Google's dominance of the internet search market has made the tech giant
an obstacle to entrepreneurial innovation, says commentator Andrew
Keen, who argues it's time for regulators to act.
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LATEST FROM LE WEB
Solving 'the Google problem' key to ensuring the Internet's success
December 6, 2012 -- Updated 1427 GMT (2227 HKT)
Why is Google being investigated?
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- U.S. and EU regulators met in Brussels this week to discuss "the Google problem"
- They were considering whether its dominance of the search market may be illegal
- Keen says they need to decide soon whether to pursue anti-trust lawsuits
- He says it is important to ensure entrepreneurial innovation is allowed to flourish
Editor's note: LeWeb is
Europe's biggest tech conference, in Paris from December 4 to 6. CNN
will be reporting live from the ground. Andrew Keen is a
British-American entrepreneur, professional skeptic and the author of
"The Cult of the Amateur" and "Digital Vertigo." Follow Andrew Keen and CNN's reporters at LeWeb, Stephanie Busari and Irene Chapple, on Twitter.
(CNN) -- Many of Europe's leading tech entrepreneurs
are meeting at the annual LeWeb conference in Paris this week to
celebrate the future - an "Internet of things" governed by intelligent devices.
But, rather than Paris,
the most consequential European meeting about the future of the Internet
this week may have taken place in Brussels on Monday.
In contrast with the
radically transparent networking culture that characterizes LeWeb, the
Brussels event was a meeting between two powerful bureaucrats that took
place, like all meetings between powerful bureaucrats, behind closed
doors.
Andrew Keen
Jon Leibowitz, the
Chairman of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) met with Joaquin
Almunia, the vice-president of the European Commission to discuss Google
- the dominant company on today's Internet. Specifically, they were
meeting to discuss potential FTC and EU anti-trust lawsuits against the
tech giant, in an attempt to resolve the Google problem.
It's a very simple
problem. The future may, indeed, have arrived on the Internet. But
rather than being run by intelligent devices, it's unfortunately being
run more and more by a single company -- Google, which controls over 90%
of the search market in several European countries. And the problem, as
both the FTC and the commission recognize, is that this dominance may,
in part, be illegal.
Google has been accused
in both Europe and the United States of using its dominant position in
search to unfairly promote its own products and services -- from travel
and shopping comparison engines to advertising and mapping.
These accusations have been well documented
and extend from successful American internet companies such as Yelp,
Expedia and Nextag to European start-ups like eJustice.fr and Foundem.
At a press conference in Brussels on Wednesday, Almunia confirmed
that the commission was working "intensively" on its probe of Google.
Meanwhile, Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt, in a
characteristically pugnacious message to Almunia and Leibowitz, told the
Wall Street Journal that "it's time for them to sort of move to one resolution or another. It's not like they don't have a million documents and so forth."
Schmidt is right. Given
the speed of technological change, it's time for both the commission and
the FTC to decide whether or not to bring their anti-trust lawsuits
against Google. The longer both Almunia and Leibowitz wait, the more
powerful Google becomes, and the more indecisive and laggardly the
regulators appear.
An Internet of things must be a place of all of our things, not just Google's things
Andrew Keen
Andrew Keen
Time is, indeed, of the
essence. As the future arrives on all our devices and "the Internet of
things" becomes a reality, it is essential that this Google problem,
which is undermining entrepreneurial innovation, is resolved.
An Internet of things
must be a place of all of our things, not just Google's things. And as
Google products such as its self-driving cars and data goggles pioneer
this brave new world of intelligent devices, it is essential that the
FTC and the commission guarantee that the ubiquitous Google search
engine doesn't degenerate into a platform for this increasingly powerful
company to hawk its own intelligent products and services.
Google's Eric Schmidt spoke at Le Web last year.
"This particular conference is one of the best venues for new
entrepreneurs in Europe," he said, rightly, of Europe's largest Internet
event.
But for future
entrepreneurs really to be able to innovate, we need fair search which
doesn't prioritize the products and services of Google itself.
We are thus relying on
Leibowitz and Almunia. Let's hope they can make a decision on whether to
move ahead with their anti-trust cases by the end of the year. Let's
hope they can solve the Google problem.
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