

Google’s Steely Foe in Europe - carlchenet
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/technology/googles-steely-foe-in-europe.html

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father_of_two

      (...) jobless builders presented her with a gift: a life-size sculpture of a 
      hand with a raised middle digit. She keeps the artifact prominently 
      displayed on a coffee table at her office in the European Commission.
    

Got to love the Danes :)

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zubairq
This article is incorrect. Denmark says it will do something about large
companies practices, but it is just talk. As an example Denmark has alot of
laws regarding data protection. But the rules are only enforced for the small
companies. Larger companies like LinkedIn and Google have been ignoring the
data protection rules for years and the Danish government ignores it, as they
are too hard to prosecute.

~~~
Lewton
This article isn't about Denmark? But about Vestager and the work she's doing
in the EU to go after Google

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josu
>“Consumers depend on us to make sure that competition is fair and open, and
it’s my responsibility to make that happen.

Really? Then why not go after banks, energy companies, telecom giants...?

As a consumer I have the choice to choose to trust google when I search for a
product, however I have only two choices when I choose my ISP, or no option at
all to choose my electricity provider.

Consumers don't depend on "them" to have fair and open competition, it's the
companies that depend on the governments to have unfair or nonexistent
competiton.

~~~
thescrewdriver
> Really? Then why not go after banks, energy companies, telecom giants...?

Banks:

[http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-07-01/europe-
ban...](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-07-01/europe-banks-in-u-s-
scrutiny-as-bnp-pays-8-97-billion)

[http://europa.eu/rapid/press-
release_IP-13-1208_en.htm](http://europa.eu/rapid/press-
release_IP-13-1208_en.htm)

Energy companies:

[http://en.mercopress.com/2008/10/01/europe-fines-nine-oil-
co...](http://en.mercopress.com/2008/10/01/europe-fines-nine-oil-companies-
for-the-paraffin-mafia)

Telecoms giants (incl. Deutsche Telekom):

[http://europa.eu/rapid/press-
release_IP-13-39_en.htm](http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-39_en.htm)

[http://europa.eu/rapid/press-
release_IP-14-1140_en.htm](http://europa.eu/rapid/press-
release_IP-14-1140_en.htm)

It seems that the standard response to the EU probing Google is to say it's
unfair and "what about European companies" without actually doing any research
into the matter.

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tormeh
Agreed. It's basically an unrelenting torrent of dumb streaming down the
internet pipes. Thanks for refuting. Someone's got to do it.

~~~
eternalban
Do you expect the EU to openly state that this is political and entirely about
who gets to curate the information available?

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thescrewdriver
Care to substantiate the accusations you're making so matter-of-factly?

~~~
eternalban
It is not an accusation. It is a point of view that computes on my end. This
forum is becoming entirely useless as a venue for 'discussion'.

