Inside Google

New Google option: look like Bing home page

Margot Williams

Google is known for the “clean simple look” of its home page at Google.com. Bing has earned praise for the gorgeous photos changing daily on the Bing home page, stocked by Microsoft’s Corbis imagery.

Now Google has announced that you will be able to clutter up your Google.com page with a photo too.

Personalized search: Searching in a Bubble?

Margot Williams

My Google search results are looking too familiar. Looking for something new on the web for a topic of continuing interest, I enter some familiar terms. The same old sites keep turning up. OK, so Google is returning the most relevant results, based on the Google algorithm. Why do they seem so stale?

Consumer Groups Call on FTC to Investigate Latest Google Ad Company Purchase

John M. Simpson

Consumer Watchdog and the Center for Digital Democracy today called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Google’s announced plan to buy Invite Media, a display advertising company, for around $70 million, saying the deal raises substantial competitive and privacy concerns.

Critics Call on Feds to Squelch a Google Monopoly

Staff Writers

The concerns set forth by Microsoft, Consumer Watchdog, and other observers go beyond whether Google gives unfair prominence in search rankings to paid advertisers. Critiques range from “A company such a Google could abuse its search dominance” to “Google is already abusing its search dominance” to push its other revenue-generating services — such as maps, video, and shopping searches — at the expense of competitors.

Data Show Google Abuses Search Role, Group Contends

James Temple

Consumer Watchdog continues to push its case that Google Inc. is behaving as an illegal monopoly, releasing a report this morning that alleges the company is abusing is dominance in online search to direct users to its own services.

Watchdog Backs Google Antitrust Complaint with (More) Data

Cade Metz

Public advocate and longtime Google critic Consumer Watchdog has issued a report [1] alleging that the web giant may have used its search monopoly to illegally drive traffic to its own services.

Google Wi-Fi Incident Under More Scrutiny

Juliana Gruenwald

Consumer Watchdog said it obtained three years of Internet traffic from the Web metrics firm Experian Hitwise to analyze Web traffic to Google’s other services. It claims that it shows Google’s search results favor its services over competitors, a claim Google has repeatedly denied.

Google’s Wi-Fi Data Harvest Facing More Probes, Lawsuits

Byron Acohido

Canada’s move follows confirmation that a U.S. Federal Trade Commission investigation of Google is also underway. The advocacy group Consumer Watchdog requested the FTC probe on May 17. The agency responded that it was “reviewing” that request.

Press Release

Google using search engine to muscle into Internet businesses, study finds

CONTACT: John M. Simpson

Google has been using its dominant position in online search to muscle its way into other Internet businesses, ultimately limiting consumer choice, Consumer Watchdog said today in a report written for its new Inside Google Website.

Join the “1 out of 15” opting out for privacy

Margot Williams

Last Tuesday in this space, I opted out of Google’s “interest-based advertising.” Later the same day, Google unveiled an opt-out tool for another personal information collection agent – Google Analytics.

Website owners can use Google Analytics to track visitors on their sites and Google collects the data from all the visits for its own use.