[x] - which is an absurdity in itself - what information? how? when? where? This "right" is just another overreach by the EU et. al. wanting everything to be a "human right" even if it's nonsense. A right to whose information? If I have a unilateral right to information, does that mean I have a right to your medical records? Where do you draw the line? If it's just a right to my own information, which I think is reasonable, Google search results don't qualify.
> does that mean I have a right to your medical records
No, because under data-protection legislation nobody has the right to data about you, but you. More European insanity.
I think GP has incorrectly categorised this as an FOI issue, it's more to do with Antitrust, which is a well worn path in the USA as well.
That's why I believe a decrease in the investment in "traffic acquisition costs" may be in the best interest of Google itself.
Everyone is responsible for the consequences of his own actions. What did we expect?
It would certainly be an improvement and it would give more leverage in avoiding regulatory impositions that in the long term are certainly deleterious (for all).
Perhaps I'm naïve, but I see two possibilities: the acceptance of the overreach in regulations/fines/.., or a self-limitation of the monopoly.
But I'm certainly not in the position to answer the question.
It's not really a big deal that different sets of laws conflict with one another. It's fairly common in fact. For instance Freedom of Speech vs Defamation laws.
Good legislation like good code, accounts for these corner cases. Where it doesn't you have the lawyers and the courts to work it out.
The problem is that when a search engine has the overwhelming majority of the online search market, freedom of information has a strict dependence on the QoS of that engine.
Since people (at least in Europe) have a legal right to freedom of information, if Google is not providing support in this regard, then it's responsible for not respecting rights of European citizens.
edit:
Freedom of information is part of the Swiss constitution too.
> Every person has the right to receive information freely, to obtain it from generally accessible sources and to disseminate it [16.3]