Google, Ireland, the EU, Run at Different Clock Speeds
September 30, 2026
Another dinobaby post. If there is an image, AI did it. I am Grandpa Arnold, not Grandma Moses.
I read “Google Fined More Than €400m by Irish Regulator Over Its Use of Location Data.” [Note: the €400m is about $460 million US dollars.] When I read stories like this, I have to admit that I can no longer differentiate the fines or the timelines or the violation. I know I am a dinobaby and not as attentive as I once was, but Google getting fined blur together. Google and the Ireland Data Protection Commission (DPC) seem to have different views of how online works in the Googleverse.
The write up (dated September 21, 2026) says:
The DPC inquiry was prompted by research by the Norwegian consumer agency in 2018 which suggested location data could reveal details such as religious beliefs (by tracking places of worship), political leanings (for example knowing a user has gone to demonstrations), health conditions (if a user has gone to hospital) and sexual orientation (if they have gone to certain bars). The DPC launched its inquiry six years ago and set out to find out whether Google had a valid legal basis for its use of location data. It found that Google users could have been unaware that their location was being used to influence them with adverts or to gather details about their health and interests.
Look at the dates: 2018 and 2020. It is now September 2026. From the point of view of the Norwegians and Irish, justice is moving forward. The Guardian article includes this passage:
Agustín Reyna, director general of BEUC, welcomed the ruling but said “the time needed to come to this conclusion is disproportionate with the seriousness of the infringement” arguing “late enforcement can be as harmful as no enforcement at all”. The DPC inquiry looked at “web and app activity”, “location history” and “location accuracy” between 25 May 2018 and 4 February 2020.
In my lectures, I am including references to what I call “clocks.” The idea is that certain systems have a relationship with their users that settle into a workflow cadence. Examples include going to the grocery store. The customer pushes a cart around, selects items, and then stands on a line to check out. At the grocery near our home, the clock at the grocery runs slightly slower than the clock of the customer. Customers speed through certain aisles. Customers jitter, jockey, and move around to select a check out that gets them out of the store more quickly (in theory). The mismatch does not put the grocery out of business, but the clock variance creates some tension between the store and the shopper.
Thanks, Midjourney. Good enough.
What happens when a legal and bureaucratic procedures operates on a clock that is different from the clock used in a BAIT (a big AI technology) company like Google. The Guardian article calls attention to the amount of time required to figure out what Google was doing and then come up with a fine years later. How fast does the Google clock work? It is now operating on AI time. The Irish clock appears to operate on donkey-pulling-clock time. I find it amusing to try to visualize how the leadership of a BAIT company reacts to what appears to be a standard feature of the entire Google operation: Knowing as much as possible about users of its systems, hardware, and software. The reason of course is to better serve those users. I think there may be other motives as well.
Imagine a Google attorney, probably a recent graduate, being given the task of appealing this 2026 fine. The person has to figure out what the problem was (allegedly) in 2018, identify issues with the data and the case, and then come up with a response for what Google is doing in 2026 (assuming the young attorney has a clue about Google’s data operations via advertising, online services, and AI processing whatever is available to its omnivorous smart software.
Let’s assume that the young attorney throws herself into this problem and files an appeal on a specific issue. How long will it take for the DPC to move the case forward? It is probably going to be measured in months. Meanwhile, Google-type outfits continue to operate at AI time. Let’s assume Google loses on appeal or the young attorney wrangles a deal to negotiate the fine to a lower figure. As this legal issue moves forward, the leadership of Google finds that it is easier to leave it to legal and accounting to work out a deal. Any behavior changes are not on the radar of senior managers. The Google system is now has sufficient momentum to grind forward. With much of the data collection, parsing, processing, and leveraging happening in AI time, the notion of not having access to location is silly. One’s location can be obtained in a variety of means. Carrying ones mobile in a Faraday bag means that the battery will go dead, the user will have to take it out to charge it, and then turn it one. Bingo. Google has the location data plus any digital crumbs the user left behind using a laptop or taking some other action.
The court case and the fine are unlikely to have any meaningful impact on the operational mechanisms of the global Google system. Presumably the young attorney has figured out the appeal and negotiation process and concludes that nothing will come of it. The fine, while big by the standards of an employee at Taco Bell, means zero to Google.
In high school I learned about a Pyrrhic Victory. I wonder if the EU, the DPC, some Norwegians, and other fellow travelers have figured out that Google winds. The clock speed means that the case makes no more impact on the company than a small insect smashed against the hood of an AI controlled Waymo. Hey, work is work for the lawyers, bureaucrats, and researchers. Google just keeps speeding along. The company will promise to change even when it cannot. In fact, few in leadership may know that “change” was part of the settlement.
Different clocks.
Stephen E Arnold, September 30, 2026
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