Google and Antitrust
Kinda surprised this hasn’t happened yet:
Senator Michael S. Lee (R-UT) today called for the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Subcommittee to conduct an oversight hearing on Google Inc. Lee joins Chairman Herb Kohl in encouraging hearings on the business practices of the dominant search firm. Lee is Ranking Member of the Subcommittee.
In a letter to Kohl, Lee noted that those who follow the tech industry, as well as those responsible for enforcing antitrust laws, have concerns that Google could be acting to harm competition.
“The powerful position Google occupies in the general search arena creates myriad opportunities for anticompetitive behavior,” Lee writes. “The Deputy Director for Antitrust within the Bureau of Economics at the Federal Trade Commission, Howard Shelanski, recently observed that a ‘hypothetical search engine’ with various ‘scale and network economies’ might become a ‘must have’ for consumers and thereby more effectively engage in ‘anticompetitive discrimination.’”
They are gatekeepers to an extent. I’ve talked to some folks who buy their ads and the rules on not using gun terms are silly. Not saying they should be sued for it but I don’t find it surprising.
March 14th, 2011 at 10:50 am
Gee really???
March 14th, 2011 at 11:18 am
I guess someone didn’t see Google’s name high enough in their campaign contribution list.
March 14th, 2011 at 3:12 pm
I’m so glad they’ve fixed all of the other disasters befalling our country so that they could get on this.
March 14th, 2011 at 10:01 pm
What..Google is a Bay Area company.
What’s so hard with that?
Cross the street from E-Bay.