Is google too big now and may have to be broken down?
Is having someone as big as google a good thing for the rest of us? Would society, economies etc benefit from google broken down into several smaller independent companies?
European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitrust case
391–400 of 975 posts
Re: European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitrust case
#392This is a dangerous ruling that pushes the world further into the potential for trade wars by proxy. Contrary to numerous posts- -no, the law isn't "clear". This is an incredibly nuanced situation, and the notion that Google was just overtly flouting (ed: thx sjcsjc) the law is outright nonsense. Google has a huge litany of bad practices (I personally recently switched my daily driver to an iPhone for that reason), b…
no, the law isn't "clear" Well , judges had a look and decided it was
No, this is a decision by political appointees. I assume judges might have a look if Google goes the court.
Re: European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitrust case
#393Earlier quoted context omitted.
The article this post links to would point to the trigger happy fine nature of the EU when it comes to American technology
A years-long investigation into a mega-corp is "trigger-happy" and cause for worry?
The amount of the fine is. Seems petty at best, vindictive at worst
Re: European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitrust case
#394Earlier quoted context omitted.
You think it was blindingly obvious to Apple that they would have had to pay this tax eventually? Seems to me and everyone else it was an attempt at a stroke. You're alleging that Apple were a passive actor. You saw that thing in the ICIJ Jersey papers leak where Apple went round the world actively seeking jurisdictions that would twist their tax rules to suit them? https://www.irishtimes.com/business/apple-s-cash-mo…
It should have been obvious to Apple that they were receiving illegal subsidies, given that they were taxed differently than other companies. "The Irish government agreed a deal with Apple in 1991 to only tax a certain bracket of its earnings" http://uk.businessinsider.com/how-apple-managed-to-get-its-t... To me it's pretty obvious that Tim Cook will burn in hell :-).
> It should have been obvious to Apple
Though tax avoidance was a corporate strategy and they actually sought these deals it would not have been obvious that this was technically illegal. The Irish Revenue Commissioners told them it was legal as an interpretation of Irish law, which was incorrect.
Re: European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitrust case
#395Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, you're completely wrong. Have you even ever used Android devices? Samsung's flavour of Android is quite different to HTCs or LGs. Google doesn't prevent people creating competing forks of Android, that's the entire point of Android's design . What their agreements require is that the forks be compatible with base Android, that is, apps should run the same on every variant of Android. It's designed to ensure app c…
>Google doesn't prevent people creating competing forks of Android, that's the entire point of Android's design. Did you read the main points of the press release ? If you (say an OEM like LG) license google play, you cannot create a competing OS based on AOSP. It has nothing to do with OEMs customizing AOSP for the devices they sell. It has everything to do with, say, an OEM selling a different phone that can run Am…
The press release is wrong, who'd have guessed. What is Samsung TouchWiz or whatever they call it these days, if not a competing OS based on AOSP. Ditto for every other Android device. Android was forked so much that for the longest time the lament of geeks everywhere was "give me a device with stock Google Android". That doesn't sound like an monopoly to me.
Re: European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitrust case
#396This is crazy. It's like if Android wasn't open source at all this wouldn't be an issue. But because it is open source they're being punished.
Re: European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitrust case
#397Site is under maintanance, Google Cache link (hahaha): http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:europa.... //edit: oh, took only a minute or two :) nice work I really like this point: > [Google] has prevented manufacturers wishing to pre-install Google apps from selling even a single smart mobile device running on alternative versions of Android that were not approved by Google (so-called "Android forks")…
> I would buy the Google-Facebook-Other_BS-free variant of your otherwise commercial high-to-mid-end, google-and-other-stuff-infested mobile phone!
Isn't that what the BlackPhone has been doing for some time?
https://www.silentcircle.com/products-and-solutions/blackpho...
Re: European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitrust case
#398Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the initial fine. Now they have 90 days to comply, otherwise they will get penalties (up to 5% worldwide turnover of Alphabet) until they do. From the link: > Google must now bring the conduct effectively to an end within 90 days or face penalty payments of up to 5% of the average daily worldwide turnover of Alphabet, Google's parent company.
Is it me, or 5% isn't that much?
5% of your worldwide revenue (not benefits) for lack on compliance on one issue? With others pending? I do think this is not something you can ignore very long.
Re: European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitrust case
#399Earlier quoted context omitted.
How would it be Googles responsibility? Asking nicely would only get you so far and honestly with GDPR and now this, the EU is becoming more and more of a liability
Yeah - having the state stand up for and protect your right to privacy is such a pain in the ass.
I would hate to live in such a restrictive area but that is probably more a cultural difference than anything. I'd rather have competition and innovation than security and stability. In my opinion it is the main distinguishing factor between the USA and Europe
Re: European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitrust case
#400Earlier quoted context omitted.
If a company simply ignores fines, the regulators will assume that they didn't choose high enough fines, since it did not hurt the company enough. They'll schedule another meeting, check whether the company still breaks the rules in the same way and if so impose fines which are a lot more painful. You can expect that to happen way faster and with way less bureaucracy then the initial fine.
> If a company simply ignores fines it'd be interesting to imagine how a company could potentially still operate in a hostile country, if said company is only dealing with cyberspace products (such as software/saas). Would they be able to continously ignore any/all rulings, by operating the datacenter, and any payment mechanisms, outside said hostile country?
Yes, the only thing the country can do only block the companies domain in that case.
For example in Turkey betting is illegal, turkey will block any bet providers page. But some providers just change their domain regularly.