EU Demands Major Concessions From Google Over Fitbit Deal (arstechnica.com) 24
The EU has demanded that Google make major concessions relating to its $2.1 billion acquisition of fitness-tracking company Fitbit if the deal is to be allowed to proceed imminently, according to people with direct knowledge of the discussions. Ars Technica reports: EU regulators now want the company to pledge that it will not use that information to "further enhance its search advantage" and that it will grant third parties equal access to it, these people said. Brussels insiders said that a refusal by Google to comply with the new demands would probably result in a protracted investigation, adding that such a scenario could ultimately leave the EU at a disadvantage. "It is like a poker game," said a person following the case closely. "In a lengthy probe, the commission risks having fewer or no pledges and still having to clear the deal." They added that the discussions over the acquisition were "intense," and there was no guarantee that any agreement between Brussels and Google would be reached.
Google had previously promised it would not use Fitbit's health data to improve its own advertising, but according to Brussels insiders, the commitment was not sufficient to assuage the EU's concerns nor those of US regulators also examining the deal. Google declined to comment on the specifics of its latest discussions with the European Commission but pointed to an earlier statement saying, "Throughout this process we have been clear about our commitment not to use Fitbit health and wellness data for Google ads and our responsibility to provide people with choice and control with their data. "Similar to our other products, with wearables, we will be transparent about the data we collect and why. And we do not sell personal information to anyone."
Google had previously promised it would not use Fitbit's health data to improve its own advertising, but according to Brussels insiders, the commitment was not sufficient to assuage the EU's concerns nor those of US regulators also examining the deal. Google declined to comment on the specifics of its latest discussions with the European Commission but pointed to an earlier statement saying, "Throughout this process we have been clear about our commitment not to use Fitbit health and wellness data for Google ads and our responsibility to provide people with choice and control with their data. "Similar to our other products, with wearables, we will be transparent about the data we collect and why. And we do not sell personal information to anyone."
"Free market" vs. competitive market. (Score:2)
Discuss the asymptotic outcomes.
Makes no sense (Score:4, Interesting)
Why would Google acquire fitbit if they *couldnt* use the data to improve their search advantage.
They make most of their money from targeted advertising, driven from deep analytics gathered by browsing, gps/maps use, and any other products they control.
Having fitbit is another great source of profile data. Why wouldn't they want to use it?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Fitbit is for medical data mining specifically. They will track your biorhythms and sell that data. To health insurance companies, mark you a high risk. Tracking your heart rate all the time, they will know what makes it go faster and go slower, what appeals and in what why. They will know a great deal more about you, extremely dangerous information about you and data any sane person would not trust them with.
What is interesting is this acquisition proves Google is a failing company, that due to abusive pra
Re: (Score:2)
Much of what you say is reasonable, but you didn't justify calling it "a failing company".
Easy condition for the merger (Score:2)
Fitbit customers have to opt-in to their data NOT being deleted before the acquisition. $1M fine for each transgression.
Re: (Score:2)
Because they would need a new consent from users to do so. You can't just combine data collected in different contexts without a new consent (under EU law)
Re:Makes no sense (Score:4, Informative)
The really important provision here is The GDPR is clear that consent should not be bundled up as a condition of service unless it is necessary for that service [ico.org.uk]. This means that if you buy a Fitbit then Google is not allowed to use your data to improve search or sell to others - without your explicit agreement. I wrote is not allowed to as I have doubts that it would not do so.
Re: (Score:2)
There are also member states that define Fitbit data as health data when used in the context of health applications, in which case, consent under the GDPR is in and of itself insufficient. This effectively makes Fitbit data special category data under Article 9 of the GDPR, with many member states having their own national-level legislation on health data which supersedes the GDPR. There is, to date, no free movement of health data across the EU.
Re: (Score:2)
Why would Google acquire fitbit if they *couldnt* use the data to improve their search advantage.
Google has a substantial medical business based on automated analysis of data, at population level and individual level. We occasionally hear stories about AI being trained to spot cancer on scans but that is the tip of the iceberg.
Also they probably want to improve the health tracking features of their mobile devices and maybe release their own fitness tracker. Apple has some decent offerings in that space with the Apple Watch but Google doesn't. Having said that the bottom has fallen out of that market, I
Re: (Score:2)
> lasts a solid week
My AmazFit Bip lasts 45 days on one charge.
Re: (Score:2)
Sure but comparisons are meaningless because they all have different sensors and features and you can turn them on and off at your discretion. This is with 24/7 heart rate monitoring, blood oxygen monitoring and Bluetooth enabled, for example.
I note that the Bip only claims 45 days if you don't have 24/7 heart rate monitoring enabled.
"Further enhance it's search advantage" (Score:2)
It's been losing that advantage as time goes on. Google has been getting harder and harder to use, and more annoying at that.
I think it is still the best in terns of results, but it is losing that fast. There is more irrelevant garbage showing up in my search results and it is only getting worse.
Re: "Further enhance it's search advantage" (Score:3)
Oh, and "Bing" is just a shell of Google search with the same exact annoying changes.
The EU Again (Score:1)
Just another case of the EU suing American companies in order to gain money to finance the failing socialist dreamland of EU.
Or should that be EW?