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Earlier this month, the shopping comparison search engine myTriggers brought an antitrust action against Google, alleging that the search giant unfairly lowered myTriggers’ quality score. This
afternoon, the nonprofit Consumer Watchdog piled on. Consumer Watchdog
called for the Department of Justice to investigate whether Google "is
manipulating" search results by returning its own sites high in the
search results.
Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC — Consumer Watchdog today called upon the Justice
Department to ensure that its ongoing antitrust probe of Google’s
business practices include an investigation of whether the Internet
giant is manipulating its search results to favor its own products.
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NEW YORK, NY — Google confronted a barrage of criticism from opponents of its proposed digital book settlement Thursday as the Internet search giant tried to persuade a federal judge to approve a deal that would allow it to create the world’s largest online library. Some consumer groups warned Thursday that the company that preaches not to be evil could suffer from eroding trust. "They are part of this Silicon Valley culture which says ‘don’t ask for
permission because you can always ask for forgiveness,’ " said John
Simpson, head of the nonprofit group Consumer Watchdog. "The problem is
that they are starting now to be so big and so ambitious that some of
the things they are trying to do now are overreaching in a way that
will very likely tarnish their brand."
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In press releases this morning outlining their testimony, critics of the plan reiterated their opposition. “In essence Google’s latest arguments seem to boil down to this: ‘Our
motto is don’t be evil, so you can trust us to control the world’s
digital library,’ said John Simpson, with a group called Consumer
Watchdog which has criticized Google on privacy issues.
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Google seems to want Judge Chin to be the man making the decision, said John
Simpson of Consumer Watchdog, one of the opponents scheduled to speak
in court next week. "Google has decided it’s longer willing to negotiate with Justice on
this one," Simpson said. "They want to negotiate with the judge
instead."
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It’s these highly personalized capabilities that raise the hackles of
privacy advocates, however. They raise a host of questions about "how
the data is used and manipulated without the consumer understanding,"
said John Simpson of Consumer Watchdog. Those concerns are only
heightened by the proposed acquisition by Google, which he said could
bore deeper into personal information by coupling its rich user
databases with AdMob’s.
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The Department of Justice filed a statement of interest February 4 saying that that despite “substantial progress” it still had objections to the proposed settlement of lawsuits challenging Google’s Book Search project, noting that the agreement continued to raise copyright, antitrust, and class certification issues. Consumer Watchdog, which had filed a brief opposing the settlement, praised the Justice Department’s stance. “The Department of Justice should
be commended for standing firm in opposing this private deal that
unfairly benefits the narrow agenda of one company,” said John M.
Simpson, a consumer advocate with the nonprofit group. “The DOJ filing
and the outpouring of other briefs from around the world opposing the
amended settlement, such as the one filed by Consumer Watchdog, make it
almost certain Judge Denny Chin will reject the deal.”
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San Francisco, CA — The US Department of Justice on Thursday said it was still not satisfied with an agreement on digitising books made between Google, authors and publishers, despite “substantial progress” on amendments to the settlement. Consumer Watchdog, the consumer group, welcomed the DoJ’s objections to the deal. “Google offered only minimal amendments to its original flawed deal and
the key problems remain,” said John Simpson, a spokesman. “The DoJ filing and the outpouring of other briefs from around the
world opposing the amended settlement make it almost certain [Judge
Chin] will reject the deal.”
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The Justice Department announced late Thursday that it still has problems with a proposed settlement between the publishing industry and Google over the firm’s plans for developing a global online library, CongressDaily reported. In a statement, the Open Book Alliance, which opposes the settlement,
applauded the Justice Department’s filing saying, it will "help to
preserve competition, promote innovation and protect the public
interest. The Department of Justice has made it crystal clear that the
proposal before the court is overreaching and cannot be approved." The
alliance members include Amazon.com, Microsoft and Yahoo, as well as
some library, writer and publishing groups. John Simpson with Consumer
Watchdog also praised the department in a statement for "standing firm
in opposing this private deal that unfairly benefits the narrow agenda
of one company" and predicted the court will reject it.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Changes that Google Inc and the Authors Guild made to an ambitious plan to create a massive online library were inadequate because they fail to address antitrust and copyright concerns, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday. Critics of the deal have been a varied group that includes Yahoo
Inc, Amazon Inc, Microsoft Inc, the National Writers Union and Consumer
Watchdog.
