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Comment by frockington | Hacker News Reader

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8327185.stm - McDonalds pulled out of Iceland when it became to expensive. I wonder if the EU is going to price itself out of international technology. The affect would be less than ideal for a continent that preaches globalization

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They pulled out of one of the smallest markets they could find, as a PR move to "show that they mean business". They had three restaurants in the entire country, and they pulled out because of the financial crisis, not because of taxes. That's hardly a sign that they would pull out of France, Germany or even Denmark.

If by "international technology" you mean "blatant disregard for privacy", then good riddance. We don't need that sort of "technology".

If McDonalds were to pull out of France there would be quite a few happy French people.

Absolutely. I would not miss them at all here in Denmark, either. We have so many better cafés and fast food restaurants. We absolutely would not miss their bland junk.

I am not sure if losing Facebook access counts as losing any kind of "technology". They cannot block the use of their FOSS code in Europe, isn't?

I am not sure the impact of closing their offices in Europe, though I am sure their the most interesting work is done in USA.

I agree that Facebook isn't really "technology" and that losing it would probably be a net positive. I am worried that Europe will set a precedent that will discourage internet technologies from doing business in Europe disconnecting them from the world.

Why are you worried about that? It would only impact tech that depends on privacy violation and tracking.

Good riddance, I say.

If American tech companies ever pull out of Europe, other startups will quickly fill the void. After all, it's not like the technology isn't available in Europe. Somebody just needs to build a product using it.

That would be great for diversity, not to mention provide a fertile playground for much-needed alternatives. Too bad it probably won't happen.

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