Re:Tell HN: Locked out of Gmail account even after right pas...
by kergonath on Friday September 16, 2022 @04:52AM
(#32863784)
> All of this falls apart if the goods/service is free...
That was very true, but I think this is changing. Recent dealings with Facebook and the privacy regulations give some hope there.
> And one can't really argue Google is a monopoly with regards to email services
EU regulations do not care about monopolies. The main issue is abuse of dominant position, which Google definitely has. The mobile carriers is an appropriate comparison, I think. None of them has anything like a dominant position across the continent, but their collective behaviour was suboptimal and costly for the customers, which was a strong enough motivation for the EC to intervene. I can see a blanket regulation about the processes that need to be put in place to close or recover accounts. In the same way that these companies are required to have dedicated people for GDPR requests.
Also note that EU regulations are much less concerned about random customers than American laws. The EU framework is all about competition and how to preserve it, under the arguable belief that quantitatively increasing competition will benefit the final customers.
That was very true, but I think this is changing. Recent dealings with Facebook and the privacy regulations give some hope there.
> And one can't really argue Google is a monopoly with regards to email services
EU regulations do not care about monopolies. The main issue is abuse of dominant position, which Google definitely has. The mobile carriers is an appropriate comparison, I think. None of them has anything like a dominant position across the continent, but their collective behaviour was suboptimal and costly for the customers, which was a strong enough motivation for the EC to intervene. I can see a blanket regulation about the processes that need to be put in place to close or recover accounts. In the same way that these companies are required to have dedicated people for GDPR requests.
Also note that EU regulations are much less concerned about random customers than American laws. The EU framework is all about competition and how to preserve it, under the arguable belief that quantitatively increasing competition will benefit the final customers.