Inside Google

Google Updates PageRank, Rolls Out Web Elements

However, Google has also run into some high-profile controversies over
the past few months. In April, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization Consumer
Watchdog publicly questioned the settlement between Google, The Author’s Guild
and the Association of American Publishers
(AAP) over the search-engine giant’s growing
digital library. In particular, Consumer Watchdog argued that the settlement, which gave
Google the same terms as any theoretical future competitor, deserved to be
placed under government review.

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Press Release

Google Pro-Openness Campaign Meets Opposition

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.

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Press Release

Google Book Deal Targeted by Justice Department

Google has reportedly been questioned by the U.S. Justice Department over whether its plans to digitize the world’s books into an online database represents a potential antitrust violation. An advocate for Consumer Watchdog, John M. Simpson, wrote a letter to
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder asking for government intervention in
Google’s settlement with the Author’s Guild and the Association of
American Publishers, arguing that it should have been reviewed to see
if it met "the interests of consumers."

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