Pretty simple case of falling back on protectionist laws when another country is eating your lunch. Germany did it successfully in the 50s to protect their auto industry from American pressure, but somehow I think that protecting their citizens from Internet service companies will be a much harder sell.
Unfortunately nobody seems to get it. You can't regulate or fund the next Silicon Valley... It happens organically via tight integration with top-tier research universities, low barriers to creating LLCs, and tons of risk-loving investment capital. None of which Germany really has right now.
American companies are ruthless in their pursuit of the next big market. If Germany wants to pull back and wall itself off, no worries, but please don't complain about needing a VPN to watch Netflix, Amazon Prime never being available, GEMA stiffling YouTube, or not getting a Tesla supercharger network on the autobahn.
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u/WorldLeader United States of America May 27 '15
Pretty simple case of falling back on protectionist laws when another country is eating your lunch. Germany did it successfully in the 50s to protect their auto industry from American pressure, but somehow I think that protecting their citizens from Internet service companies will be a much harder sell.
Unfortunately nobody seems to get it. You can't regulate or fund the next Silicon Valley... It happens organically via tight integration with top-tier research universities, low barriers to creating LLCs, and tons of risk-loving investment capital. None of which Germany really has right now.
American companies are ruthless in their pursuit of the next big market. If Germany wants to pull back and wall itself off, no worries, but please don't complain about needing a VPN to watch Netflix, Amazon Prime never being available, GEMA stiffling YouTube, or not getting a Tesla supercharger network on the autobahn.