Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
Right to be Forgotten Advisory Council in Berlin and London
Monday, October 6, 2014
Over the last two weeks,
the Advisory Council to Google on the Right to be Forgotten
held public meetings in Paris and Warsaw, where they heard from national experts and members of the public. The next two public meetings take place on 14th October in Berlin and on 16th October in London.
A limited number of seats are available for members of the public at each Council meeting, and online registration is now open. Registration will remain open until the day before the event. There is no charge to attend.
Berlin:
register here
to attend the public meeting in Berlin.
Members of the press can register here
.
London:
register here
to attend the public meeting in London.
Members of the press can register here
.
At each meeting, the Council will listen to statements from invited experts, ask questions of the experts and discuss matters of law, technology, and ethics. The public portion of each Advisory Council meeting will last around four hours, with a short intermission. The whole meeting will also be live-streamed on the
Advisory Council’s website
.
During the event, members of the audience can submit questions to the Council and invited experts. The Council also invites members of the public to share their thoughts on the Right to be Forgotten via the form at
google.com/advisorycouncil
- all contributions will be read and discussed. Individuals or organizations with subject matter expertise can submit attachments such as research papers at
google.com/advisorycouncil/comments
on an ongoing basis.
After Berlin and London, the Council will make one final stop in Brussels (4th November), before starting work on its report, which will be published in early 2015. Registration for the Brussels meeting will start approximately ten days beforehand, and we’ll post details on this blog and on the Advisory Council website in due course.
We look forward to seeing you at one of the meetings.
Posted by Betsy Masiello, Google Secretariat to the Advisory Council
Google Campus is coming to Spain!
Monday, October 6, 2014
Google began as a startup in garage, and supporting startups remains a very important part of our DNA. We continually see that when people are empowered to dream big and are empowered to take action, that entrepreneurs turn those ideas into growing companies, creating a powerful startup community, solving big problems, and supporting a thriving economy.
So today we're thrilled to announce Campus Madrid, a new home for innovation in Spain.
Campuses
are Google's spaces for entrepreneurs to learn, connect, and build companies that will change the world. At Campus, entrepreneurs get unparalleled access to mentorship and trainings led by their local startup community, experienced entrepreneurs, and teams from Google.
Two years ago we opened our first Campuses,
Campus London
and
Campus Tel Aviv
. We've seen incredible momentum in these two spaces. In 2013, startups at Campus London raised more 34M GBP, and created more than 570 jobs. We recently announced new Campus locations coming to Warsaw, Poland, Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Seoul, South Korea. Entrepreneurs at Campus Madrid will benefit from this global network of Campuses, including our Campus Exchange program, giving entrepreneurs access to other workspaces around the world.
Google Campus London
Google Campus Tel Aviv
In addition to global opportunities, we will run many new programs in our Madrid location, including
Campus for Moms
,
CampusEDU
and Office Hours with Googler mentors.
We decided to open a Campus in Madrid because of the thriving entrepreneurial spirit in Spain.
We have seen the booming entrepreneurial community in Spain and are excited to join the local community in making it even stronger. Our hope is that Campus Madrid will supercharge tech entrepreneurs, strengthen the startup ecosystem and encourage even more innovation in Spain, Europe, and beyond.
We look forward to opening our doors next year and filling Campus Madrid with startups!
Posted by Mary Grove, Director of Google for Entrepreneurs
Street View reaches new heights
Friday, October 3, 2014
Street View cars, Trekkers and trikes are always striving to unveil new informative and entertaining views of the world, making
Google Maps
more useful and comprehensive. In recent weeks, we have launched two exciting European projects — one in Switzerland, the other in Russia — which literally take the images to a new velocity and a new height!
StreetView Trekker climbs the Swiss Alps
Together with the
Swiss Alpine Club
(SAC) and the Swiss Tourism Board
(MySwitzerland.com)
, we launched a contest called “Queen of the Alps.” High in the Swiss Alps, far from any road or other buildings, are picturesque huts used to spend a night by farmers and vacationers.
It often takes a full day hike to reach these out of the way huts. We ran online vote to find the favorite Swiss hut, promising to film the choice for Street View. The Swiss Alpine Club’s
Lauteraarhütte-SAC
in the canton of Berne (region “Grimselgebiet”) won. It took our Trekkers a five hour hike up the Grimsels Hospiz to capture this exciting imagery.
The interior of the winning alpine hut
In Russia, the site of our Street View shoot was much more accessible but just as exciting - the Winter Olympic venues in Sochi. Stroll around the Fischt stadium which hosted the opening and closing ceremonies. Walk on the Ice Palace "Iceberg" and visit the Olympic Village, where your favorite team stayed.
In particular, take a look at the new Formula 1 track in Sochi. It is located in the city’s Olympic Park and is the only Formula 1 track in Russia. From October 10-12, Russia will host its first World Championship race.
The new Sochi Formula 1 Track on StreetView
Before the event, we thought it would be cool for racing fans to test out the new track. The new Street View imagery allows anyone, anywhere to preview the route. Take a spin.
Posted by Marta Nowak-Przygodzka, Street View team
Seizing the digital opportunity in France
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
All too often, fast-moving, disruptive digital innovation is presented as the enemy of Europe’s enviable social system. The reality, according to a
new study
published this week in Paris by consultants Roland Berger, is that digital companies not only boost economic growth - they also increase worker satisfaction.
Launching the new Roland Berger Internet report
Berger studied 505 companies, all with more than 50 employees, classifying them in four categories by how much they use the Internet. Its study focused not on sexy Internet startups, but on traditional industries such as chemistry, energy or manufacturing. The conclusion was striking: new digital technologies are just as important in these traditional sectors as for high tech startups. The most “digital” grow six times faster than the “least digital”.
Given this finding, it is unsurprising that French companies sense the opportunity: some 57% interviewed put digital transformation as one of their medium term strategic priorities. Unfortunately, actions do not follow these intentions. Only 36% of French companies have a formal digital strategy and French corporate Internet engagement lags far behind French consumer use. While nearly six in 10 French people shopped online in 2013, only one French company in 10 sold online.
If more French companies embarked on the digital journey, Berger argues they would not only improve their performance - they also would please workers. Employees of the most digitally mature companies feel at least 50 percent more involved and happier in their professional life than those of the least matures ones. In a country famed for its quality of life, this is indeed an impressive finding!
Posted by Elisabeth Bargès, Senior Manager, Public Policy and Government Affairs, France
Encouraging Online Video Content in Israel
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Many countries, particularly small ones, face a similar dilemma - how to encourage local production in their own languages. Governments might suggest that the best response is regulation, to artificially require local language video content production. We believe this is neither justified nor effective.
The Internet encourages local content creation. In Israel, the creators of
Tu-Ti-Tu
, an Israeli animation studio specializing in shows for toddlers, tried to make it on TV for years without much success. Today, Tu-Ti-Tu is among the 100 most viewed channels globally on YouTube, and one of the 10 leading channels for family entertainment.
All told, YouTube captures more than a billion views each day. For content creators in a small country like Israel, the internet connects them to a global audience, overcoming physical barriers.
Here, we’ve partnered with the Israeli Film and TV Producers Association and with the Ministry of Economy to run
Made for Web
- a celebration of Israeli content online.
It’s a competition for online video content. Winners are rewarded with cash prizes and a trip to the YouTube Space in London. Last year, there were more than 150 innovative, funny and serious submissions, ranging from travel advice by a three year old child, to an action series for gamers. Winners took a
visit
to the YouTube
space
in London, which they later described as “heaven for video creators.”
This year, we’re going to be running a
workshop
on October 29 in Tel Aviv, where Israeli creators can meet international and local speakers and share best practices.
Matthew Clarke
of Maker Studio and Jake Roper from
Vsauce
will be there. Most important, Made for Web II is now open for submissions.
Apply
by October 31st - and create some more great Hebrew language video.
Posted by Noa Elefant Loffler, Policy and Government Relations Senior Manager, Israel
Spurring Greek tourism
Monday, September 29, 2014
For the past five years, an economic meltdown has plunged Greece into crisis. Amid the the rubble, the country’s economic motor more than ever has become tourism. It now accounts 17% of GDP, and powered by the Internet, is demonstrating, a high potential for growth. Our
"Grow Greek Tourism Online”
program, launched, in partnership with the Minister of Tourism, the National Tourism Board and the Federation of Tourism Enterprises, allows B&Bs, neighborhood restaurants and even specialty ice cream shops and bars to use the Internet and reach new customers.
The program provides tourism entrepreneurs with digital skills and tools to grow their business during and beyond Greece’s short summer tourism season. About 70 percent of the country's tourism arrivals take place between June and September. Although Greece's islands and beaches are delightful in spring and autumn, only about 17 percent of tourists come in May, October and November. “Now, more than ever, it is possible to gradually extend the tourist season. Through web partnerships and the use of innovative tools, we make a further step in this direction," said
Olga Kefalogianni
, the Minister of Tourism.
The opportunity is significant: According to recent
research
by Oxford Economics, an increase in the online activities of the Greek tourism industry can grow Greece’s GDP by 3% and create 100K new jobs.
As a first step, we kicked off the program in Crete (which accounts for 15 percent of the country’s tourism business), hosting events for small and medium sized businesses in the island’s two largest cities, Chania and Heraklion. More than 600 companies participated. Greece’s National Tourism Board EOT launched a campaign for Crete as an autumn tourism destination on their
+Page
with over 1.4 million followers. “Everyone involved in tourism must take advantage of the web." said EOT’s General Secretary, Panos Livadas. The President of the Federation of Tourism Enterprises Andreas Andreadis summed up the project best: "That’s a strong bright light which should help power Greece out of its long economic gloom.”
Posted by Dionisis Kolokotsas, Public Policy & Government Relations Manager, Athens
Dear Rupert
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Last week, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp sent an open letter to the European Commission complaining about Google. We wanted to share our perspective so you can judge the arguments on their merits.
News Corp:
“The Internet should be a canvas for freedom of expression and for high quality content of enduring value.”
Google:
We agree about free expression and the importance of high quality content. Access to information in any given country, particularly news content, used to be controlled by a relatively small number of media organizations. Today, people have far greater choice. That has had a profound impact on newspapers, who face much stiffer competition for people’s attention and for advertising Euros.
Google has worked hard to help publishers succeed online -- both in terms of generating new audiences and also increasing their digital revenues. Our search products drive over 10 billion clicks a month to 60,000 publishers’ websites, and we share billions of dollars annually with advertising publishing partners. We’ve also created a digital store on Android -- Google Play -- that lets news publishers offer their publications for purchase or subscription. We hope this will also increase their audience and digital revenues. In addition, we invest in initiatives like
Google’s Journalism Fellowships
, and help train thousands of journalists through our
Google for Media
program.
News Corp:
Google is a “platform for piracy and the spread of malicious networks” and “a company that boasts about its ability to track traffic [but] chooses to ignore the unlawful and unsavoury content that surfaces after the simplest of searches”
Google:
Google has done more than almost any other company to help
tackle
online piracy.
Search:
In 2013 we removed 222 million web pages from Google Search due to copyright infringement. The average take-down time is now just six hours. And we
downgrade
websites that regularly violate copyright in our search rankings.
Video:
We’ve invested tens of millions of dollars in innovative technology -- called ContentID -- to tackle piracy on YouTube.
Google is also an industry leader in
combating
child sexual abuse imagery online. We use hashing technology to remove illegal imagery from all our products and from the search index. We have safe modes for both Search and YouTube that filter out inappropriate content. And we are committed to protecting our users’ security. It’s why we remove malware from our search results and other products, and protect more than 1 billion users every day from phishing and malware with our Safe Browsing warnings.
News Corp:
Google’s “power” makes it hard for people to “access information independently and meaningfully.” Google is “willing to exploit [its] dominant market position to stifle competition.
”
Google:
With the Internet, people enjoy greater choice than ever before -- and because the competition is just one click away online, barriers to switching are very, very low. Google is of course very popular in Europe, but we are not the gatekeeper to the web, as some claim.
Direct traffic:
Huge numbers of readers go direct to news sites such as the
wsj.com
or
thesun.co.uk
.
New ways to access information:
As
The Economist
reported last week “mobile devices have changed the way people travel the Internet. Users now prefer apps (self contained programmes on smartphones) to websites’ home pages”. In this world Google Search is an app alongside many others. The same article adds “the rise of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest … have become an important navigation system for people looking for content across the Web”. It’s why many newspapers get an increasing number of referrals from Facebook and Twitter.
Search competition:
Within search Google faces a lot of competition: including Amazon for product search; Kayak and Expedia for flights; and Yelp and TripAdvisor for local information. While companies like Expedia and Yelp object to us providing direct answers to users' questions, their revenues, profit and traffic from Google continue to grow.
And when it comes to our answers versus other websites, Larry Page, our co-founder, has always believed that the perfect search engine would "understand exactly what you mean and give you back exactly what you want." Initially, ten blue links were the best answer we could give. But now we have the ability to provide direct answers to users' queries, which is much quicker and easier for them. If you are searching for the weather, you want the weather where you are, on the results page, not just links to weather sites. Or directions: if your query is "where is the nearest pharmacy?", you want a map with directions, not just links to other sites. This is especially important on mobile where screens are smaller and typing is harder.
News Corp:
“Sudden changes are made to the ranking and display of Google search results, which inevitably maximise income for Google and yet punish small companies that have become dependent on Google for their livelihood.”
Google:
Of course we regularly change our algorithms -- we make over 500 changes a year. But these changes are all about improving the user experience, not punishing small companies. Indeed, it's well documented that the highest-profile change to our search ranking, called “Panda”, actually reduced our advertising revenue. As Yelp, another complainant to the EC,
said
on a recent earnings call:
“Where we have the largest communities in the U.S., we’ve seen actually an uptick as a result of the recent Google algorithmic change. They’re constantly making changes and alterations ... and most of that really, on a day-to-day basis, doesn’t have a material effect”
.
News Corp:
“Google has developed a "certification" process for Android-related products which allows it to delay or deny content companies and other businesses access to the mobile operating system, while giving itseIf the freedom to develop competing products.”
Google:
Android is an open-source operating system that can be used free-of-charge by anyone. You don’t need Google’s permission. If hardware manufacturers want to offer applications via Google Play, our digital apps store, we simply ask that they meet a minimum technical standard to ensure these apps run smoothly and securely across a range of Android-powered devices. This is good for users and for app developers. Many manufacturers, including Amazon and Nokia, choose to install their own apps stores on their Android-based devices.
News Corp:
“Google is commodifying the audience of specialist publishers and limiting their ability to generate advertising revenue. Data aggregators attempt to sell audiences at a steep discount to the original source, for example, access to 75 per cent of The Wall Street Journal demographic at 25 per cent of the price, thus undermining the business model of the content creator.”
Google:
When selling their ad space, publishers can decide which partners they work with, who can buy ads on their website, and who can reach their audiences. Indeed, in a
recent press release to investors
, News Corp explained that it had created a private advertising exchange to limit the partners it works with to prevent exactly this kind of commoditization. Robert Thomson, News Corp’s CEO, said at the time:
“The only way to reach the world’s greatest content and the most prestigious and lucrative audiences is directly through our digital properties. Third parties are no longer invited to the party”
. Google works with publishers to protect their content and maximize their advertising revenues.
News Corp:
“Google routinely displays YouTube results at the top of its search pages, even if YouTube is not the original source of that content.”
Google:
A simple Google search for “videos of Robert Thomson News Corp” shows content from the BBC, the Wall Street Journal, and Nasdaq ranked above anything from YouTube. We only show YouTube results when they’re relevant to a search query.
News Corp:
"The shining vision of Google's founders has been replaced by a cynical management..."
Google:
Larry Page and Sergey Brin are still very much at the helm of Google -- Larry is CEO and both remain the inspiration behind our next generation of big bets... self-driving cars, Loon, Fiber and more.
News Corp:
“Undermining the basic business model of professional content creators will lead to a less informed, more vexatious level of dialogue in our society … the intemperate trends we are already seeing in much of Europe will proliferate.”
Google:
People probably have
enough evidence
to judge that one for themselves :)
Posted by Rachel Whetstone, SVP Global Communications
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