EU hit Google with record fine of €2.4 billion over Google shopping service!

[Deleted]

Comply or don't do business in EU countries. How is that not blackmail?

.

if you get fined for speeding is that blackmail?

facing consequences for not following laws is pretty much how most of the world works.

[A dot Ham]

Every single law in existence anywhere is literally "comply with this or face the consequences".

Our entire justice system is blackmail! Such amazing logic! /s

You don't really believe in power through consent of the governed do you? Oh you do, how quaint.

Bandit theory... look it up. Its the basis of all government.

[Tyrianth]

if you get fined for speeding is that blackmail?

facing consequences for not following laws is pretty much how most of the world works.

Nah man, didn't you see his response to me. Your post is just a strawman.

[LMuhlen]

Let me just highlight a few things for you:
http://www.euintheus.org/who-we-are/...uropean-union/



First, they admit they are not a government. So they have no right or business acting like one by enforcing wackadoo laws through fines... that in fact are the complete opposite of promoting "free trade".

Nice strawman though.

Even my condo has rules and fines, what does being a government have to do with it?

Or are they blackmailing me too?

[Mehrunes]

Solidarity? Where was EU solidarity when we took massive amount of immigrants from Chechnya and Ukraine?

Probably in the classrom, pondering the difference between refugees and immigrants.

Also most of the ppl in Poland don't want immigrants here, so the current goverment realizes the will of the ppl...are You a democrat? So there You have it, democracy. Btw. i am done, because this discussion is fruitless.

And Polish obligations to EU say something else. Poland can't national law their way out of supranational law obligations. And those obligations were created through democratic process between the member states. Each of them having a democratic mandate of their people.

[Deleted]

Nah man, didn't you see his response to me. Your post is just a strawman.

woops, my bad!

I find it weird how many people are anti consumer protection and monopoly laws.

[Tyrianth]

Even my condo has laws and fines, what does being a government have to do with it?

Or are they blackmailing me too?

Completely off topic, but are condos worth the hassle? I want to move to Toronto but not sure if I want to put up with a condo board... Obviously every condo is going to be different but I don't know anyone who has experience with them.

[Dezerte]

Let me just highlight a few things for you:
http://www.euintheus.org/who-we-are/...uropean-union/



First, they admit they are not a government. So they have no right or business acting like one by enforcing wackadoo laws through fines... that in fact are the complete opposite of promoting "free trade".

Nice strawman though.

They do have the right, because member nations have agreed to relinquish a part of their sovereignty. It's even in the bloody text you quoted!

And promoting free trade does mean that monopolistic and unfair practices should be illegal and discouraged. To protect a free market there needs to be an intervention, because the companies themselves can't be expected to police the market (massive conflict of interest) so that their competitors are treated fairly.

[LMuhlen]

Completely off topic, but are condos worth the hassle? I want to move to Toronto but not sure if I want to put up with a condo board... Obviously every condo is going to be different but I don't know anyone who has experience with them.

If you don't mind being blackmailed...

[Nehezbegar]

Probably in the classrom, pondering the difference between refugees and immigrants.




And Polish obligations to EU say something else. Poland can't national law their way out of supranational law obligations. And those obligations were created through democratic process between the member states. Each of them having a democratic mandate of their people.

Refugee is a person that flees to the first country that is not under the war, so ye, we are dealing with immigrants.

Well even if we take those 17k ppl, the next day they will flee to Germany. Also even back then, when those "democratic processes" happened, most of the ppl in PL were against immigrants. Why they did not make a referendum back then ?

[Tyrianth]

If you don't mind being blackmailed...

I mean, if I really want to do something I wouldn't be happy being told no.

[A dot Ham]

They have every fucking right you nit wit. The EU is an intergovernmental organization that was granted the rights to create and enforce these laws by the individual governments who granted them this authority.

it's not a strawman if I just reiterate your retarded logic.

It is not/was not the purpose of the EU and is completely contrary to their self imposed mission statement.

You don't have to like it. But the EU is constantly overstepping its mandate, which is why leaving the EU was the UKs best decision if they hope to remain a sovereign state.

[Deleted]

So say google decide to pay the 2.4 billion, what does the money get used for by the EU? After all is there really any justice in taking money from big business and giving it to greedy politicians who will likely pad there wallets or spend it on some pointless vanity project.

Im also interested, what does happen to the money from fines like this? I guess some of it pays legal costs?

[A dot Ham]

They do have the right, because member nations have agreed to relinquish a part of their sovereignty. It's even in the bloody text you quoted!

And promoting free trade does mean that monopolistic and unfair practices should be illegal and discouraged. To protect a free market there needs to be an intervention, because the companies themselves can't be expected to police the market (massive conflict of interest) so that their competitors are treated fairly.

So a website... that promotes itself... is a monopoly? Or it is because the EU says so...

[Deleted]

How is this any different then pre-internet where companies would send you flyers with "sale" prices on them but if you took the time and drove or called all the competitors you may find a cheaper price. There are also many price lookup tools available(camelcamelcamel, shopbot to name a few). But hey it is the EU again not liking smart business practices.

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The void would be filled but currently the other options are subpar compared to the search algorithms that google employs. There is a reason why google has made most other search engines obsolete. The other backlash you would have is from Corporate EU where they have built website to include google search functions of the internal website. They would be force to do a mass update.

The difference that, unlike the real-world equivalent, google has a semi-monopoly (ie holds more than 30% of the market share in search engines) so therefore their actions have major impact on other markets too if they decide to leverage said monopoly to promote another activity that they own.

[Karon]

If you dont like how Google do business dont use it - sinicerly Polish citizen.

A business promoting itself? Can't have that. I'm also Polish

Let me guess? guest workers in germany?

Yeah, must suck if you must search for jobs in other countries. But hey the polish guys know what's up xD

[Tyrianth]

It is not/was not the purpose of the EU and is completely contrary to their self imposed mission statement.

You don't have to like it. But the EU is constantly overstepping its mandate, which is why leaving the EU was the UKs best decision if they hope to remain a sovereign state.

The EU has evolved. The individual members of the EU have voted to grant the EU it's current powers and authorities, through this the modern EU has every right to create and impose these laws. You don't have to like it, but you're wrong if you say they don't have the authority to do so. Because they do. Because they have been granted that authority by the members of the organization.

[Nehezbegar]

Let me guess? guest workers in germany?

Yeah, must suck if you must search for jobs in other countries. But hey the polish guys know what's up xD

Nope, You guessed wrong. I live in Poland and i am not thinking moving to any other country (well maybe Austraila, some day ).

[Mehrunes]

in the bigger picture we only suffer from it, because we have to accept whetever the hell EU wants from us and not everything is good so in the long run we loose more than we gain.

Damn, those solid calculations totally lead to your conclusion /s

Oh i see another KODziarz, i assume descendant of the communists.

Wrong on both accounts. Other than being ad hominem, shit deflection is shit. Probably because you don't have a real counterargument when things like your idiotic math that doesn't make any sense are called out for what they are. But hey, continue to listen to a guy that constantly lies. That's going to work fer sure

[Deleted]

So a website... that promotes itself... is a monopoly? Or it is because the EU says so...

If I recall correctly the normal legal standard for a monopoly that can influence the market is ~30%+, depending on the type of market (back when I studied this in college, might be a bit outdated). A quick google learns that google has about a ~70% market share when it comes to search engine in the US, would guess it's similar to the EU. Don't think anyone is contesting that they don't have a monopoly.