The lawsuit filed by the European Commission against Google has become one of the landmark legal battles for the right to privacy. Having drawn a legal line between the right for a company to promote its product and the right of individuals to retain their privacy, the specified case has set a crucial precedent (Amaro, 2021). Due to the intrusion in people’s personal life and misuse of their personal data that Google’s activity suggested, the position of the European Commission on the issue appears to be entirely justified.
At the same time, one should mention that Google’s position on the subject matter was also quite understandable. Apart from the reasonable stance regarding the necessity to thrive in a highly competitive environment and cater to customer-specific needs, the described framework represents an essential tool for powering research and development and introducing innovations into the context of the IT environment based on trends in customers’ behaviors observed and analyzed via digital data collection. The importance of innovation and technological progress may trump the threat of monopoly in the global digital market.
Finally, while the prevention of market monopolization does create premises for fairer prices, it is likely to lead to a drop in product and service quality. Since organizations such as Google will be restricted in their choice of analytical approaches, the efficacy of their services and innovativeness of their products will predictably drop, which will reduce the overall quality of goods and, ultimately, the pace of technological progress. Therefore, it is crucial to thread the line between respecting customers’ privacy and collecting the data that will inform the further emergence of technological breakthroughs that will reinvent the industry and the global economy, in general
Reference
Amaro, S. (2021). Google loses antitrust battle with EU as court upholds 2017 order to pay $2.8 billion fine. CNBC. Web.