[UPDATE]EU Parliament May Break Up Google and Unbundle Search Engines

[ionbasa]

UPDATE 2:

The European Parliament has voted in favour of breaking Google up, as a solution to complaints that it favours its own services in search results.

Politicians have no power to enforce a break-up, but the landmark vote sends a clear message to European regulators to get tough on the net giant.
US politicians and trade bodies have voiced their dismay at the vote.
The ultimate decision will rest with EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager.
She has inherited the anti-competitive case lodged by Google's rivals in 2010.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30228279

 

BRUSSELS — Europe’s resentment of the American technology giant Google reached a new noise level on Thursday as the European Parliament passed a nonbinding vote to break up the company.
...
Both moves are also playing out against the backdrop of a long-running investigation by the European authorities of Google, on which the European Union’s new antitrust chief, Margrethe Vestager, is still getting up to speed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/28/business/international/google-european-union.html
 
Interesting, I didn't think it would even get past the parliament, but I guess I thought incorrectly, although the EU parliament has no legal pull to force this to happen directly, they may be able to do it indirectly. The decision to proceed will be at the hands of EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager. Hmm, I have a feeling she may just do it.

 

Edit:
Just wanted to add the the ruling will apply to all search engines being unbundled from certain commercial services, not just Google in specific.

 

 

UPDATE 1:

Günther Öttinger says there will be no Google break up while he is the European Commissioner for Digital Agenda.
https://gigaom.com/2014/11/25/eu-digital-economy-commissioner-comes-out-against-google-break-up/

So the EU's Digital Economy Commissioner is against the idea. Is going to be interesting to see what happens. From my understanding, the "buck stops" at Öttinger. He has more influence and pull than the EU Parliament alone. At best the Parliament can only make a suggestion to the commision that Google search be broken up.
 

Original Post:

The European Union is planning its most aggressive move yet to curb Google's growing power.
According to the FT, the European parliament is considering a motion that would suggest Google unbundle its search engine from its other products.
Google executives are said to be "furious" about the proposal, which they only found out about a couple days ago.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-eu-wants-to-break-up-google-2014-11#ixzz3JmpbxyKu
 
and:

The gambit increases the political pressure on the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, to take a tougher line on Google, either in its antitrust investigation into the company or through the introduction of laws to curb its reach.
A draft motion seen by the Financial Times says that "unbundling [of] search engines from other commercial services" should be considered as a potential solution to Google's dominance. It has the backing of the parliament's two main political blocs, the European People's Party and the Socialists.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102208901#.
 
Ouch. In some ways, I can see why his is the logical thing to do. It reminds me of Teddy Roosevelt and his dominance via trust busting. While I do have mixed feelings about this, it only seems logical to prevent one company from dominating a particular market, in this case, it is claimed that 90% of Europe's search queries go through Google. It's going to be interesting to see what happens. If this goes through, it'll be a landmark case for the Parliament (which technically has no power over such decisions).
 
I know this is on the verge of being political, but it is still relevant news that pertains to technology.
 
PS:
My thoughts: Now if only the US could do this to the major three ISPs that refuse to compete with each other and have stupid franchise agreements.

Edited November 28, 2014 by ionbasa

[connorpiper]

They cannot do this. That is the principal lifeblood of Google Inc. 

[OriginalPromise]

Wait, but since Google is a "private" (yes I know, but the ownership is shared between the shareholders) company, does the government have the authority to step in and touch/alter Google's property?

Coming from a U.S. resident, this seems pretty illogical and unlikely.

Are laws different in the EU?

[Mooshi]

I'll be ok with this only if the search engine that is bundled as an alternative isn't Yahoo or Bing. Those two search engines are far worst than having Google bundled by default. Actually, I use Google and would prefer it over Yahoo and Bing any day. 

 

PS: When I saw this listed under new topics, I thought it was a thread about the EU breaking up and I silently uttered a "Finally" in my mind. Shame that isn't the case.

[ionbasa]

They cannot do this. That is the principal lifeblood of Google Inc. 

Yet in the same regard, if it were ATT, Verizon, COX, Comcast, and TWC, we'd all be jumping up and down for joy.

 

In a way, it makes sense. If Google is dominating 90% of a market share, it technically is an Monopoly. Plus, Google already has too much vertical and horizontal integration in just about everything, making it an conglomerate.

 

 

Wait, but since Google is a "private" (yes I know, but the ownership is shared between the shareholders) company, does the government have the authority to step in and touch/alter Google's property?

Coming from a U.S. resident, this seems pretty illogical and unlikely.

Are laws different in the EU?

Teddy Roosevelt did it, look up "trust busting". I don't see why the EU can't technically do it as well. And yes, this is legal, even in the US.

[Cookie Monster]

Wait, but since Google is a "private" (yes I know, but the ownership is shared between the shareholders) company, does the government have the authority to step in and touch/alter Google's property?

Coming from a U.S. resident, this seems pretty illogical and unlikely.

Are laws different in the EU?

If you break anti-trust laws in the EU you can be fined up to 10% of your worldwide turnover. It doesn't matter if you are a local or foreign company if you want to trade in the EU you obey EU law.

 

The EU did prosecute  Microsoft over the bundling of internet explorer with Windows.

[Darkman]

But this is one of the biggest things that gets Google money!

[OriginalPromise]

Yet in the same regard, if it were ATT, Verizon, COX, Comcast, and TWC, we'd all be jumping up and down for joy.

 

In a way, it makes sense. If Google is dominating 90% of a market share, it technically is an Monopoly. Plus, Google already has too much vertical and horizontal integration in just about everything, making it an conglomerate.

 

 

Teddy Roosevelt did it, look up "trust busting". I don't see why the EU can't technically do it as well. And yes, this is legal, even in the US.

 

 

 

The parliament doesn't have the power to order Google to split up on its own, but could pressure antitrust regulators, who have been investigating Google for more than three years now. The concern is that Google uses its search dominance to squeeze out search results that would guide people to potential competitors.

It does make sense huh.... 

But the thing that's clinging onto me is that searching is a service, not a good. If the purpose of the anti trust law is to "promote fair competition", than how is the EU going to promote such idea? I mean, Google dominates the search market because they offer arguibly the best solution out there. Is it really fair to say that they have a monopoly over the search market? Who's next, Yahoo, Bing, or Alta Vista?

 

 

United States antitrust law is a collection of federal and state government laws, which regulates the conduct and organization of business corporations, generally to promote fair competition for the benefit of consumers. The main statutes are the Sherman Act 1890, the Clayton Act 1914 and the Federal Trade Commission Act 1914. These Acts, first, restrict the formation of cartels and prohibit other collusive practices regarded as being in restraint of trade. Second, they restrict the mergers and acquisitions of organizations which could substantially lessen competition. Third, they prohibit the creation of a monopoly and the abuse of monopoly power.

[OriginalPromise]

I'll be ok with this only if the search engine that is bundled as an alternative isn't Yahoo or Bing. Those two search engines are far worst than having Google bundled by default. Actually, I use Google and would prefer it over Yahoo and Bing any day. 

 

PS: When I saw this listed under new topics, I thought it was a thread about the EU breaking up and I silently uttered a "Finally" in my mind. Shame that isn't the case.

If the EU breaks up, than there would be a giant wave of disorder flowing through the European Continent...

[ionbasa]

It does make sense huh.... 

But the thing that's clinging onto me is that searching is a service, not a good. If the purpose of the anti trust law is to "promote fair competition", than how is the EU going to promote such idea? I mean, Google dominates the search market because they offer arguibly the best solution out there. Is it really fair to say that they have a monopoly over the search market? Who's next, Yahoo, Bing, or Alta Vista?

Nowhere does it say that antitrust laws are limited to "goods", both in European laws and US Laws. Look up Unied States vs Microsoft Corp. 

The reason it works for services is due to how "Tying" is defined (I believe).

[Guest]

I certainly hope this goes through, but I can't imagine it happening.

Google loves control, it's what has brought them so much money. They'll fight tooth and nail to not be broken up.

I can't imagine the bureaucratic mess that is the EU parliament matching that effort.

[bogus]

Wait, but since Google is a "private" (yes I know, but the ownership is shared between the shareholders) company, does the government have the authority to step in and touch/alter Google's property?

Coming from a U.S. resident, this seems pretty illogical and unlikely.

Are laws different in the EU?

A private company still has to obbey the laws in the territorys where they are practicing their business - and if they want to keep in business in such territory, they have to make amendments. Governments don't have direct control over private companys, but they sure can pressure them.

I really like Google, and I apprecciate the progress they brought to the tech world - but I can see the perspective of the UE. Google has access to what consumer are looking for, their personal interests, to their consumer habbits and behaviors - wich give them a great advantage over their competitors in other markets. Google Search is their main source of product/customer research, business intelligence, etc. They surely have information wich only they can see, undisclosed, and leverages them to a whole other level.

[Trik'Stari]

Yet in the same regard, if it were ATT, Verizon, COX, Comcast, and TWC, we'd all be jumping up and down for joy.

 

In a way, it makes sense. If Google is dominating 90% of a market share, it technically is an Monopoly. Plus, Google already has too much vertical and horizontal integration in just about everything, making it an conglomerate.

 

 

Teddy Roosevelt did it, look up "trust busting". I don't see why the EU can't technically do it as well. And yes, this is legal, even in the US.

It is legal in the US, but rarely happens. My state government has the monopoly on liquor sales, and no matter how many times we've voted to end it, they still wont. Makes more tax revenue for the for the state than income tax does. Everyone absolutely hates it, yet it's somehow ok for the government to have a monopoly.

[_Rocket]

or they could advertise alternatives like duckduckgo, startpage, bing a little bit more and see if it changes a thing

[Briggsy]

Google is big enough that they could probably ban all european IP addresses from their services for poops and giggles. google search, youtube, gmail, google plus, google play, google drive, google Apps etc... are all tied in together to work cohesively. I'm not even sure the EU parliament understand how the back end of google functions. sounds more like knee-jerk reactions from politicians, who have been told their kickbacks will stop coming in if they don't do something about google.

 

*edit* I just thought about it now, but I bet Microsoft are writhing their hands together with glee. If the EU are doing this without any outside motivation, it means that Microsoft can ride this wave and aggressively push Bing into Europe with the EU's blessings. I'm not going to ignore the likelihood that Microsoft probably have lobbyists camped at the EU parliament, but its still an interesting turn of events for microsoft.

[AlexGoesHigh]

I certainly hope this goes through, but I can't imagine it happening.

Google loves control, it's what has brought them so much money. They'll fight tooth and nail to not be broken up.

I can't imagine the bureaucratic mess that is the EU parliament matching that effort.

control isn't exactly what gives them money, last year adsense on search alone accounted for 90% of their revenue, meaning searching shit regardless if google offers it or not is what makes them money, if the EU parliament succeeded with this and separates search from google, then google is losing money in europe, if they continue to operate all of their remaining services which could lead from them leave europe entirely since they would lose a lot of money in there, that's really as a last resort option but it could happen, maybe youtube continues in eu but i'm sure they will slowly shut down everything else until the parliament reverts this, and that's only if this really happens

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

The EU isn't really "splitting up" Google, but merely wants them to separate certain services and prevent them from putting their own stuff first.  (Youtube over Vimeo versions of the same song etc)

 

This is the exact same thing that they did to MS a couple of years ago to stop Windows using IE as default and the two of them being completely integrated into eachother.  (resulting in the annoying browser choice screen we always disable because we have already installed our own browser long before we run Windows Update)

[bogus]

Google is big enough that they could probably ban all european IP addresses from their services for poops and giggles. google search, youtube, gmail, google plus, google play, google drive, google Apps etc... are all tied in together to work cohesively. I'm not even sure the EU parliament understand how the back end of google functions. sounds more like knee-jerk reactions from politicians, who have been told their kickbacks will stop coming in if they don't do something about google.

 

*edit* I just thought about it now, but I bet Microsoft are writhing their hands together with glee. If the EU are doing this without any outside motivation, it means that Microsoft can ride this wave and aggressively push Bing into Europe with the EU's blessings. I'm not going to ignore the likelihood that Microsoft probably have lobbyists camped at the EU parliament, but its still an interesting turn of events for microsoft.

And then they would throw away around ~700 million people, wich is 11% of the world population - and this is not a third world zone - plus all the advertising revenue from all the big players who market goods in Europe. Then you could also count on a ban on Android OS and devices. So yeah - the poops and giggles would cost Google a ridiculous part of their revenue - probably bigger then the USA slice - and all of the efforts of Google disseminating their ecosystem (this is billions of dollars over several years) would go down the drain.

I think you are the one who doesn't quite understand the situation here - it would be more harmful to Google then to Europe. This is a delicate situation, wich must be seen from both perspectives. Neither Google or the EU parliament wants such extreme outcome.

[psy9o]

don't really understand what the fuzz is about all it means is that google has to give the ability of using other search engines in there apps, just like microsoft has to give other options besides internet explorer as browser in windows. Basically instead of having google as your default search engine in an application google now has to give you the choice of whether or not you want to use google search in your app via for exemple a quick select menu. 99.99% of people will still simply click google search because it is the better product and 90% didn't know other search engines besides bing which is crap existed

[spartaman64]

google unbundling its search engine from its other products? how will this matter everyone will still use google anyways

[ionbasa]

Google is big enough that they could probably ban all european IP addresses from their services for poops and giggles. google search, youtube, gmail, google plus, google play, google drive, google Apps etc... are all tied in together to work cohesively. I'm not even sure the EU parliament understand how the back end of google functions. sounds more like knee-jerk reactions from politicians, who have been told their kickbacks will stop coming in if they don't do something about google.

 

*edit* I just thought about it now, but I bet Microsoft are writhing their hands together with glee. If the EU are doing this without any outside motivation, it means that Microsoft can ride this wave and aggressively push Bing into Europe with the EU's blessings. I'm not going to ignore the likelihood that Microsoft probably have lobbyists camped at the EU parliament, but its still an interesting turn of events for microsoft.

You do realize that that would do more harm to Google than benefit. That is not how real life works in these types of situations.

[The_Strict_Nein]

 If Google is dominating 90% of a market share, it technically is an Monopoly.

 

It's a monopoly because it's the best product. You can't sue Google just because they are succesful

 

 

You do realize that that would do more harm to Google than benefit. That is not how real life works in these types of situations.

 

Exactly, I'm never gonna use Bing because it is a piece of utter shit compared to Google. It's just shitty of the EU to do something like this.

 

Also, to comment on the comparison to if something like this had happened to AT&T or Verizon. Google does nothing to harm public interest. The others do. Google wants your money but (at the moment) doesn't want to completely screw you up the arse and offer inferior products for more money. Google offer fantastic services at prices that make sense. I'd pay anything for Google Fiber in the UK

[.spider.]

The EU is having much bigger problems than that.

They should better use there money for solving the EUs trilemmas.

[Umair]

Yet in the same regard, if it were ATT, Verizon, COX, Comcast, and TWC, we'd all be jumping up and down for joy.

 

In a way, it makes sense. If Google is dominating 90% of a market share, it technically is an Monopoly. Plus, Google already has too much vertical and horizontal integration in just about everything, making it an conglomerate.

 

 

Teddy Roosevelt did it, look up "trust busting". I don't see why the EU can't technically do it as well. And yes, this is legal, even in the US.

 

The only company I'd say is "too vertically integrated" is Apple as they have a lot of upstream control and total downstream domination over their products.  Google, on the other hand, just seems to try and flood the entire shopfloor and it does seem to be very good at horizontal integration, mainly because of how dreadful the competition is.

 

As much as I'm against overly-powerful companies, I don't see what the EU would do to "break it up" and if, by some miracle, they actually decide to go ahead, they will face a ridiculously long court battle.

 

As for AT&T, Verizon etc, I would wager that the US needs MORE competition to make progress on the telecommunications front.

[Sonefiler]

This is the stupidest idea.

First of all, Google is accually improving their search engine so is not anti consumer.

Second, godless did is so tired together. The reason you get good search results is because if the other services. And vice versa. This is like separating the status messages from the rest of Facebook.