EU Fights 'Google Threat'

The European Union doesn't want U.S. companies to be in control over internet search technologies and are developing a multimedia search engine to counter Google. Forget the Cold War and Space Race, now it's the Search Sprint.

The Washington Post quotes French President Jacque Chirac as saying

"We must meet the global challenge of the American giants Google and Yahoo..."

For several years European researchers have been working on a multimedia search engine code named "Quaero." Chirac says that information that is not online is invisible to the world, so he wants to make sure European content gets a fair shake from search engines.

To a certain extent, the EUs concerns aren't justified as Google, Yahoo, et al want to leverage all of the world's content, and they already have considerable global presence to make sure that all of the world participates. Chirac's fears only further reinforce the importance of internet technologies to future economic growth.