An E.U Investigation - Is Google Rigging its Search Results? - GoFuckYourself.com

GlazedMedia · 12-09-2010, 04:30 PM

Just came across this story (a few days old) but thought it quite interesting.

If found guilty of abusing it`s dominant position, they could be fined up to 10% of it`s actual revenue (a massive $2.4 billion based on 2009 figures!)

Quote:

Google has so transcended its function as a search engine that it is now an all-purpose verb to describe any hunt for information on the Internet. But with European Union regulators announcing an investigation into Google's business practices on Tuesday, the California-based tech giant is probably hoping this is one search that delivers no results.

Although Google can boast extraordinary success since its founding 12 years ago, the European Commission ? the E.U. antitrust watchdog ? could represent its most serious challenge yet. If the Commission finds the world's favorite search engine guilty of abusing its dominant position, Google could face a fine of up to 10% of its annual revenue, which would total a massive $2.4 billion based on 2009 figures. (See pictures of Google.)

In its statement, the Commission said it would "conduct an in-depth investigation of the case as a matter of priority," noting that it does not yet have "proof of infringements." Google denies the allegations, but says it will work with the Commission to "address any concerns."

The Commission launched its probe after three rivals ? British price-comparison site Foundem, French legal search engine Ejustice.fr, and the shopping site Ciao ? accused Google of manipulating its searches by deliberately demoting their sites to the lower echelons of results. The investigation will look into their claims that Google's algorithms give preferential placement to its own vertical search or price-comparison services at the expense of competitors. It will also probe allegations about the exclusivity obligations Google places on its advertising partners, preventing them from running certain types of competing ads on other sites. (See the story of Google Doodles.)

Foundem says Google is exploiting its dominance of search in ways that stifle innovation, suppress competition, and erode consumer choice. It claims that Google's Universal Search system ? which mixes in listings from its news, video, images, local and book search engines among those it gets from the rest of the web ? is transforming Google's ostensibly neutral search results into a powerful marketing tool for itself, brazenly placing its own services in the top slots for most product- and price-comparison-related searches. "When a site is penalized, that means you are completely excluded from search results," says Adam Raff, Foundem's chief technology officer and co-founder. "Search plays a unique role in steering traffic and revenues through the global digital economy. It means that Google is not just a monopoly, it is probably the most powerful monopoly in history."

Google argues that there are "compelling reasons" why these sites are "ranked poorly". It says Foundem "duplicates 79% of its website content from other sites", and that people searching for hotels in Milan want to be taken directly to sites in Milan, not to a price-comparison site. "A search engine's job is to point you to destination sites that have the information you are seeking, not to send you to other search engines," says expert Danny Sullivan, editor-in-chief of the Orange County-based Search Engine Land.

Google officials also say they sense Microsoft's hand in the complaints. Microsoft bought into the German firm Ciao, while Foundem belongs to the Microsoft-bankrolled Initiative for a Competitive Online Marketplace (ICOMP) ? although Foundem insists its problems with Google long predate its ICOMP membership.

Google handles 80% of European searches, according to research firm ComScore, compared to 65% of searches done in the U.S. Google has also expanded into Europe in a more conventional business sense: it has a headquarters in Dublin; large facilities in Zurich, London and Belgium; and smaller centers in Denmark, Russia and Poland.

But Google's influence is meeting increasing resistance in Europe. Authors have been battling plans by the site to digitize the contents of millions of books; newspapers have attacked the free use of their content on Google News; in Italy, prosecutors are accusing Google's YouTube video website of invasion of privacy; and many German towns have blocked Google from taking pictures of storefronts and homes for its Street View service. In May, the E.U.'s data protection authorities said that Google ? along with Yahoo and Microsoft ? was breaching European law by failing to make users' data anonymous.

But Google is likely to be most concerned about the Commission, whose antitrust regulators tend to take a far more activist approach to competition policy than their U.S. counterparts. Last year, the Commission fined chipmaker Intel a record $1.45 billion for skewing the market by paying PC makers and retailers not to use rival chips. Two years ago, under Commission pressure, Apple scrapped its policy of charging British consumers more than other Europeans for songs from iTunes service. Most memorably, the E.U. and Microsoft clashed over the company's practice of bundling other software such as media players into Windows ? by the time they ended their decade-long legal battle last year, the E.U. had fined the world's top software-maker $2 billion.

Once considered a cool, smart company that reflected the best of the new Internet economy, Google has taken on a slightly more sinister aura as it has grown. Now Europeans are increasingly agreeing with German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, who complained recently about Google's "megalomania." Google says its success and the disruptive nature of its business make suspicion inevitable. But with the Commission now probing its practices, Google will have to hope that its famous algorithms show it is living up to its unofficial slogan: Don't be evil.

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u-Bob · 12-09-2010, 04:34 PM

Google can do whatever they want with their own property (as long as they don't cause damage to someone else). Their site, their serps, their algo,...

If you don't like what they are doing, stop using them. Stop using their search engine (If you like the quality of the results, but still want to boycott them use scroogle.org). Stop using their free services (they still make money of the ads they display and the information they collect).

GlazedMedia · 12-09-2010, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by u-Bob

Google can do whatever they want with their own property (as long as they don't cause damage to someone else). Their site, their serps, their algo,...

If you don't like what they are doing, stop using them. Stop using their search engine (If you like the quality of the results, but still want to boycott them use scroogle.org). Stop using their free services (they still make money of the ads they display and the information they collect).

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.

redwhiteandblue · 12-09-2010, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by u-Bob

Google can do whatever they want with their own property (as long as they don't cause damage to someone else).

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.

IllTestYourGirls · 12-09-2010, 05:25 PM

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.

And what happens if walmart places an item near the door? Or the grocery shop places a sale item near the registers?

They do not have a monopoly there are tons of other search engines out there. Just because no one uses the other ones does not mean google is a monopoly.

KillerK · 12-09-2010, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IllTestYourGirls

And what happens if walmart places an item near the door? Or the grocery shop places a sale item near the registers?

They do not have a monopoly there are tons of other search engines out there. Just because no one uses the other ones does not mean google is a monopoly.

Why weren't you defending Microsoft? They should be allowed to not have Firefox work on their operating system right?

But they can't do that and it's cost them billions.

Si · 12-09-2010, 05:55 PM

like wikipedia and youtube being on the 1st page for every fucking search term

u-Bob · 12-09-2010, 05:55 PM

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.

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.

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...

marketsmart · 12-09-2010, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by u-Bob

Google can do whatever they want with their own property (as long as they don't cause damage to someone else). Their site, their serps, their algo,...

If you don't like what they are doing, stop using them. Stop using their search engine (If you like the quality of the results, but still want to boycott them use scroogle.org). Stop using their free services (they still make money of the ads they display and the information they collect).

you said it...

if i cried everytime i had to work a little harder to get back to top 10 after being bumped, i would have drowned by now...

fucking crybaby europeans...

.

Spudstr · 12-09-2010, 06:24 PM

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.

what are they going to do? ban google? its the internet. Good luck.

12-09-2010, 04:34 PM	#2
u-Bob there's no $$$ in porn Industry Role: Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: icq: 195./568.-230 (btw: not getting offline msgs) Posts: 33,063	Google can do whatever they want with their own property (as long as they don't cause damage to someone else). Their site, their serps, their algo,... If you don't like what they are doing, stop using them. Stop using their search engine (If you like the quality of the results, but still want to boycott them use scroogle.org). Stop using their free services (they still make money of the ads they display and the information they collect).

12-09-2010, 05:55 PM	#7
Si Such Fun! Industry Role: Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 13,900	like wikipedia and youtube being on the 1st page for every fucking search term