Major companies are hitting back at the new proposed US antitrust bill that is currently in the senate house. The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday has scheduled a review of the American Innovation and Choice Online Act. But technology companies such as Apple and Google are pushing against it and Google explains why.
In a blog post, Google explained and pointed out the specific “harmful consequences” on products as a result of these antitrust bills.
See Also: Used iPhone 11: Get an Excellent iPhone 11 for half the price
Kent Walker who is the President Global Affairs & Chief Legal Officer for Google/Alphabet’s explains that the “legislation being debated in the House and Senate could break these and other popular online services.”
To put it simply, at its worse the upcoming legislation could ban companies (such as Google and Apple) from favoring their own products ahead of its competitors.
See Also: Netflix Subscription Price in U.S. and Canada for 2022
But Walker argues that the antitrust bill “could prevent Google from securing our products by default.” We all know that Google has a strong ecosystem of products that works effectively together.
Google believes that the law could limit its “ability to integrate automated security features if other companies offer similar features.” A case study for this argument is Safe browsing.
See Also: Samsung rolling out first Galaxy S21 FE software update in the US
According to Walker, safe browsing might not be automatically included in Chrome and Gmail if this new law goes into effect. That’s not all, Google also warns that it’ll be unable to detect issues that require cumulatively collecting “security signals across Google products.”
The fear of having to give room for spammy and low-quality services in the Search and the Play Store is small compare to the possibility of Google sharing user data with third party services.
See Also: Google Pixel Fold design appears in new pictures and video
Google says: These bills may compel us to share the sensitive data you store with us with unknown companies in ways that could compromise your privacy.
Another argument offered by Google is that search results from Google Search and Google Maps won’t be of high quality especially when “some other company might offer competing answers.”
See Also: iPhone 14 Specs; Apple rumored to bring 120Hz and 6GB RAM for all models
This means, locations, business hours and contact information of businesses might not be shown accurately if Google Search and Maps are relying on third party services. Google also warns about not being able to integrate Gmail, Calendar, and Docs.
Google last line of defense is about how the antitrust bill might limit tech innovation. The company claims there is the possibility of giving “government agencies too much power over the design of consumer products” at the expense of “US technological leadership.”
See Also: Best Cell Phones under 700 USD in the US
Ken Walker is particularly critical of how the bills “seem to be intentionally gerrymandered to exclude many other major companies” that are lobbying for their passage while claiming that Congress is rushing.
It’s unclear if this bill will pass the full Senate. But at this point, this appears to be a game of interest and so far, the bill is not in the best interest of technology companies such as Apple and Google.
