The German government wants to "plunge" it Google to reveal more details about the famous secret algorithm behind the company's quests.
This initiative will certainly delight Google's competitors, but the US company is expected to deny it stubbornly.
In an interview with the Financial Times, the German Justice Minister Haik Maas stressed that Google needs to become "more transparent" about the algorithm that uses to rank the results of users' searches, as such ranking has significant positive or negative implications for a user, a company or a country.
The German tough attitude it goes along with - and encourages - the similar attitude of the European Commission, which shows no inclination to compromise with Google, in the dispute it has started with it, accusing it of taking advantage of the dominant position it has acquired in the online market internationally.
"After all, the whole thing has to do with how transparent the algorithms Google uses to sort the results of her research. When a search engine already has such an impact on economic growth, this is a matter to be resolved ", said Haiko Maas, who is also responsible for consumer protection. "We all use the internet and we know that whoever is not at the top of the search results is as if it does not exist", he added.
Google's critics believe that Google's secret "weapon", its search algorithms, are being "manipulated" to harm its competitors, which is why they are calling for greater transparency. Google counters that doing so would expose its search engine to a deluge of spam, while insisting it can't give away its trade secrets to rivals for free.
Google has a 90% to 95% share of the search market in the European Union, compared to 68% in the US. That is why, as the German minister mentioned, "Google's power over consumers and market players is impressive. We need to consider what preventive measures should be taken so that this power does not happen tool abuse". Haiko Maas has come to the point of saying that Google's "split" can be considered as a "last resort."
After his revelations Edward Snowdon (and not only) about online espionage and in Europe on behalf of the US intelligence services (mainly the NSA), the German government is determined to promote stricter regulations on the protection of personal data of European users and European state secrets.
Source: tovima.gr
