Quote:
Originally Posted by GlazedMedia
That maybe the case in the U.S but based on that report, lots of complaints are being lodged and the E.U previously hit Microsoft very hard with a $2 billion fine related to software bundling.
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I wasn't talking about the current legal system. I was talking about ethics.
Quote:
Originally Posted by redwhiteandblue
Therein lies the problem. Because they now pretty much have a monopoly on organic traffic, what they do will cause damage to someone else if they decide to penalise a site, or place their own links above others, etc.
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Google doesn't have a monopoly. Even if everyone in the world used Google to search for something, Google still wouldn't have a monopoly.
Size of market share is totally irrelevant when you want to determine if someone has a monopoly. Monopolies are about access to the market, not about scale. When someone has a monopoly, it means they prevent others form accessing the market. It means they use force (or the force of the government if they for example use the government to pass certain laws) to stop others from offering a product or service that is similar to the product or service they are selling.
As long as other people can still start their own search engine (Meaning as long as Google doesn't get a law passed that makes it illegal to start your own search engine or to use any other search engine than Google, or as long as Google doesn't start blowing up its competitors) Google doesn't have a monopoly.
Right now there are lots of alternatives. No one is forcing you to use Google. If you don't like what Google is doing with their own property, simply stop using their services... tell others to sop using their services (blogspot, gmail etc)... refuse to send email to people using a gmail account.... ignore their ads.... use bing, scroogle or ixquick to search... block google's spider from your site.... If you don't like them, ignore them... If you really don't like them, boycott them... Just as they have the right to use their own property, you also have the right to use your own property... you have the right to not use certain products or services if you don't like the company that's behind them....
But there's no such thing as a right to a certain or just amount of traffic from Google...