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EU launching deep probe into Google's planned $2.1 billion Fitbit buy:
Regulators in the European Union are launching a deep investigation into Google's proposed acquisition of wearables maker Fitbit after expressing concerns that giving Google access to Fitbit's user data could "distort competition."
The Commission's in-depth investigation will examine not only the potential outcomes for the advertising market if the transaction goes through, but it will also look at the effects of the deal on the digital healthcare sector and the potential for Google to lock competitors out of access to Android users.
Data provided by wearable devices "provides key insights about the life and the health situation of the users of these devices," Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission's head of competition, said in a written statement. "Our investigation aims to ensure that control by Google over data collected through wearable devices as a result of the transaction does not distort competition."
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Friday August 07 2020, @12:55AM (1 child)
At least Google is nominally here to help. With them, they might be collecting all kinds of data about us, but I can at least download it [google.com] -- unlike the NSA.
Hell, I can't even go to Safeway or Target and ask them for a printout of everything I bought that year if I used my please-track-me card when I bought stuff. Maybe the EU can set up a standard for that.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday August 07 2020, @01:54PM
They let you download some of the data that they have on you, or more correctly, they let you download your data that you have used their products to produce, but nobody knows exactly what they know about you so that don't tell you that you can download it.
I do not see this as Google providing me with any help whatsoever.