Google Challenges South Korean Government Over Mapping Regulations
The US search engine operator believes that the regulations are biased towards local companies
The parent company of Google, Alphabet is challenging the Government of South Korea over the imposition of restrictions on its mapping facilities in the state, which renders certain maps less informative compared to those for the North Korean region. The American search engine developer claims that the country’s national- security rules, which were formulated to safeguard against infiltration from North Korea, are out-of-date and unjustly inhibited the ability of the organization to provide the entire range of its Google Map facilities in South Korea.
The uncommon case represents a reversal of kinds: Anywhere else across the globe: particularly in the European region, governments are making efforts to curb the influence of the search organization. In April, the EU charged the Mountain view based organization with allegedly misusing the dominant position of its mobile operating system Android to push telecom company and phone manufacturers to favor the applications of the US organization on their products.
In the country, though, the search engine operator is posing the challenge to the government. South Korea is amongst a number of states where Google is not the topmost search engine, alongside Russian and China. In the South Korean region, Naver Corporation-owned Naver, leads in mapping and search. “The main point is national security,” stated, an official of the country’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which directs mapping policy.
Mr Kim stated the organization’s local Korean competitors, Kakao and Naver Corporation, just use state-supplied maps that are currently having sensitive installations camouflaged or blurred. Representatives of the company claim that the country’s national-security rules unjustly benefit domestic rivals in the nation of around 50 million persons. The government has maintained its claim that the sole objective of the laws is national security.
Google has been raising its concerns with officials prior to the closed-door meeting on 18th May 2016 of leading officials of South Korea to deliberate upon innovation and deregulation. President Park Geun-hye chaired the meeting. The company claims that the laws of South Korea weaken innovation in the region at that same moment Ms Geun-hye is pushing to counterpoise the decrease of the industrial giants of the country in petrochemicals and shipbuilding.
Geun-hye had made deregulation a cornerstone of the country’s economic policy, comparing extra regulations to “ a malignant tumor” that must face the “ guillotine.” The issue of concern for the company is the country’s regulation that stops companies from passing on state-supplied map data, which it states it should do to provide features like satellite maps, public transit details as well as driving directions.The company states it’s luck was much better in China, despite plugging out of its Chinese search engine half a dozen years ago, amidst a battle with Beijing regarding politically sensitive search products.
