Tag Archive | "justice department"
Google University of Michigan Sign Digital Library Oversight Agreement
Google attracted more negative attention than perhaps it bargained for with its goal to digitize the world's libraries. In April 2009, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, Consumer Watchdog, wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder asking the government to examine the settlement between Google, The Author's Guild, and the Association of American Publishers (AAP). That settlement, Consumer Watchdog argued, deserved to be placed under government review because it gave Google the same financial terms of digital-book rights as any future competitor.
Continue reading...Google’s New Scourge Strikes A Nerve
Friday, May 15, 2009
In-your-face watchdog gets advice from Microsoft 'people,' interest from Verizon SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- Google Inc. has attracted a number of critics over the years, but the Internet search giant hasn't yet had to deal with any as jarringly adversarial as Consumer Watchdog. "Their tactics tend to be more confrontational than others'," said Tim Little, executive director of the Rose Foundation, an Oakland, Calif.-based organization that funds Consumer Watchdog. "But sometimes there's a place for folks being confrontational."
Continue reading...Google Presentation On “Google, Competition and Openness” Shared With Justice Department And Myths Debunked By Consumer Watchdog
Friday, May 8, 2009
Washington, DC -- Consumer Watchdog has sent to the U.S. Justice Department a Google document presenting the best corporate arguments for why Google should not be viewed as monopolistic, along with a duplicate of the presentation marked up with comments from an expert countering the claims. The nonprofit consumer group received both documents from an anonymous industry insider.
Continue reading...ConsumerWatchdog.org: Leaked Google Presentation Meant To Counter Fed Inquiries On Competition
Friday, May 8, 2009
Is Google a monopoly? That question, which is increasingly gaining the attention of regulators in Washington, D.C., is also the subject of an intense public relations war between Google and detractors. Today, a new front was opened up, after a consumer advocacy group released a copy of a Google presentation on Google's business practices, along with critical commentary that casts doubt on Google's claims that it supports competition. The group, ConsumerWatchdog.org, said that the Google presentation is part of a campaign to counter federal inquiries into potentially anticompetitive practices.
Continue reading...Google Pro-Openness Campaign Meets Opposition
Friday, May 8, 2009
Google has launched a wide-ranging campaign highlighting its "competition and openness," meeting with everyone from policymakers to media in order to convince them of its anti-monopolistic intentions. Certain consumer-advocacy organizations, however, do not have a warm and fuzzy feeling about Google’s motives. In a May 8 news release, nonprofit group Consumer Watchdog described sending the U.S. Justice Department a copy of a document that Google had been using to back its anti-monopolistic claims; the nonprofit group had taken the liberty of marking the document up with comments.
Continue reading...How the Wolfram Alpha Search Engine Could Save Google
Friday, May 8, 2009
You can see a copy of a Google PowerPoint to that effect over at Silicon Alley Insider, which got it from Consumer Watchdog. That group had an advertising industry an insider tip them off and give them a rebuttal.
Continue reading...Facing Criticism, Google Tries Buffing Its Image
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Google, having dealt with two major antitrust issues 2008 and facing the potential of more to come, has begun a program to try to spruce up its image and show that competition is alive and well. Consumer Watchdog on Friday plans to tout a Google presentation titled Google, Competition, and Openness (PDF) that the advocacy group uncovered. The company presentation (also embedded below) gives Google's views that it faces plenty of competition in a dynamic market.
Continue reading...Library Groups Voice Concerns About Google Books
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Google has said the settlement will benefit authors, publishers and readers, because it will result in expanded access to books. Nonetheless, the deal is drawing increasingly vocal critics. Among others, advocacy group Public Citizen opposes a portion of the settlement, as does Consumer Watchdog. Additionally, New York Law School intends to file a brief asking for antitrust oversight of the deal. Last week, it also came to light that the Justice Department was making inquiries about the settlement.
Continue reading...Google Defends Book-Scanning Project
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
US antitrust enforcers are investigating Google's settlement with publishers over its book-scanning project, but the internet firm has defended its position. Google reached an agreement in October to create a $125 million fund to pay authors to have their work scanned and made available online. The US Justice Department became involved after representatives for Consumer Watchdog and the American Antitrust Institute raised concerns earlier this month, according to Bloomberg News.
Continue reading...Google Book Search Changes Slammed by Librarians
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
In early April 2009, a nonprofit watchdog group, Consumer Watchdog, had called upon the Justice Department to examine the ramifications of Google's plan to scan so-called "orphan books," which are volumes still under copyright but whose rights-holders cannot be found, into its growing library of digital text. An advocate for the group argued in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder that such a deal would need to be reviewed to ensure that it had sufficient consumer protections.
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Thursday, May 21, 2009
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