Europe's tough-talking referee

For many of Silicon Valley's chief executives, the name Neelie Kroes was one that surely made them quiver in fear.

As the former competition chief for Europe, Ms Kroes, sometimes referred to as Steelie Neelie, took tech giants like Intel, Microsoft, Oracle and Sun Microsystems to name a few, to task for their anti-competitive behaviour.

"I felt my role was to be the referee and in every game you need a referee to ensure the teams conform to the rules. If not it is no fun. No fun for the game, for the public watching and for your counterpart," Ms Kroes told me during the Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe, Northern California where the marriage of technology and economics was discussed.

These two are subjects very dear to Ms Kroes' heart, especially now she has a new job driving Europe's digital agenda.

"It is extremely important for Europe to get back in the driving seat. There are still digital virgins, as I am always saying. From 2013 every European should be digital whatever your age, nationality, background.
 
"There shouldn't be digital virgins anymore and anyone should be able to enjoy this great step forward in technology."

Ms Kroes noted that 30% of Europe falls into this category.

It's a situation Ms Kroes is clearly not happy about as she told an audience at the conference that "this is my political life now" to make this digital vision a reality for every European.

America is also championing a similar mission with its own broadband plan [12.1MB PDF] which aims to deliver a high speed internet connection to every US citizen by 2020. The Federal Communications commission (FCC) has noted that 100 million Americans do not have a broadband connection.

Of course it has had quite a bit of challenge of late with the thorny issue of net neutrality, the principle where all web data is treated equally and no traffic is given preferential treatment over another.

The FCC last week called off backroom talks with internet service providers and internet companies after it failed to reach a consensus on the issue.

That didn't stop search giant Google and telecom titan Verizon coming up with their own suggestion for the FCC to consider. Their seven principles have been royally criticised because they map out different positions for wireline and wireless.

Ms Kroes told me she is watching that debate very closely given that she is set to face a lot of the same issues.

"We face the same battles as the US. While we are not so far ahead we will be following what the consequences are."

While Ms Kroes noted that Europe and the US are embarking on similar digital paths, she also noted quite a few cultural differences.

She acknowledged that the strict labour laws in Europe do not make it easy for start-ups but that change is afoot as the economic recession forces progress.

"We are on the move," said Mr Kroes.

When quizzed about privacy, where Europe is seen to have stricter laws, Ms Kroes said it remained central to getting people online and trusting doing business on the internet.

"Everybody should be online with the feeling of trust and that I am backed by my privacy. We have to take that into account and yes there is a difference in culture here but the government is taking a bigger role to play in privacy action in Europe."

While Ms Kroes would not be drawn on what that means for a company like Facebook, which has had its share of issues over privacy, she did agree that regulating Facebook like a big telecom company was perhaps something that will come to pass.

And when it came to differing cultures between the US and Europe in terms of the approach to business, Ms Kroes said that "doesn't mean we are less talented."

However she agreed that unlike America, and Silicon Valley in particular, the belief that failure is good does not carry over in Europe and that it tends to follow you around.

"What I get from the US is it is even more that is positive - you were a survivor and when you start again that's great.
 
"Talking about myself, I have learned more from my mistakes than my successes... and my list of mistakes is much longer."

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