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European Commission fines Google €2.42B for abusing dominance

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Re: European Commission fines Google €2.42B for abusing dominance

#271

Post by coldtea »

dmix wrote: post #233
lvoudour wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I came to say exactly that. That's a very well written statement that clarifies the situation more than any news outlet I happened to read on the case. As for the decision, it may seem unfair for Google, but the European commission has to look at the bigger picture: its search dominance is so big that it gives Google an unfair advantage when competing in other business sectors, driving others out of competition even…

Google's search results have become more than just a directory of websites like it was in previous years. It now integrates tons of specialized results such as embedded videos and smart answers to direct questions. It will only move further and further away from simple lists of sites as their AI improves. I fear this fine will deter innovation here as any special results Google adds will be scrutinized heavily. It's…

>If Google was merely a Yellow Pages style service as it was previously then I'd be more sympathetic to the idea of distorted rankings favouring Google services but that's becoming less and less the typical user experience.

Well, I'm primarily agains the idea of giving a single, non democratically controlled non-international entity, so much power.

To the point where I don't care if Google is forced to stop innovating in being a "one stop shop" for the internet if that means more distributed sources and more distributed (even if lower quality and with fewer resources) innovation.

Sometimes, when it comes to society, it's best to have less technology more uniformly distributed than a single source of highly advanced technology.

Re: European Commission fines Google €2.42B for abusing dominance

#272

Post by ionised »

vegancap wrote: post #142
s_kilk wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the user has an expectation that they'll be shown the best results, not the most self-shilled results.

Surely as a user you'd view promoted shopping results in Google with a pinch of salt and look around first? I just don't agree that warrants a €2.4bn fine. Again, unless I've misunderstood the full picture

> Surely as a user you'd view promoted shopping results in Google with a pinch of salt and look around first?

Most users don't.

Re: European Commission fines Google €2.42B for abusing dominance

#275

Post by throwaway2016a »

I might be in a minority here and I'll probably get down voted but this result scares me... and I used to be CTO one of those competing price comparison sites that show up lower in the results so if anyone should agree it should be me.

While it made me angry when Google put their results above ours, I never questioned that they had a right to do that. It is their website. They are not a utility. At what point does a company cross the line and become one that the EU feels can no longer promote their own product?

After all, the actual products here are the products being sold not the comparison sites. If I search for baseball bat the product is the bat not the competing search results.

What's next? Having to give equal ranking to Yahoo! search results in their search page? It sounds extreme but I would have also thought this was extreme until 2 minutes ago.

Or perhaps more accurate... having to completely do away with One Box entirely. After all, when I search for a movie it displays the actor information and movie times before it displays the link to the theater website or IMDB.

Re: European Commission fines Google €2.42B for abusing dominance

#277

Post by kilotaras »

dustinmoris wrote: post #125

Someone said once something which really describes this well: The EU hasn't contributed ANYTHING to the internet, but they are the ones who want to regulate it the most. :(

> The EU hasn't contributed ANYTHING to the internet

Of top of my head:

1. WWW was created in CERN, which is funded mostly by EU countries [1]

2. Linux which accounts for more than 2/3 of web servers was created in Sweden.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CERN#Member_states_and_budget

Re: European Commission fines Google €2.42B for abusing dominance

#278

Post by ionised »

vixen99 wrote: post #17
diggan wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more like a game where others should have the chance to win at one point, just like you did.

Europeans could always use one of the other (European?) search engines if so they wished. http://searchengineland.com/alternatives-to-google-in-europe...

Or Google could follow the rules of the countries in which they operate.

Re: European Commission fines Google €2.42B for abusing dominance

#279

Post by ionised »

oyvey wrote: post #212

Visting google is 100% voloutary and there are alternatives. The EU should not interfere, its unnecessary and I think its an abuse of power from their side.

That's a very US-centric viewpoint and not one shared by people in Europe.

Re: European Commission fines Google €2.42B for abusing dominance

#280

Post by raverbashing »

kilotaras wrote: post #277
dustinmoris wrote: post #125

Someone said once something which really describes this well: The EU hasn't contributed ANYTHING to the internet, but they are the ones who want to regulate it the most. :(

> The EU hasn't contributed ANYTHING to the internet Of top of my head: 1. WWW was created in CERN, which is funded mostly by EU countries [1] 2. Linux which accounts for more than 2/3 of web servers was created in Sweden. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CERN#Member_states_and_budget

How could you get the country where Linux comes from wrong? (unless that's the joke)
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