Forum Moderators: goodroi
2012 FTC Antitrust Probe Into Google: Documents Exposed Reveal "real harm to consumers and to innovation"
Key staff of the Federal Trade Commission concluded in 2012 that Google Inc. used anticompetitive tactics and abused its monopoly power in ways that harmed Internet users and competitors, a far harsher analysis of Google’s business than was previously known.
The staff report from the agency’s bureau of competition, which hasn’t before been disclosed, recommended the commission bring a lawsuit challenging three separate Google practices, a move that would have triggered one of the highest-profile antitrust cases since the Justice Department sued Microsoft Corp. in the 1990s.2012 FTC Antitrust Probe Into Google: Documents Exposed Reveal "real harm to consumers and to innovation" [wsj.com]
“This document appears to show that the FTC had direct evidence from Google of intentional search bias,” said Luther Lowe, the vice president of public policy for Yelp.
The Wall Street Journal viewed portions of the document after the agency inadvertently disclosed it as part of a Freedom of Information Act request. The FTC declined to release the undisclosed pages and asked the Journal to return the document, which it declined to do.
On the most important issue, that of Google’s prized search engine, the FTC report said Google altered it to benefit its own services at the expense of rivals. The report said Google “adopted a strategy of demoting, or refusing to display, links to certain vertical websites in highly commercial categories.” --- [wsj.com...]
When you pick out "certain vertical websites" to demote, or refuse to display, that's manual intervention by any reasonable definition.
Unfortunately, some people will continue to deny the truth even when it stares them in the face.
The commissioners are appointed figure heads and are never referred to as staff, key or otherwise.
Unfortunately, some people will continue to deny the truth even when it stares them in the face.
FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez told a Senate committee that a majority of commissioners didn’t support a case against Google on any of the allegations under investigation.
Yelp, TripAdvisor Inc. and Amazon.com Inc
bwnbwn wrote:
There are only two that were present during this period and it takes a majority to issue a probe into illegal activity. I did some quick searches and can't locate a list of the Commissioners during this period. There is probably some change that changed hands for this not to have been investigated further.
I did some quick searches and can't locate a list of the Commissioners during this period
Edith Ramirez (2010-present)
Julie Brill (2010-present)
Jon Leibowitz (2004-2013)
Maureen K Ohlhausen (2012-present)
J Thomas Rosch (2006-2013)
I doubt if any members here are top experts in anti-trust laws
I don't see how we can reach any definite conclusions
there was a whitewash, attempted coverup
IanKelley wrote:
If Google were to start actively penalizing specific sites that they considered a competetive threat then I'd hope the FTC would step in because at that point no one else would be able to stop them. But what I just read is a report by the FTC concluding that is, specifically, not what's happening.
Google "adopted a strategy of demoting or refusing to display, links to certain vertical websites in highly commercial categories."
the report said the company illegally took content from rival websites such as Yelp, TripAdvisor Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. to improve its own websites.
The 160-page critique, which was supposed to remain private but was inadvertently disclosed in an open-records request, concluded that Google’s “conduct has resulted—and will result—in real harm to consumers and to innovation in the online search and advertising markets.”
Google agreed to some voluntary changes to its practices.
Then-Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a written statement at the time that Google’s voluntary changes deliver “more relief for American consumers faster than any other option.”
it's really hard for me to understand how anyone can conclude that Google didn't do anything wrong
My only purpose in posting in this thread is to try to help get to the truth, or as near to the truth as we can, based on the available information. Sometimes I have to wonder what other members' purposes are.
My only purpose in posting in this thread is to try to help get to the truth
there was a whitewash, attempted coverup
Then-Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a written statement at the time that Google’s voluntary changes deliver “more relief for American consumers faster than any other option.”
Sometimes I have to wonder what other members' purposes are.
"VI. Conclusion:
Staff concludes that Google's conduct has resulted -- and will result -- in real harm to consumers and to innovation in the online search anad advertising markets. Google has strengtheded its monopolies over search and search advertising through anticompetitive means, and has forestalled competitors' and would-be competitors' ability to challenge those monopolies, and this will have lasting negative effects on consumer welfare."
This is the real deal.
Google's access to high-ranking Obama administration officials during a critical phase of the antitrust probe is one sign of the Internet giant's reach in Washington. Since Mr. Obama took office, employees of the Mountain View, Calif., company have visited the White House for meetings with senior officials about 230 times, or an average of roughly once a week, according to the visitor logs reviewed by the Journal.
Google's knack for getting in the room with important government officials is gaining new relevance as scrutiny grows over how the company avoided being hit by the FTC with a potentially damaging antitrust lawsuit. Last week, the Journal reported that the FTC's competition staff concluded that Google used anticompetitive tactics and abused its monopoly power in ways that harmed Internet users and rivals.
On Nov. 6, 2012, the night of Mr. Obama's re-election, Mr. Schmidt was personally overseeing a voter-turnout software system for Mr. Obama. A few weeks later, Ms. Shelton and a senior antitrust lawyer at Google went to the White House to meet with one of Mr. Obama's technology advisers.
During Mr. Obama's 2012 re-election campaign, Google employees were the second-largest source of campaign donations to his campaign by any single U.S. company, trailing only Microsoft.
A former Google vice president, Megan Smith, is now the U.S.'s chief technology officer and a high-tech adviser to Mr. Obama.
I see it as a squabble between rapacious corporations.
