The
European Union started dogging Microsoft over antitrust concerns in
1993, the same year the EU was officially established, finally
settling the case in 2003 before coming back to Microsoft’s well
with more anti-trust concerns a few years later.
Microsoft is hardly anyone’s idea of an IT monopoly. Instead,
the EU and its “competition commissioner” have set their sights
on Google.
From Reuters:
Google’s revised proposals to settle an antitrust case
are not acceptable, European Union competition commissioner Joaquin
Almunia said on Friday.“The latest offer as submitted by Google in October …
the latest proposals are not acceptable in the sense that they are
not proposals that can eliminate our concerns regarding
competition,” Almunia said in a Spanish radio interview, according
to a partial transcript provided by the European
Commission.
Free market forces best ensure competition, while government
officials tasked with ensuring “competition” usually do anything
but, being best in distorting those very forces.
In Spain, meanwhile, Google was
fined $1.2 million for violating privacy laws.
Follow these stories and more at Reason 24/7 and don’t forget you
can e-mail stories to us at 24_7@reason.com and tweet us
at @reason247.
from Hit & Run http://reason.com/blog/2013/12/20/eus-competition-commissioner-rejects-goo
via IFTTT