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Press Release
Ex-Googler Falls Prey to Wonderful Privacy Flaw of Google Buzz
CONTACT: Clint Boulton
This is a fun story. Andrew McLaughlin, formerly Google’s top lobbyist and currently the deputy CTO in the White House, where he advises President Barack Obama on Internet policy, apparently was aghast to find his contacts exposed by Google Buzz. Buzz is the social Web services that leverage Gmail users’ contacts. By default, Buzz was […]
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Signs Google is worried about AdMob deal
CONTACT: John M. Simpson
18. March 2010
Internet giant Google appears to be concerned that its proposed $750 million acquisition of mobile advertising company AdMob is…
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FTC May Put Kibosh On Google’s AdMob Deal
CONTACT: Erika Morphy
11. March 2010
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
10. March 2010
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.
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Slide show features companies Google calls competition
CONTACT: John M. Simpson
9. March 2010
I recently delved into Google’s 10-K filing covering 2009 with the Securities and Exchange…
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Google Identifies Competitors
CONTACT: Mike Swift
9. March 2010
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.
Press Release
Google tries to highlight competition in SEC filing
CONTACT: John M. Simpson
3. March 2010
Google, under antitrust scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Justice, the …
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Justice’s Google probe is ongoing
CONTACT: John M. Simpson
25. February 2010
I’ve just been reading the transcript from last week’s Fairness Hearing in the Google Books case and one thing is crystal clear: The U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust investigation of Google is by no means finished.
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Group Calls On Justice To Probe Google Searches
CONTACT: Juliana Gruenwald
25. February 2010
The
consumer advocacy group Consumer Watchdog wrote the Justice Department
Wednesday to urge it to investigate allegations that Google is
manipulating its search results to favor its own products.
Press Release
Google’s European troubles and one good thing about the Italian case
CONTACT: John M. Simpson
24. February 2010
Google has taken a one-two punch to the chin this week from Europe first with the news that the European Commission is probing the Internet giant for possible antitrust violations followed by the conviction of three top executives for invasion of…
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2. April 2010