keep their market position.

Google do search better than anyone else. Before Google I would use 2 or 3 search engines but once Google proved their Quality I had no reason to go elsewhere.

Re: European Parliament votes in favour of breaking up Google

#28

Post by Elrac »

praptak wrote: post #22
Elrac wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know that. But I think you fail to realize that Europe is not the same as its government, just as the US is not the same as the US government. The analogy isn't perfect, but the citizens of the US want drugs. The American government pours untold billions into its War on Drugs, and as a result there are more drugs available in the US than ever before. Similarly, Europe's Internet users want a smart, convenient maste…

> Europe is not the same as its government, just as the US is not the same as the US government. Btw, European Parliament is also not the same as Europe government. It has much weaker influence on things than a typical parliament of a country.

Exactly. There's a lot less cohesion and a lot less centralized power.

Some European governments ship politicians off to Euro-government just to get them out of the way. Perhaps not quite justly, the Euro Parliament is sometimes considered a retirement institution for incompetent politicians.

Re: European Parliament votes in favour of breaking up Google

#29

Post by cbeach »

_wmd wrote: post #17
cbeach wrote: post #15

Why is this story showing on HN, whilst the following one (on the breakup of Google) has more points, and was previously top of the HN front page? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8666921 Interestingly the above story has comments that are far more scathing about Google, whereas the story I am now commenting on, which HN has favoured has mostly arguments in defence of Google. What's going on, PG?

It can happen due to 1) significant numbers of users flagging the link, 2) the admins demoting it, or 3) it attracting too many comments too quickly ("controversiality"). It seems likely 1 and 3 happened here, but due to a lack of transparency it's always impossible to rule out 2.

It may be "controversial," but it is also big news and very HN-worthy. Disappointing to see that HN's algorithms are so trigger-happy

Re: European Parliament votes in favour of breaking up Google

#30

Post by cbeach »

To copy from the previous discussion:

I was blocked indefinitely from Adsense by Google's faulty algorithms (without explanation and with appeals rejected without explanation). I lost the revenue I'd earnt that month, and soon realised Google holds a monopoly in this space, and no one else offered a comparable service.

I'm all for Google's stronghold to be broken. reply

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