EU Fines Google $5 Billion Over Illegal Android Practices

[bit_user]

If the EU honestly wants to target this they need to go after EVERY SINGLE COMPANY that pre-loads their own software on the phone.

No, because they're regulating Google as a monopoly. There are stricter standards of behavior for monopolists.

 

[bit_user]

Those socialist welfare states have to pay for all the free stuff somehow, and since the end of WW2 all of Europe has been sponging off the US, so why would that change now? Google should just ban the European market from it's product and tell the EU to go F themselves.

As if Google is there purely out of good will and altruism?

Sorry, but Google is there to make money. Even with this fine, they're still probably making a profit on the EU market.

 

[bit_user]

All of these tech companies should dump the EU. They think they own the Internet and all tech.

No, they just want to control their own market, as is their right to do. They're not suing Google over what it's doing in the US or China.

They're American companies.

Eh, originally, and when it suits them. But, they play in global markets and do R&D, manufacturing, services, etc. all over the world. And guess what? When a foreign company is doing business in your market, you get to regulate what they can do and how!

What happens to all this money if the EU gets it? Does it go into the pockets of the EU leaders? Probably.

Good question; wrong answer.

Europe is becoming a cesspool so they might as well get out.

Why the hate? Because not all of their democracies are yet as corrupted as the USA? Why would you rather see an un-elected corporate entity win out over people's right to govern themselves and their market?

 

[kenjitamura]

Pro-tip to decrease chances of migraines and prevent your neck from the soreness of smh syndrome:

1. Quickly glance at post

2. See word "socialism"

3. Skip post

You're welcome

 

[pcbugfixer]

G'day Folks,
So Google is really scared now !!! Bull ShiFt, all it means is that we end up paying for this with increased advertising costs and other service charges to balance the books so that share holders still get their regular dividends. Smile is all you and I can do and bear it ???
The EU needs to have their fining ability curtailed, obviously the individuals that applied the fine were very short sighted as to the reality and consequence of their action burdening the Internet users, i.e. the Public of which I am one.

 

[richardstaller]

Kind of stupid for the EU to ignore how Google makes it money: search and search ads. But when you are a government regulatory agency why worry revenue sources I guess.

 

[knightmike]

1. Google was in the wrong for paying manufacturers to exclusively install the search app. They should be fined for that.

2. Google has every right to insist their apps only be installed on their OS. They should not be fined for that.

 

[milkod2001]

Glad someone is looking into Google practices and takes actions. While they are at it they should also check if Google and also Facebook are not fooling its business customers. All those expensive Google/Facebook ads /paid clicks / interactions etc. paid to get on top search rankings etc. There is no way to track them down. You can get report about number of clicks but never can see break down of each click. I believe many of them would be just bot clicks leading to zero sales and businesses are basically paying for nothing.

 

[jimmysmitty]

If the EU honestly wants to target this they need to go after EVERY SINGLE COMPANY that pre-loads their own software on the phone.

No, because they're regulating Google as a monopoly. There are stricter standards of behavior for monopolists.

Oh so its not a fair market then? Because a fair market is equal on all levels be it a small company or large company.

I guess Microsoft was a monopoly because of Windows Media player, the reason they got fined by the EU. Because the majority of PC users are tech savvy and know how to download and install a known good media player all on their own and not download and install a virus/crapware infested piece of garbage.

All of these tech companies should dump the EU. They think they own the Internet and all tech.

No, they just want to control their own market, as is their right to do. They're not suing Google over what it's doing in the US or China.

They're American companies.

Eh, originally, and when it suits them. But, they play in global markets and do R&D, manufacturing, services, etc. all over the world. And guess what? When a foreign company is doing business in your market, you get to regulate what they can do and how!

What happens to all this money if the EU gets it? Does it go into the pockets of the EU leaders? Probably.

Good question; wrong answer.

Europe is becoming a cesspool so they might as well get out.

Why the hate? Because not all of their democracies are yet as corrupted as the USA? Why would you rather see an un-elected corporate entity win out over people's right to govern themselves and their market?

The government "controlling" anything never works. Its why so many governments before have failed, they over extend.

So where does the money go? I would be interested.

Every country is just as if not more corrupt than the US. I can list a few nearby that are vastly worse off (controlled by gangs etc). Every government has the same failing. They are all run bu career politicians whom have a bias and eventually do things more in their favor rather than what the people who elected them want.

1. Google was in the wrong for paying manufacturers to exclusively install the search app. They should be fined for that.

2. Google has every right to insist their apps only be installed on their OS. They should not be fined for that.

I agree with you on 2. 1 is hard to say yes or no. I guess it depends on a lot of factors. Companies pay other companies to advertise their products more or they pay to be a sponsor for some to use their products. If Google paying companies to use their products is bad then sponsorships and advertisement should also be in the same boat. Although again I am not sure how I feel about it.

To be honest if Google is able to do as they please with Android then 2 shouldn't even exist since they should be able to bake Google search into Android anyways.

 

[CaptainTom]

"because it prevents competition from other search services or browsers such as Firefox to gain significant market share on Android."



Becasue if someone WANTED to use firefox they wouldnt just download the app for it themselves....

i am sorry but ALL OS devices come with w/e brand of search engine is popular.

Google IS the #1 search so itm akes sense to put it on android OS...

also theydo not forbid other searches from being put on the OS.


I honestly feel that google got robbed on this specific lawsuit :/

"Because they could download another one if they want." That's not the point, like at all.

 

[CaptainTom]

Google is going full steam ahead towards creating a Dystopian Technocratic future, and so I usually applaud anything that holds them back.

However I can't help but think the EU is going to far here, and focusing on the wrong things. If you want to punish Google, investigate what they are doing with data. You can't just fine them $5 Billion for putting their search engine on an OS lol.

P.S. Google is stupid if they think they can just keep appealing these court cases. If they want to get back at the EU, they should just threaten to not sell things in certain countries and then see how EU Citizens like it.

 

[hypog60]

Isn't this what the DOJ went after Bill Gates and Microsoft for? Mac users suffers from the same constraints that force people to lose files after buying a new MAC with High Sierra with a new partial non-backwards compatible file system. It probably doesn't effect the average user but many specialized capture, editing, publishing and website software are out of luck.

 

[drojdier]

Well it's obvious that this thread degenerated into an americans vs europeans "battle" with americans basically rooting for corporations to not obey existing laws. Well, at least as long as that doesn't happen in the US. But it's kinda expected to see this kind of moral ambiguity when it comes to the rule of law, considering the current state of the US.

 

[jimmysmitty]

Well it's obvious that this thread degenerated into an americans vs europeans "battle" with americans basically rooting for corporations to not obey existing laws. Well, at least as long as that doesn't happen in the US. But it's kinda expected to see this kind of moral ambiguity when it comes to the rule of law, considering the current state of the US.

I have never seen a law that dictates what you can and cannot do with your own product.

Imagine if the EU went after VW and said that its not fair that the largest car manufacture in the world only uses their own engines and required them to allow the option of using say Hyundai engines.

The only issues I see is that the EU wants to control the market into a fair market but its not fair when its being controlled. It is fair when a company thats good prospers and a company thats meh doesn't. WHy don't they make it so Bing or Yahoo are more widely used?

I am not saying they should be able to break laws but I don't think the EU or any government should dictate a free open market.

 

[drojdier]

I have never seen a law that dictates what you can and cannot do with your own product.

You sure about that? You can no longer put lead in gas or paints or pretty much anything else; you cannot add blades to kids toys, you cannot...I don't know, add cyanide to bread? And so on. There are literally millions of regulations and laws that dictate exactly what you can and cannot do with your product. Why would you think phones market would be any different?

Imagine if the EU went after VW and said that its not fair that the largest car manufacture in the world only uses their own engines and required them to allow the option of using say Hyundai engines.

Except google doesn't produce the phones and they forced the actual phone manufacturers to use certain "components" (i.e. google apps) that are NOT mandatory for the functioning of the phone or the OS. To use your example it would be similar if VW would produce the engines (but not the cars!) and they would force whoever produced the rest of the car to use specific seats or headlights that were also produced by VW. Not only that, but to make the comparison completely accurate with the case at hand it would also require a scenario in which VW would be one of the only two producers of car engines in the world. And dominated the EU engines market for a 80-90% share.

Do you understand how absurd that scenario is? And that is exactly what google did. And it is extremely bad for the entire industry and consumers alike.

The only issues I see is that the EU wants to control the market into a fair market but its not fair when its being controlled. It is fair when a company thats good prospers and a company thats meh doesn't. WHy don't they make it so Bing or Yahoo are more widely used?

I am not saying they should be able to break laws but I don't think the EU or any government should dictate a free open market.

There's no free market in the way that you describe it in any country or bloc in the world; markets are regulated in a million ways and in the vast majority of cases it is in order to protect the consumers' interests. Anti-trust (or anti-monopoly) laws are just a series of such regulations. I'm not sure if it's the place or even worthwhile to debate whether absolute free markets (or you could call it market anarchy, it's the same) are in any form beneficial for consumers.

 

[bit_user]

All of these tech companies should dump the EU. They think they own the Internet and all tech.

No, they just want to control their own market, as is their right to do. They're not suing Google over what it's doing in the US or China.

They're American companies.

Eh, originally, and when it suits them. But, they play in global markets and do R&D, manufacturing, services, etc. all over the world. And guess what? When a foreign company is doing business in your market, you get to regulate what they can do and how!

What happens to all this money if the EU gets it? Does it go into the pockets of the EU leaders? Probably.

Good question; wrong answer.

Europe is becoming a cesspool so they might as well get out.

Why the hate? Because not all of their democracies are yet as corrupted as the USA? Why would you rather see an un-elected corporate entity win out over people's right to govern themselves and their market?

The government "controlling" anything never works. Its why so many governments before have failed, they over extend.

If you don't want government controlling anything, you're talking about a libertarian fantasy land that has never existed. You should try telling China that government regulation doesn't work.

And besides, you don't hear people pointing to all the millions of bankruptcies and every time corporations have hurt consumers or employees as a reason that capitalism is broken, even though these incidents are probably far greater than all the government errors anybody has ever heard about.

Nothing is perfect, but the sane response to problems is to fix them - not argue that what has worked well for more than a century is fundamentally broken and should be scrapped.

Every country is just as if not more corrupt than the US.

Cool story. Except that's all it is, because that's a statement you can never support with any kind of decent evidence or sources.

Every government has the same failing. They are all run bu career politicians whom have a bias and eventually do things more in their favor rather than what the people who elected them want.

Yes, politicians aren't saints. That's why you need things like democracy, transparency (freedom of press), checks-and-balances, and politicians not to be above the law. Again, a sane response to bad governance is to look at countries that are better run, see what they're doing differently, and try to fix what's wrong with yours. Or, look at countries that are worse-run, and try to learn from their mistakes.

 

[milkod2001]

The funniest and also saddest thing here is watch how yanks take this personally and defend US company while not having a single clue how their own US company is miss-using their personal data, tracking them and treat like stupid product basically. They should be the ones calling for regulating Google/FB etc. All this crap about freedom and democracy and they don't realise what is happening right under their own roof. Sigh...God bless nativity & stupidity.

 

[jimmysmitty]

All of these tech companies should dump the EU. They think they own the Internet and all tech.

No, they just want to control their own market, as is their right to do. They're not suing Google over what it's doing in the US or China.

They're American companies.

Eh, originally, and when it suits them. But, they play in global markets and do R&D, manufacturing, services, etc. all over the world. And guess what? When a foreign company is doing business in your market, you get to regulate what they can do and how!

What happens to all this money if the EU gets it? Does it go into the pockets of the EU leaders? Probably.

Good question; wrong answer.

Europe is becoming a cesspool so they might as well get out.

Why the hate? Because not all of their democracies are yet as corrupted as the USA? Why would you rather see an un-elected corporate entity win out over people's right to govern themselves and their market?

The government "controlling" anything never works. Its why so many governments before have failed, they over extend.

If you don't want government controlling anything, you're talking about a libertarian fantasy land that has never existed. You should try telling China that government regulation doesn't work.

And besides, you don't hear people pointing to all the millions of bankruptcies and every time corporations have hurt consumers or employees as a reason that capitalism is broken, even though these incidents are probably far greater than all the government errors anybody has ever heard about.

Nothing is perfect, but the sane response to problems is to fix them - not argue that what has worked well for more than a century is fundamentally broken and should be scrapped.

Every country is just as if not more corrupt than the US.

Cool story. Except that's all it is, because that's a statement you can never support with any kind of decent evidence or sources.

Every government has the same failing. They are all run bu career politicians whom have a bias and eventually do things more in their favor rather than what the people who elected them want.

Yes, politicians aren't saints. That's why you need things like democracy, transparency (freedom of press), checks-and-balances, and politicians not to be above the law. Again, a sane response to bad governance is to look at countries that are better run, see what they're doing differently, and try to fix what's wrong with yours. Or, look at countries that are worse-run, and try to learn from their mistakes.

I never said control over nothing. I meant that full government control has never worked. And it never has. The US healthcare system is now just a mess with rates going up for many people, some with little to no choice in providers in markets etc.

The government should help to regulate but not control the market. There is a difference between regulating it and controlling it. And even then it should only be a very minimal amount that helps keep the market fair.

Mexico. Venezuela. Do you think those countries governments are less corrupt than the US? There are plenty of them. It happens in every government and has through history. It is the downfall to everything, which is the human aspect. Nothing is perfect as you said especially a human and due to that everything eventually becomes corrupted or filled with bias. Look at the media. How many "lie of omission" or even straight up lies have been pushed through the mainstream media? How many have they even retracted? What was supposed to be about the truth has become about bias, on both sides so don't think I am going one over the other.

Either way I wont argue over much of this. Its views, which are all based on people views and opinions.

I have no issue with Google getting in trouble for paying for their search to be used. That's stupid.

I do have issue with them being fined for having their apps included with their OS. Its their OS. They should be able to design it how they want. If the phone companies do not like it Linux is a free kernel and they could have easily just built their own phone OS instead, some were trying.

@milkod2001, it isn't about defending them. Personally I would never use Android if Microsoft would get better phones for Windows Phone so Verizon (my carrier) would pick them up. However in the US the entire purpose of our government was to limit it so the people had power over the government, not the other way around. When the EU does this it feels like they are over-extending. Especially for some of the reasons. My biggest one is still Microsoft. They were fined for Media Player. A damn basic player made to play common video and music files that was easily replaced. It also doesn't help that every time the larger fine hits it is an American company.

Also I think you meant naivety. And don't think you are "safe". Every government and company have plenty of data one everyone in the world. Even when laws are put in place it never stops them.

 

[shrapnel_indie]

The funniest and also saddest thing here is watch how yanks take this personally and defend US company while not having a single clue how their own US company is miss-using their personal data, tracking them and treat like stupid product basically. They should be the ones calling for regulating Google/FB etc. All this crap about freedom and democracy and they don't realise what is happening right under their own roof. Sigh...God bless nativity & stupidity.

Also I think you meant naivety. And don't think you are "safe". Every government and company have plenty of data one everyone in the world. Even when laws are put in place it never stops them.

You'd be surprised how many people have their heads in the sand... Many refuse to believe it... and many are fast to label it a conspiracy theory and dismiss it. The U.S. Government was created to be a government for and BY the people. The people controlled government, not the other way around. Politicians have warped that, with help, so now many cannot see that the government is overstepping its legal and constitutional limits by leaps and bounds (part by playing word games... part by convincing us that we need them to survive in various ways.) We're getting the Euro government our politicians want. Its no different than in other countries really. Don't be fooled into thinking EU members (and non-members) haven't got data banks chock full on their citizen subjects. Its just the governments hate competition. (See the recent news on Cisco.) Frog in a slowly heated pot of boiling water.

 

[jimmysmitty]

The funniest and also saddest thing here is watch how yanks take this personally and defend US company while not having a single clue how their own US company is miss-using their personal data, tracking them and treat like stupid product basically. They should be the ones calling for regulating Google/FB etc. All this crap about freedom and democracy and they don't realise what is happening right under their own roof. Sigh...God bless nativity & stupidity.

Also I think you meant naivety. And don't think you are "safe". Every government and company have plenty of data one everyone in the world. Even when laws are put in place it never stops them.

You'd be surprised how many people have their heads in the sand... Many refuse to believe it... and many are fast to label it a conspiracy theory and dismiss it. The U.S. Government was created to be a government for and BY the people. The people controlled government, not the other way around. Politicians have warped that, with help, so now many cannot see that the government is overstepping its legal and constitutional limits by leaps and bounds (part by playing word games... part by convincing us that we need them to survive in various ways.) We're getting the Euro government our politicians. Its no different than in other countries really. Frog in a slowly heated pot of boiling water.

Pretty much. Some countries have been this way longer as the government has always been that was, a more controlling entity. But the US was formed to be governed by the people. This is why I am all for putting term limits on EVERY office in our government. The President is only able to sit for two 4 year terms yet Congress has no limit and we get stuck with the same people again and again and again.

Doesn't seem like a big deal if the people are voting them in however the problem I see is that the longer they are in the more corrupt they can become. I live in Arizona and a lot of people who used to support McCain no longer do as he has changed his policies and now seems to be voting in spite of Trump instead of what the constituents want.