Germany, EU charged with Google-bashing

TheLocal.de ^ | 26 Nov 2014 12:42 GMT+01:00 | Tom Barfield

[Olog-hai]

Germany is at the heart of moves to limit the power of US web companies and their involvement in surveillance as American voices cry foul.

Günther Oettinger, European Commissioner for the Digital Economy, said on Tuesday evening that the EU is not trying to smash Google apart in response to open letters from US politicians.

Although a years-long competition probe into Google’s activities in areas like maps and price comparisons as well as hotel and restaurant reviews might end by imposing restrictions on the search giant, these would be “proportionate and targeted,” Oettinger said.

And he told economic journalist Roland Tichy that “smashing apart or expropriating” Google was out of the question. …

[knarf]

Google bashing ?

sur frikkin' REAL !!!

[Dr. Sivana]

Maybe they warrant bashing

[Olog-hai]

Then they ought to be bashed on the right things, not the wrong ones.

[GeronL]

competition... when governments are attacking one of the competitors does that make things more competitive or less [question mark]

[Olog-hai]

The social market economy demands that government define “competition”, of course.

[MeganC]

I don’t blame Google for the real reasons behind this, but the fact remains that the NSA is snooping on the Europeans via Google and the Europeans have every right in the world to secure their networks against foreign intrusion.

And that’s what is really at stake here.

[Olog-hai]

It certainly is not like the BND isn’t snooping on us. Remember that the NSA and BND have had some historic degree of cooperation, so this is being blown out of proportion for the purpose of aggrandization on the EU’s part and of course Germany’s part.

Espionage is necessary to a country’s security; there is a whole chapter in The Art Of War dedicated to it.