The Search For A Finer Sieve

The World Vs Google

• Privacy France, UK, Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Italy threaten legal action against Google for failing to correct and bring its privacy policy in line with relevant EU directives.
• Incursion Governments and agencies in a number of countries, particularly Europe, object to collection of video footage of private individuals without their knowledge by Google Street View.
• Tax evasion A UK parliament committee report criticises British tax authorities for failing to challenge Google about its “high contrived” tax arrangement and asks for full investigation.
• Copyright violation Google’s bid to allow books to be browsed by viewers leads to protests. Authors and publishers in US, Europe, China warn of legal action over violation of copyright.
• Revenue pilferage Mainstream newspapers in Europe and US accuse ‘vampire’ Google of sucking the life out of newspapers by shortchanging them on advertising revenue earned on their content
• Privacy infringement Google Glass that connects to the internet and allows people to take photographs and videos have raised concerns on whether it infringes on individual privacy.
• Cartography row Google Maps has been subject of controversy and national security. Its depiction of Jammu & Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as disputed territories have led to strong protests.

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To a large number of people across the world, news of Google launching operations in China in January 2006 had come as a major surprise. The surprise was not so much at the Chinese government allowing the American internet giant into the country as at Google agreeing to play by China’s restrictive rules, abandoning its avowed principles of providing open access to information to all users. It obediently blocked websites and topics the government wanted it to. Later, there were charges that many dissidents and rights activists had been exposed through Google.

Today, however, the debate among the large band of supporters and admirers of Google, especially those in the western world and in other democracies, is no longer about Google and China. Instead, it’s on what Google might be doing in their own country. Much of this has come into focus after American whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelation about the US government’s PRISM programme, which allowed its agencies to spy on the conversations of world leaders and go through e-mails and text messages of a large number of non-US citizens. The charge that much of this information was made accessible to the US agencies by internet giants like Google has made people in Europe and elsewhere worried on how much of their private conversations and information is now in the hands of the American government.

“People in Europe have become more conscious about their data and what is being done with it when they surf the web and leave traces,” says Tobias Matern, a Munich-based media commentator. Google remains the most popular search engine in most of Europe, as in most parts of the world. But the European media now features regular stories about how internet data is being stored and used; how internet giants are helping create profiles of users, their personal information, shopping preferences, online behavioral patterns and so on. “The big data scare stories have raised the awareness for sure, but I don’t know whether this will lead people to protect their personal data on the internet,” says Matern.

Individuals may not be taking measures to protect their data and information, but certainly it has led the European Union and many of its key members to take the lead. Six of them­—France, Germany, the UK, Netherlands, Spain and Italy—have threatened legal action against Google for its failure to correct privacy policy and bringing it in line with relevant EU directives.

But the privacy issue has not been limited to the internet alone, and many of Google’s other programmes, like Street View, though popular with some sections, have evoked serious objections from governments in Europe and elsewhere. The question is if it is ethical to shoot videos of individuals without their knowledge and consent.

Similarly, before Google launched Google Glass—a device worn like glasses that connects to the internet and allows users to photograph, record and text—the idea prompted a group of US Congressmen to summon Google representatives some months back  to find out if such actions amounted to breach of individual privacy. The individual may be one of the hot topics, but the ongoing debate has also allowed many other issues that were earlier sidelined, to come back to the centrestage. Some, like competition, tax avoidance and revenue sharing from the content on the Google pages, are all being revisited by agencies and governments in different countries.

Another issue is copyright. Authors have filed complaints that Google Books allows free access in violation of copyright rules. The charges have not so far been proved. Newspapers and journals, too, feel shortchanged at Google using content but giving very little revenue share in return. In February this year, French President Francois Hollande hosted Google chief Eric Schmidt at his presidential palace in Paris and successfully managed to make Google agree to pay 60 million euros to a fund that supports French publishers. “At a time when the print media is under tremendous pressure in Europe, this could well be a new source of revenue for struggling publishers,” says Matern.

Tax evasion has also been a major charge from different governments. Recently, a UK parliamentary panel pulled up its government and its age­ncies for failing to challenge Google’s “highly contrived” tax arrangement and sought a full investigation.

So, as Google’s profile and influence in India continues to rise, are there any lessons that it can learn from the Europeans and other democracies in the world? “Make sure your privacy legislation is complete and well-enforced,” says Brussels-based Joe McNamee of European Digital Rights. He points out that India should also learn the lessons of Europe regarding tax loopholes. But more importantly, he adds, “Resist the populist approach of asking Google (and other online companies) to do ‘something’ or ‘more’ to address illegal or unwelcome online content. India should develop its own laws and implement them. It should not ask an American company to arbitrarily impose its own rules on Indian citizens.”

Sage advice, for sure, but is the Indian government listening?