The vigorous lobbying efforts of Google critics FairSearch.org and Foundem’s SearchNeutrality.org appear to be paying off. Earlier these days EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told members of the eu Parliament that extra “concessions” would in all probability be needed of Google to settle the just investigation against the corporate and avoid proceedings and potential monetary penalties.
According to Reuters, Almunia aforesaid the following:
After [all the settlement proposal feedback is received] we'll analyze the responses we've got received, we'll raise Google, probably, I cannot anticipate this formally, nearly one hundred pc we'll raise Google: you ought to improve your proposals
Immediately upon unharness of the formal EU-Google negotiated just settlement proposal roughly a month agone, Google’s critics decried it as deficient (in some cases before it had been released). for instance, last week UK-based vertical search rival Foundem free a report that gives a point-by-point rebuttal of the settlement.
The EU exposed the settlement as a part of a “market test” (comment period) that was speculated to last roughly a month, however has been extended to June twenty seven.
My understanding is that Almunia and his team rigorously negotiated the settlement provisions with Google. They weren't seeing Google’s proposal for the primary time last month. For that reason I had the impression that the “market test” was one thing of a formality to socialize the settlement terms among Google’s competitors and legislators in Europe a lot of broadly speaking.
It appears unlikely that Almunia wouldn’t have anticipated the negative reaction to the settlement proposal, given the terribly public history of rivals’ complaints against Google. (Some of Google’s critics aren’t fascinated by settlement however wish to examine proceedings and fines.) It’s strange thus that Almunia would be acting like the negative reaction to the settlement may be a surprise.
The current Google-EU settlement proposal appearance abundantly just like the USA version that was approved by the USA Federal Trade Commission (FTC) earlier this year. the foremost distinction, wherever search cares, involves the inclusion of links to rival sites in Google search results. That’s supposed to handle the alleged “search bias” and “traffic diversion” issue (Google’s ability to position vertical content at or close to the highest of results). This “search bias” question was one thing the independent agency selected to thoroughly avoid as a result of the difficulty was a shaky one, legally, for the agency.
The “rival links” provision of the settlement proposal, expected to mollify Google’s search-bias critics, has instead created new arguing. It’s a extremely problematic “solution” and one that has drawn fireplace consequently. nonetheless it’s extremely not clear what search results modifications would satisfy “the market” except fairly radical ones (e.g., eliminating Universal Search entirely), which might be essentially unacceptable to Google.
If Almunia’s primary concern is to appease or please Google’s rivals we tend to might even see the breakdown of the settlement method. that may probably lead to ultimate proceedings, which might be wasteful and do very little to extend search competition in Europe. and that i suspect the EU would be in all probability air the losing finish of that battle.
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