Inside Google

FTC commissioner blasts Google and Facebook

John M. Simpson

Outgoing Federal Trade Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour blasted Google and Facebook on Wednesday for insufficient concern about consumers’ privacy.

Harbour,…

Google’s Gmail and Chrome Pose Privacy Risks – ABC-7

John M. Simpson

Google’s arrogant, self-righteous executives

John M. Simpson

Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s recent speech to the Abu Dhabi Media Summit offers a revealing glimpse…

Press Release

FTC May Put Kibosh On Google’s AdMob Deal

CONTACT: Erika Morphy

Despite the fact that the mobile advertising market is still young and fragmented, U.S. regulators apparently are concerned that Google’s proposed acquisition of AdMob could give it an unfair competitive advantage. Google got an inkling that the FTC might want to give the deal a second look shortly after it was announced. At the end of December, the company received a "second request" for
additional information from the agency, Paul Feng, group product
manager, wrote in Google’s Public Policy blog. Shortly thereafter, two consumer groups — Consumer Watchdog and the
Center for Digital Democracy — asked the Federal Trade Commission to block the deal, arguing that it would lessen competition and harm consumers, advertisers and application developers, among others.

Press Release

FTC reportedly seeking sworn statements in Google-AdMob deal

CONTACT: John M. Simpson

Antitrust regulators are reported by Bloomberg news service to be seeking sworn statements from Google’s competitors and advertisers as they continue to investigate the the Internet giant’s proposed $750 million deal to buy AdMob.

Press Release

Slide show features companies Google calls competition

CONTACT: John M. Simpson

I recently delved into Google’s 10-K filing covering 2009 with the Securities and Exchange…

Press Release

Google Identifies Competitors

CONTACT: Mike Swift

Google sees an Internet far more crowded with competitors than just a year ago. At least, that’s what the company is telling government regulators. Critics of Google’s dominance in search — Americans use Google for
about two thirds of U.S. searches, and the company has more than 70
percent of U.S. search advertising revenue, and about 90 percent in
Europe — say the expanded list of competitors is an attempt by Google
to paper over its dominance. "I think they are feeling the heat from several serious antitrust
investigations, and that’s reflected in the language they are using in
the 10-K," said John Simpson, of Consumer Watchdog. He argued in a
recent blog post that Google’s statements that it has many competitors
actually proves that "the opposite is actually true" and that "the real
risk to Google’s business is not from competition," but that regulators
in the U.S. and Europe "will act in the interest of consumers and force
the Internet giant to engage" in competition.

Candidates Find Incumbent Advantage Extends To Web

Sara Jerome

Thirteen years in the House and a stint as majority leader have furnished Rep.Roy Blunt, R-Mo., with useful GOP and K Street support for his Senate bid. But Blunt’s long resume also means a boost from another source: Google. Google’s overwhelming dominance of the search market has brought its
power to determine marketplace outcomes under new scrutiny this year.
Tech company Foundem and other so-called "search neutrality" advocates
allege that the search engine is gaining an unfair advantage by
favoring its own products in searches. The advocacy group Consumer
Watchdog wrote the Justice Department last week urging it to
investigate the issue, while the European Commission is already
checking out complaints from Foundem and others.

The Onion nails Google on privacy

John M. Simpson

The Onion, the satirical newspaper, has an on-the-mark article today that makes you realize why people are concerned about the amount of information Internet giant…

Press Release

Google tries to highlight competition in SEC filing

CONTACT: John M. Simpson

Google, under antitrust scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Justice, the …