Denmark Says Tech Giants Affect It More Than Entire Countries, Decides To Appoint Official 'Digital Ambassador' To Them
from the if-you-can't-beat-them,-establish-diplomatic-relations-with-them dept
As you may have noticed, here on Techdirt we write quite a lot about companies like Apple, Google and Facebook. That's partly because they are very rich and very powerful, and therefore tend to be driving many of the key developments in the tech field. Some think they are too powerful. Here, for example, is Robert Reich, writing for The New York Times, in a 2015 piece entitled "Big Tech Has Become Way Too Powerful":
While in 2001, the top 10 websites accounted for 31 percent of all page views in America, by 2010 the top 10 accounted for 75 percent. Google and Facebook are now the first stops for many Americans seeking news -- while Internet traffic to much of the nation's newspapers, network television and other news gathering agencies has fallen well below 50 percent of all traffic. Meanwhile, Amazon is now the first stop for almost a third of all American consumers seeking to buy anything. Talk about power.
As Reich points out, the European Union seems to agree, and is investigating Amazon, Apple and Google for various alleged abuses of that growing power. More recently, the European Commission signalled that it was not happy about aspects of Facebook's takeover of WhatsApp. But not everyone thinks fighting tech giants is the solution. Here, for example, is what Denmark's Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen has announced, as reported by The Local:
Saying that tech giants like Google and Apple now have more influence than many countries, Denmark will become the first nation in the world to appoint a so-called digital ambassador.
…
Samuelsen said that through the ambassadorship, which has not yet been filled, Denmark will work toward better relationships with the American tech firms that have amassed fortunes much larger than some of the countries with which Denmark practises traditional diplomacy.
There's a certain logic there, but it does set a worrying precedent. If there's an official digital ambassador, why not have an energy ambassador for the giant oil and gas companies, and a drug ambassador for Big Pharma? And won't that kind of political apparatus provide yet more ways for already influential companies to bend and shape government policy in a country -- tipping the balance against ordinary people even further?
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Filed Under: denmark, digital ambassador
Companies: apple, facebook, google
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Does anyone know what percentage of households read the largest newspapers 50 years ago?
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(before tv)
.. no really, there was such a time.
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That number would still be quite small. While no doubt most households read the largest newspaper in their city, it was a different newspaper in each city.
I doubt that even major chains of newspapers reached anything remotely like 75 percent of readers.
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In the US, sure. European countries tend to have national press supported by smaller local papers. Most people would tend to read both a national and a local paper.
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Digital Ambasador
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Re: Digital Ambasador
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Digital Ambasador To Cyberspace
It would be funny, amusing if Cyberspace eventually gets some sort of de-facto recognition, even if there is no organized government of it.
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hey if i start a cooirporation now ....
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You can only point to one thing that politicians killed for them (not passed), and that's SOPA.
So yeah, I'll believe tech companies are powerful and influential in the eyes of politicians when they start to pass bad legislation that's just designed to be a big giveaway to google/etc while screw over everyone else, similar to the how killing net neutrality will hurt almost everyone.
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And how many divisions does Google have?
Google especially has vast economic might, but no military might. Or does it? It has access to the most advanced military machine in the world but none of the responsibilities that normally come with that kind of power. It's not a country and it won't behave like one.
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Re: And how many divisions does Google have?
In this age of "security companies" like Blackwater, I wouldn't be so sure that a major corp like Google could *not* field a ton of the "raw power of military muscle".
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Re: And how many divisions does Google have?
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Digital is a Foreign Land
In a decade or so, the digital natives will laugh at the digital ambassador and wonder why he's not the minister, just as with energy, economy, education, and other important areas or our lives.
Remember, Hillary Clinton can operate a blackberry but not a PC.
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Corporate Governance
Shhh....you're not supposed to be giving away the plan this early.
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Re: Corporate Governance
We need to demand much more vociferously the government we're supposed to have: "government of the people, by the people, for the people" that Lincoln said shall not perish from the earth. It certainly seems to be fading if not yet perishing.
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Why don't we reciprocate?
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