Hey Google. Remember Your Motto, "Don't Be Evil," Well, It's Time You Dusted It off.
Another day another antitrust suit against the almighty Google monolith. This time it's the Business Competition Supervisory Commission ( KPPU) which began to probe deep into the issue of the tech giant making its proprietary mandatory for its apps on its platform Play Store. Seemingly, the sneaky devils have rolled this decree out in India and the U.S. in the last few weeks.
This stealth play has again led to complaints aimed squarely at the tech giant.
It's as if the gargantuan fine levied against the company of a whopping US$ 4.2 billion; is the most significant antitrust penalty ever imposed on a single company. The crime? Well, the greedy buggers at Google decided to force Android manufacturers to carry Google's web and search browser app with the reward being that then, and only then, would the devices be able to access the Play Store.
This rapacious move comes as companies and governments become increasingly tied to and depend on tech companies. It's a bit like a crack dealer cutting off the supply of the drug that their users crave. The longer this practice continues, we will see these self – the same companies and governments lose control of vital components of their very freedom. By this, I mean their freedom – be it privacy, essential data and, in some cases, their livelihoods to the digital ecosystems they have been fortifying for years.
At last many are waging a campaign to retrieve the freedom taken from them.
In my part of the world, namely Indonesia, we have recently seen Google strong-arming users to continue using their billing system when using or purchasing Play Store apps. But, then, out of the blue came a service fee of between fifteen and thirty per cent when other payment providers' fees have stood relatively steady at a much more manageable five per cent or, in some cases, even lower.
It's as if Google doesn't care about the fines being levied against them and treats them like an irritating mosquito bite. The company is now ready to settle a US$90 million fine in the United States after losing a legal battle with app developers over income derived from the purchases from apps specifically designed for Android smartphones and in-app sales.
Over the last two decades, Google has built a mega digital ecosystem and offered consumers an open slather to use the system for free.
The analogy of the drug dealer mentioned earlier in the piece now rings true as Google employs the same techniques, i.e. give the product away for free and when the buggers are well and truly hooked, start charging them.
The trouble here is that it is not just one product we are talking about; it covers a raft of products and services to which we have become dependent as many companies and people rely almost exclusively on Google's systems.
Over the last few years, tech companies have adopted an authoritarian stance against the very souls who helped them get to where they are today, taking away choice and demanding that they play by these new rules.
Much like many authoritarian governments, Google can now be compared to an enemy of democracy even though they have via that self- same democratic model, they have been able to innovate freely.
All they are doing now is profit maximizing.
When this 'darling' start-up was born, its motto, "Don't be evil", was etched in stone. But over the years, the winds of change have almost erased it from the plinth the company rests upon. That mighty phrase could one day be compared to that most awful of mottos inscribed above the camp gates in Poland in the 1940s, "Work will make you free."
Like any repressive regime, there is always the fear of its citizens rising and saying, enough! However, when and if Google is forced to confront this global rebellion, they will realize, perhaps too late and witness users using their freedom to log out of the Google universe.
Google HQ.
We might adjust to life without it when and if, and it's a mighty if it ever happens. There are scores of potential alternatives. Will those alternatives be just as efficient or easy to use? Probably. And if that does happen, poor Siri might end up talking to an empty echo chamber; after all, when change occurs, over time, we simply get used to it.
Bali Indonesia September 2022
