(...) jobless builders presented her with a gift: a life-size sculpture of a
hand with a raised middle digit. She keeps the artifact prominently
displayed on a coffee table at her office in the European Commission.
This article is incorrect. Denmark says it will do something about large companies practices, but it is just talk. As an example Denmark has alot of laws regarding data protection. But the rules are only enforced for the small companies. Larger companies like LinkedIn and Google have been ignoring the data protection rules for years and the Danish government ignores it, as they are too hard to prosecute.
>“Consumers depend on us to make sure that competition is fair and open, and it’s my responsibility to make that happen.
Really? Then why not go after banks, energy companies, telecom giants...?
As a consumer I have the choice to choose to trust google when I search for a product, however I have only two choices when I choose my ISP, or no option at all to choose my electricity provider.
Consumers don't depend on "them" to have fair and open competition, it's the companies that depend on the governments to have unfair or nonexistent competiton.
It seems that the standard response to the EU probing Google is to say it's unfair and "what about European companies" without actually doing any research into the matter.
Where do you live? Because inside the EU, we already "went after" telcos, banks and energy companies, which is why as a consumer in the Netherlands I have plenty of choice on all fronts you mentioned.
Granted, not all countries have moved as fast when it comes to implementing, but over here there's a whole generation that doesn't even remember the time when we only had one telco and one electricity provider.
