That reminds me...Meant to write about this but then got all Russocentric. The European Parliament, absolutely toothless but still, passed a...not a law but a recommendation I guess that Google be broken up, sort of like Standard Oil was. Too big, says the Euro parliamentarians. This is not a direct result of Google's complicity in American spying ("If there's something you're doing that you don't want anybody to know about, maybe you shouldn't be doing it."), Google has 90% of search engine traffic in Europe (90%!), Europe has fought digitalization of intellectual property, hates those Google Earth spy-cam cars, and won a "right to be forgotten" for its citizens in a court battle with Google. It's not a direct result but it is related.
China's president Xi Jinping was in Brazil a little while ago and preached to the converted when he told Brazilians that America's "monopoly," I think he called it, on internet traffic must end. China of course did kicked Google out or forced Google to relocate to Hong Kong, I forget which. It has been Baidu or bust in China for some time now.
I'm all for national alternatives to Google, I have suggested nationalization previously. The world trusted America with its internet traffic and got betrayed. They trusted Google and Google was compromised.
China's president Xi Jinping was in Brazil a little while ago and preached to the converted when he told Brazilians that America's "monopoly," I think he called it, on internet traffic must end. China of course did kicked Google out or forced Google to relocate to Hong Kong, I forget which. It has been Baidu or bust in China for some time now.
I'm all for national alternatives to Google, I have suggested nationalization previously. The world trusted America with its internet traffic and got betrayed. They trusted Google and Google was compromised.
