bakedjake - 2:48 am on Mar 14, 2011 (gmt 0)

I said this in a private forum a couple of weeks ago: There has never been a company in the history of public markets that has yielded so much unchecked power over unrelated companies' revenues as Google does now with 80%+ market share for organic search in the US.

It's not anti-trust because monopolistic control isn't exerted over Google's customers in the case of organic search. It's something we haven't seen before. Unfortunately the real issue is likely to be lost on most politicians.

This issue represents the growing pains of the human race.

Spot on and elegant as always, Ted.

Could google have access to insider information about firms that is not available to other investors?

Yes, but insider information is only illegal when acted upon.

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One thing we may see come out of this (if legislators are smart) is more transparency about Google's ranking systems so that lawmakers can determine whether or not Google's ever acted unfairly (or illegally). They'll fight that tooth and nail of course with lobbyists and the court system.