[governance] need for regulation ....

[Carlos A. Afonso]

I think there is a basic misunderstanding related to the role of
private, free, non-mandatory services versus, for example, the required,
paid for, connectivity services we need to be on the Internet.

Services such as Google, Facebook, Twitter etc, are opt-in, not required
for the user to be on the Internet. And they are free to use, regardless
of what they do or don't with your visit to them. You visit at your own
risk and will.

Our broadband or mobile connection is paid, required if we wish to be on
the Internet, and subject to a provider-user contract regarding which we
can demand consumer and other rights.

I do not see how we can just tell Google to do what Guru requests. One
can just *not* use Google and still be on the Internet. Or can use just
a few components with due care regarding personal privacy configurations
if one wishes. Same with any other non-mandatory, free, opt-in service.

IMHO

--c.a.

On 03/10/2014 07:26 AM, Guru गुरु wrote:
> Dear all,
> 
> Not clear, how in Multistakeholderism, where the private sector has an
> equal footing in public policy making, we will get Google to agree that
> its search algorithm, as the key factor organising the worlds
> information/knowledge for all of us, needs to be public knowledge, not a
> commercial secret. The need for it to be public knowledge stems from
> privacy/surveillance concerns, because such fundamental knowledge ought
> to be available as 'cultural commons' that others can
> take/re-use/revise, fostering competition etc.
> 
> regards,
> Guru
> 
> Google faces Rs 30,500-cr fine in India
> New Delhi, PTI: March 9, 2014
> 
>  Google can face a penalty of up to about $5 billion if it is found to
> have violated competition norms of the country.  Google, which is facing
> anti-trust investigation in India by fair trade watchdog Competition
> Commission of India (CCI), can face a penalty of up to about $5 billion
> (Rs 30,500 crore) if it is found to have violated competition norms of
> the country.
> 
> Google said it is “extending full cooperation” to the CCI in its
> investigation. The conclusion of a two-year review by the US antitrust
> watchdog has concluded that the company's services were good for
> competition, it added. The case has been before the CCI for over two
> years now, and it relates to allegations that Google is abusing its
> dominant position. Under competition regulations, an entity found
> violating the norms could be slapped with penalty of up to 10 per cent
> of its three-year annual average turnover. In the case of Google, its
> annual revenues in the last three years amounts to a staggering $49.3
> billion (Rs 3.01 lakh crore), and the maximum penalty can be up to
> nearly $5 billion.
> 
> When asked about the ongoing probe and the potential penalty, a Google
> spokesperson said: “We are extending full co-operation to the
> Competition Commission of India in their investigation.”  The emailed
> statement added: “We're pleased that the conclusion of the Federal Trade
> Commission's two-year review was that Google's services are good for
> users and good for competition.”
> 
> A complaint filed with the CCI cannot be withdrawn. The complaint
> against Google, also one of the world's most valued company, was first
> filed by advocacy group CUTS International way back in late 2011. Later.
> Matrimonial website matrimony.com Private Ltd also filed a complaint.
> Last year, CCI chairman Ashok Chawla had said the complaint was that the
> Google search engine favours platforms it wants to support.
> 
> “That is, when you click on Google under a certain category, you will
> get the platforms where there is a tendency to put them in a certain
> order which may not be the fair and non-discriminatory. So, *what is the
> software and what is the algorithmic search, (that is) what the
> investigation team is looking at,” *Chawla had said.
> 
> source -
> http://www.deccanherald.com/content/390977/google-faces-rs-30500-cr.html

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