Google has so far been meeting the controversial ‘right to be forgotten‘ ruling in Europe by removing links only from the local site for each country – google.com remaining unaffected. A French court ruled last November that removing links from google.fr was insufficient, and ordered Google to remove the links worldwide.
Google ignored the ruling, and Reuters now reports that the French data protection regulator CNIL has given the company 15 days to comply before imposing sanctions … Expand Expanding Close
Google has been facing legal heat in Europe for several users over how it handles and collects user data as well as its monopoly-like actions, but today the company finally admitted that it has made some mistakes. Google’s European chief executive Matt Brittin stated today to Politico that Google has failed to make its intentions well-known in Europe.
The controversy over the ‘right to be forgotten‘ by Google has often seemed destined to run forever, Google arguing that it was being asked to make “difficult and debatable judgements” based on “very vague and subjective tests,” while European courts said that the company wasn’t fully complying with the law.
Google said that it was complying with court orders by removing “outdated or irrelevant” sensitive information about individuals from its European sites, while leaving the .com site untouched. European courts want Google to remove results from google.com also.
A piece in the WSJ suggests that a compromise may be reached, however, as Google revealed examples of what it described as easy and difficult cases … Expand Expanding Close
Google hasn’t always enjoyed the best of relationships with news websites, publishers arguing that search results often show a large enough excerpt from the story that people don’t need to click through to the site, especially within the Google News tab. This has been especially true in Europe, where non-English publications are fighting for a much smaller potential readership.
The conflict came to a head in Spain last year, where the government passed a new law which would have required it to pay Spanish news sites for the excerpts shown in its search results, and Google responded by closing Google News in Spain. Although an unofficial compromise was found, grumblings by news sites have continued.
Google now believes its Digital News Initiative offers a three-pronged approach to tackling the “truly radical and challenging changes” being experienced in the media business within Europe … Expand Expanding Close
As expected, the EU has formally accused Google of abusing its dominant position in search to favor links to its own products over those offered by competitors. The complaint takes the form of a Statement of Objections: a formal method of announcing that it believes Google has acted illegally and that a full investigation is underway.
The Commission’s preliminary view is that such conduct infringes EU antitrust rules because it stifles competition and harms consumers. EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said that “Google now has the opportunity to convince the Commission to the contrary. However, if the investigation confirmed our concerns, Google would have to face the legal consequences and change the way it does business in Europe.”
Google has not wasted any time in attempting to convince the Commission otherwise, arguing in a blog post that the evidence shows that Google has not harmed traffic to competitor websites … Expand Expanding Close
It doesn’t sound good for Google in Europe where the company has faced continued criticism, some comical and some less so, for using its dominant 90+% search share to give advantages to its other properties and squash competitors. FT:
Google will on Wednesday be accused by Brussels of illegally abusing its dominance of the internet search market in Europe, a step that ultimately could force it to change its business model fundamentally and pay hefty fines. Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition commissioner, is to say that the US group will soon be served with a formal charge sheet alleging that it breached antitrust rules by diverting traffic from rivals to favour its own services, according to two people familiar with the case.
Europe’s competition chief, Margrethe Vestager, is expected to make an announcement that Google has abused its dominant position on Wednesday in Brussels, according to two people who spoke on Tuesday on the condition of anonymity…
“The E.U. competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, will decide what steps they want to go,” Günther Oettinger, a German politician who is charge of Europe’s digital economy, told Die Welt am Sonntag, a German newspaper, on Sunday. “I think that they will be far-reaching.”
Google has yet to comment on the matter but if Google fails to rebut any formal charges, Ms. Vestager could “levy a huge fine that could go above 6 billion euros, or $6.4 billion, amounting to about 10 percent of Google’s most recent annual revenue”.
Europe’s top court has declared that ebooks are ‘services’ rather than books, and that European countries are not allowed to give them the same favorable tax treatment as paper books. The reasoning, such as it is, is that ebooks cannot be used without a physical device, and ebooks are a service provided to those devices.
Both France and Luxembourg have applied to ebooks the same reduced rate of VAT (sales tax) enjoyed by books made from crushed trees. The WSJ reports that the EU has ruled that this is illegal.
Since 2012, France has applied a 5.5% VAT rate and Luxembourg a 3% VAT rate on e-books, the same rate as for paper books. The European Court of Justice said both countries must apply their normal VAT rate, which for France is 20% and for Luxembourg is 17%.
Europe already closed one ebook-related tax loophole: Amazon used to use its Luxembourg base as a reason to charge just 3% on ebook sales throughout Europe, but a change in the law forced it to apply the VAT rate applicable to the customer’s own country.
There is some small hope that sanity may prevail in future. The European Commission has said that there may be legal mechanisms through which countries can in future define their own policies, with an “extensive overhaul” of VAT rules to be completed next year. However, don’t be surprised if ‘harmonization’ of tax rates for paper and digital books results in higher taxes on the former to pay for lower taxes on the latter …
Google has had its fair share of privacy-related run-ins with the authorities in Europe, but will now be able to put one of those disputes behind it. TechCrunch reports that the company has reached an agreement with the UK’s privacy watchdog to change its privacy policy in order to comply with UK law.
The UK’s Information Commissioner didn’t object to the personal data collected by Google, but found that it was not properly explaining to consumers what data was collected and how it would be used. Google has agreed to include illustrative examples to help consumers to understand its policies.
In particular the Commissioner recommended that the data controller should do more to bring users’ attention to processing which would not be within their reasonable expectations. When considering this point it was noted that some users will not have sufficient technical knowledge to fully appreciate the ways in which the data controller can obtain their data from their use of the data controller’s products and services, how the data is combined, and how behavioural advertising on the internet operates. It was suggested that further examples of the processing would assist in this regard.
Google also came under fire in the UK last year for continuing to drop cookies in Safari even when users had switched off this option.
Its far bigger fight against Europe’s ‘right to be forgotten‘ legislation is likely to continue to run for some considerable time.
A minute’s silence in the newsroom of French news agency Agence France Presse (Photo: Bertrand Guay)
In response to the terrorist attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, Google is one of a number of companies contributing to a campaign fund to ensure the survival of the publication and to help it reach a print-run of one million copies for its next edition, reports the Guardian. The normal print-run of the publication is around 60,000 copies.
Within 24 hours of the massacre of 12 people – including eight journalists – some €250,000 (£195,000) had been earmarked to support Charlie Hebdo by the Digital Press Fund, paid for by Google, to support the French press.
Le Monde, France Télévisions and Radio France are all working to match Google’s donation of €250k (around $300k), while the Guardian is itself contributing $150k … Expand Expanding Close
Samsung’s sleek mid-ranged Galaxy A3 and A5 handsets appear set for a European launch, as SamMobile spotted firmware for a range of European countries. The handsets have so far only been available in a handful of Asian countries … Expand Expanding Close
The Samsung Galaxy S5 started receiving Android Lollipop in Poland early this month, but now it appears (via SamMobile) that the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system is now hitting the device in one more European country. Specifically, model SM-G900F of the Galaxy S5 is now receiving the update in Spain.
Google this evening has announced that Play Store gift cards are now available in six new European countries. Previously these countries were listed as coming soon, but Google has since updated its support page for Play Store gift cards to announce that they are now available.
LG is continuing its rollout of Android Lollipop this week, after seeding the update in Poland and South Korea over the past few months. Android Lollipop should be rolling out for the flagship LG G3 as of this past December 12 in Austria, Baltics, Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom. Expand Expanding Close
We’ve known about the Desire 620 for a while now, but now HTC has announced that the budget handset—previously only officially available in Taiwan—will be available in the European market as early as January of next year (via Pocket-Lint).
More than six months after handing down its controversial ‘right to be forgotten‘ ruling, in which individuals in Europe have the right to have ‘inaccurate, outdated or irrelevant’ links deleted from search engine results, the European Court of Justice has finally published guidelines on how the ruling should be applied.
While the guidelines acknowledge the need to balance the rights of the individual against the public interest, the specifics are best described as vague … Expand Expanding Close
A European Parliament motion calling for the breakup of Google, separating out the search business from the company’s other activities, has been overwhelmingly approved, reports the WSJ.
In a vote in Strasbourg, 384 legislators voted in favor of the controversial initiative, with 174 against and 56 abstentions […]
“Clear adoption by the EP of Digital Single Market motion, including unbundling for search engine if needed,” tweeted Ramon Tremosa I Balcells, a lawmaker from Spain who backed the proposal.
A European Union panel is trying to get Google to expand the recently passed “right to forgotten” law to the company’s international search engine Google.com. The group is arguing that it’s too easy for people using local versions of Google’s search URL to bypass de-listed links by visiting Mountain View’s primary web search URL which is currently not subject to the controversial ordinance.
Europe’s controversial ‘right to be forgotten‘ ruling, giving individuals the right to have sensitive information about them removed from search engines if it is deemed to be ‘out-dated or irrelevant,’ could extend beyond Europe following a recent court ruling.
Google has so far been removing links only from its European sites, for example google.fr in France and google.co.uk in the UK. However, a French court has now ruled that Google is required to remove links globally, and that local subsidiaries can be fined if the company fails to do so, reports the Guardian … Expand Expanding Close
Despite the fact that Samsung called the Galaxy Note Edge a “limited edition concept device” at launch, we now have word (via SamMobile) that the phone will actually be making it to quite a few more countries. It’s still to be seen how widely the phone will be available, but it’s likely that only a few selected stores within these countries will actually carry it. The device will be priced around €899 in Europe, and for an idea as to when it will launch, it will supposedly be available in Denmark on December 12th.
If visiting historical landmarks in Egypt from the comfort of your smartphone wasn’t enough, virtual jetsetters can now take a tour of Luxembourg without leaving their home thanks to Street View. Historical sites like the medieval Grund neighborhood and the Kirchberg center for European Union buildings are now at your fingertips.
LG announced today that it’s rolling out a new mid-range smartphone that is largely based on its flagship LG G3 and includes some pretty impressive specs for what we expect will be a cheaper device than the G3. While we have all the details on specs for the 4.5-inch, Android 4.4.2, Quad-core F60, LG is yet to reveal pricing for the device. Here’s a breakdown on specs:
￭ Chipset: 1.2GHz Qualcomm® Quad-Core ￭ Display: 4.5-inch WVGA (207ppi) ￭ Memory: 1GB RAM/ 4GB, 8GB ￭ Camera: Rear 5MP/ Front 1.3MP ￭ Battery: 2,100mAh ￭ Operating System: Android 4.4.2 KitKat ￭ Size: 127.5x 67.9 x 10.6mm ￭ Network: 4G LTE ￭ Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.0 / Wi-Fi / A-GPS ￭ Colors: Black / White (varies by market)
LG also noted the Android device will include some of the unique features of its LG G3 smartphone including Gesture Shot, a Front Camera Light, Touch & Shoot to snap a photo by tapping anywhere, and Knock Code to unlock with a personalized “knock”.
LG didn’t unveil specifics on availability for the device but said it’s rolling out to Europe now and the US and Asia later this week.
Google has long been the subject of antitrust complainsand investigations in Europe, but now, some of the company’s competitors are starting to take note of its actions and step forward with their own issues. Yelp, TripAdvisor, and several other companies on Monday teamed up to launch a new website, Focus on the User, on which they express concerns regarding Google’s tendency to promote its own services at the expensive of its rivals. Which in turn, the companies argue, make it harder for customers to find Google’s competitors in results.
Google has come under fire from European Union officials on a number of fronts already. It’s been accused of unfair search results, been criticized for the way it has implemented the controversial ‘right to be forgotten‘ ruling and asked to stop describing apps which offer in-app purchases as ‘free.’
Reuters now reports that the EU believes Google is breaking the law in combining user data across unrelated services like Gmail, YouTube and Google Maps without offering users an opt-out, and the way in which it has consolidated 60 separate privacy policies into one … Expand Expanding Close
Samsung is halting its laptop efforts in Europe, which also includes the release of Chromebooks in this specific market as well. Earlier in the year, Sony announced that it was selling off its VAIO business to investment firm Japan Industrial Partners. Unlike Sony’s decision, Samsung’s change in direction appears to only apply to its European business.
