Google's DMA compliance plan is a sham
Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2024 5:19 am
It's been roughly three months since the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA) , which aims to restore competition and fairness to the internet, came into effect for Big Tech monopolies. Since then, Google has done precisely nothing to comply with the law's directive that it open up the Android operating system, used in an estimated 3.9 billion smartphones worldwide, to compete. If Apple's proposal was a slap in the face , Google's is a middle finger — both to the European Commission and to you.
In this article, ogle's “compliance” plan violates oman phone number data the DMA, which forbids gatekeepers' bundling and tying practices.
This can seem like an abstract, maybe even an unimportant issue for many people, but it has an unavoidable impact on our day-to-day lives and can be reduced to three points:
Google controls the Android operating system and uses it to monitor your every move , promote its products, and box out competitors on the world's most popular smartphone.
This reduces your choices and prevents new, innovative, and more privacy-focused alternatives from challenging Google's default apps, giving Google an unfair advantage.
Google has only made efforts to appear like it's complying with the DMA while changing nothing in substance, likely breaking European law in the process.
If the European Commission fails to act, Google will continue holding Android user hosting, ruining our best chance in years to make the internet a level playing field, effectively making the DMA a toothless piece of legislation.
The Google monopoly starts with identity
Google, for all its sophistication, is an advertising company. Its innovation was to track every person it could to gather their data, then use it to sell ads. At the core of Google's surveillance strategy are Gmail and the Google Account. Your email address acts as your online identity, the passport that nearly every app and online account asks for when you create an account or log in. Controlling a person's online identity has become Google's ultimate goal . It realized that if it can control your online identity, it can effectively track you anywhere and everywhere online.
In this article, ogle's “compliance” plan violates oman phone number data the DMA, which forbids gatekeepers' bundling and tying practices.
This can seem like an abstract, maybe even an unimportant issue for many people, but it has an unavoidable impact on our day-to-day lives and can be reduced to three points:
Google controls the Android operating system and uses it to monitor your every move , promote its products, and box out competitors on the world's most popular smartphone.
This reduces your choices and prevents new, innovative, and more privacy-focused alternatives from challenging Google's default apps, giving Google an unfair advantage.
Google has only made efforts to appear like it's complying with the DMA while changing nothing in substance, likely breaking European law in the process.
If the European Commission fails to act, Google will continue holding Android user hosting, ruining our best chance in years to make the internet a level playing field, effectively making the DMA a toothless piece of legislation.
The Google monopoly starts with identity
Google, for all its sophistication, is an advertising company. Its innovation was to track every person it could to gather their data, then use it to sell ads. At the core of Google's surveillance strategy are Gmail and the Google Account. Your email address acts as your online identity, the passport that nearly every app and online account asks for when you create an account or log in. Controlling a person's online identity has become Google's ultimate goal . It realized that if it can control your online identity, it can effectively track you anywhere and everywhere online.