Google and Privacy: 6 EU Countries Take Action
PARIS — Google’s new privacy policy is under attack from regulators in its largest European markets, who on Tuesday brought legal action to try and force the company to overhaul practices they say let it create a data goldmine at the expense of unwitting users. Led by the French, organizations in Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Italy agreed Tuesday on the joint action, with the ultimate possibility of imposing fines or restrictions on operations across the entire 27-country European Union. Last year the company merged 60 separate privacy policies from around the world into one universal procedure. The European organizations complain that the new policy doesn’t allow users to figure out which information is kept, how it is combined by Google services, or how long the company retains it. (MORE: Google Glass Will Be Made in the USA by Foxconn) The fines’ financial impact on Google would be limited — French privacy watchdog CNIL has the right to fine the company up to ...
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U.K. Closer to Recession as Economy Contracts in Q4
(LONDON) — Britain’s economy contracted by a worse-than-expected 0.3 percent in the last three months of 2012, raising the possibility that it might fall back into recession for the third time since the global financial crisis. The Office for National Statistics said Friday that there was no growth in the nation’s big services industry while output of production industries fell by 1.8 percent, including a 1.5 percent drop in manufacturing. (MORE: Why Europe’s Healthiest Economy Has Its Worst Drug Problem) Britain emerged from a nine-month recession in the third quarter, when GDP grew by 0.9 percent. But if the economy shrinks again in the first quarter of 2013, it will be officially back in a technical recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction. “Today’s numbers have greatly increased the risk of a new recession and a downgrading of the U.K.’s AAA credit rating,” said Chris Williamson, chief economist at financial data company Markit. All three ...
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In Major Victory, Google Dodges Federal Antitrust Lawsuit with FTC Deal
Internet search giant Google has agreed to make voluntary changes to its search business in order to avoid a major federal antitrust lawsuit after a nearly two-year government investigation. The agreement, which was expected, wraps up the Federal Trade Commission’s probe into whether Google has used its search market power to unfairly harm rivals. “The conclusion is clear,” David Drummond, Google’s senior vice president and chief legal officer, said in a blog post. “Google’s services are good for users and good for competition.” A group of Google’s competitors, including Microsoft and Yelp, had been lobbying the government for several years in an effort to prod federal officials to go after the search giant on antitrust grounds. Google dominates the Web search space, with about 70% market share. Google’s agreement with the feds, which was announced Thursday, is a significant blow to its rivals, some of which were hoping the federal government would file a high-profile ...
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Google Set to Dodge Federal Antitrust Lawsuit with FTC Deal: Report
Internet search giant Google is poised to avoid a major federal antitrust lawsuit after a nearly two-year government investigation into its Web search practices, Bloomberg reported late Wednesday. The agreement, which was expected, will conclude the Federal Trade Commission’s probe into whether Google has used its search market power to unfairly harm rivals. A group of Google’s competitors, including Microsoft and Yelp, have been lobbying the government for several years in an effort to prod federal officials to go after the search giant on antitrust grounds. Google dominates the Web search space, with about 70% market share. Google’s agreement with the feds, which is expected to be announced Thursday, is a significant blow to its rivals, some of which were hoping the federal government would file a high-profile lawsuit against the company, as it did with Microsoft in the 1990s. (MORE: Six Tech/Media Stories to Watch in 2013) As part of the deal, Google will reportedly make a set ...
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How U.S. Firms like Google and Amazon Minimize Their European Taxes
Britain is a huge market for Amazon, the U.S. online retailing giant, accounting for as much as 25% of its total sales outside the United States, or more than $5 billion annually. The company also employs about 15,000 staff in the U.K. But it paid less than $3 million in tax to the British Inland Revenue last year. How so? Because Amazon’s main European operations are incorporated in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, a speck on the European map which, like Britain, is a member of the European Union – but which for years has done a roaring business by offering foreign companies extremely low tax rates. By being based there, Amazon reports only about $330 million in revenue in the U.K. – compared with almost $12 billion in Luxembourg, where its taxes came to just $10.7 million. That’s a rate of just 0.009%. Amazon can do this because its U.K. arm is registered as a service company for the Luxembourg holding company, Amazon EU SARL. (MORE: U.K. Slams ‘Immoral’ Tax Practices of Multinational ...
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