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Google confirms it will appeal $5 billion EU antitrust fine
Google has confirmed the expected, that it will indeed appeal the record $5 billion fine that it was handed today by European antitrust regulators for abusing the dominance of its Android operating system.
The European Commission announced that it is fining the U.S. firm for "three types of restrictions that [it] has imposed on Android device manufacturers and network operators to ensure that traffic on Android devices goes to the Google search engine." [...] In particular, the EC has decided that Google:
- Has required manufacturers to pre-install the Google Search app and browser app (Chrome), as a condition for licensing Google's app store (the Play Store);
- Made payments to certain large manufacturers and mobile network operators on condition that they exclusively pre-installed the Google Search app on their devices
- And 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").
The decision also concludes that Google is dominant in the markets for general internet search service, licensable smart mobile operating systems, and app stores for the Android mobile operating system.
In a more detailed blog post, Google doubled down on its position to argue that Android has helped bring choice to the market by enabling 1,300 different companies to develop 24,000 smartphones, and bringing over one million apps to users.
Previously: Report: Feds Investigating if Google's Android Violates Antitrust Rules
EU vs. Google: Android Antitrust
EU's Leaked Plan to Punish Google for Antitrust Violations
Google's Next EU Fine Could be Even Bigger for Android Violations
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday July 19 2018, @02:58AM (2 children)
I don't know about credit cards, or cash, or anything of the nature. I visit google lay, search for "free games", find one that sorta kinda looks interesting and click "install". I get "Please sign in. In order to continue, you must sign in." The three options in this box are a little "X" at the top right corner, a green button to sign in, and a grayed out button to cancel.
Note, this isn't Android - I'm using a Chrome based browser on Linux. This particular browser has no account information of any kind, for any site. It's one of my anonymity tools - it has no history, no referrers, refuses all cookies unless specifically ordered to accept, no advertising - nothing. It's not as good as TOR, of course, but I find it useful.
So, my options are to allow Google to track this browser, or to not use any Google apps with the browser. I think that is the kind of thing the EU is upset about.
OK - thinking for a second, I'm connecting directly from the US. Let me close the browser, and switch over to a EU server . . . Luxembourg looks good . . . and I get exactly the same little popup box. Maybe I've done this wrong - I copy pasted the address from my previous session into this current session. It's possible that had a done a clean search for the google app store, I may have landed on a different page, possibly on a different server, and thus had a different menu?
Whatever - Google doesn't really want to give you anything "free" without any strings attached.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Thursday July 19 2018, @06:14AM (1 child)
We need to train ourselves to other thought paradigms.
Just because someone else is "offering" something, that is no reason I should want any of it.
Even if its free.
Can't tell you just how much "free" stuff came on my computer, and I actually invested a substantial amount of time to rid myself of it, without ever even launching it - not even once. ( Well, I knew that if I launched it, it might wedge itself into the system even more, maybe making it impossible for me to remove completely. )
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday July 19 2018, @02:08PM
Agreed. Twofer sales for starters. I only want one, but the guy offers a twofer. I take the second, because it's "free" - then it sits around the house until I've forgotten what the hell it was.
"Sale" in general. How many people buy stuff that is "on sale", but they never would have thought of buying it when it wasn't brought to their attention by a sale.
Software? I never wanted to play those games on Google Play. Had no real intention of even installing any games. I just wanted to see whether I could download one without identifying myself to Google.
But - a couple zillion human beings browse those stores, searching for stuff. WTF do they think they'll find? Another mindless game, that needs permissions? Permissions for WHAT?
And, all of that leads us back to TANSTAAFL. There ain't no such thing as a free lunch. SOMEONE is paying for every bite of lunch that you eat. In the case of software, you're ultimately paying, but for the most part, the collective "you" has no idea what the price is.
At least with open source, which is mostly free, you can look at it, and determine pretty quickly what the "real" price is.