Europeans Have Authority To Seek Google Break Up Though Unlikely To Do So
Break Google up. That’s the thrust of a “non-binding” resolution the European Parliament is expected to adopt at some point in the near future, according to a report on Friday from Reuters. The recommendation is likely to be to separate Google’s search engine from the rest…
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Another Court Affirms Google’s First Amendment Control Of Search Results
Europe and the US continue to drift further apart on Google. Even as European parliamentarians and regulators seek ways to restrain Google’s discretion over search results, US courts continue to affirm Google’s right to do whatever it wants with search results — paid and organic….
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Sweden The Latest To Consider Google “Link Tax” For Newspapers
A member of the Swedish parliament, Niclas Malmberg, wants Google to help fund Swedish news publications along the lines of the French model established last year. Threatened with a “link tax,” Google agreed “to create a €60 million Digital Publishing Innovation Fund to help…
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German Publisher Axel Springer: Loss Of Snippets Caused 80 Percent Traffic Drop
Axel Springer, Germany’s largest publisher and the owner of Europe’s largest newspaper, has said it wants back in to snippets. According to Reuters the German publishing giant revealed that traffic to its four largest online properties from Google search results “had fallen by 40…
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Media Companies Republishing Google Right-To-Be-Forgotten Links
Google is notifying publishers when it de-indexes their links under the controversial “Right to Be Forgotten” (RTBF). What this does is often trigger republication of a version of the story by the media outlet or a page that indicates what URLs are being removed from the search index….
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Google’s Eric Schmidt In Berlin: “Really, Our Biggest Search Competitor Is Amazon”
The attitudes of European policy makers toward Google seem to have hardened of late. On various regulatory fronts, Google faces vocal critics and well-organized opposition. Google’s Eric Schmidt gave a speech earlier today in Berlin seeking to change some of those hardened hearts and minds….
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Facebook & YouTube Are Top Sites With Content Removed From Google Under “Right To Be Forgotten”
Google is now sharing details about Right To Be Forgotten removals in a new section of its pre-existing Google Transparency Report area. The latest numbers show that Facebook, ProfileEngine.com and Google’s own YouTube are the top three sites to have content taken down through the new…
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Study: 60 Percent of “Right To Be Forgotten” Requests Denied
Reputation VIP operates the Forget.me website intended to handle Google and Bing “Right to Be Forgotten” (RTBF) requests. Using three months of data, the company has released a study on RTBF’s impact in France, the UK and Germany. There was a smaller, separate study on Spain. It…
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To Avoid Liability, Google Limits German News Content To Headlines
German news and magazine publishers are determined, one way or another, to get Google to pay them for their content. They’re not upset about the content appearing in Google News or search. They want it to appear – they just want Google to pay for it. Google doesn’t want to pay….
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World War II, Communisim Subtext In Right To Be Forgotten
From an American legal perspective the recently established European Right to Be Forgotten (RTBF) is a disaster. It’s a confusing, vague, impractical and possibly even dangerous decision. But from a European historical perspective it makes considerable sense. The different histories of the US…
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EU Antitrust Endgame Looking More Murky, Risky For Google
The Wall Street Journal added more color to the unfolding story of the collapse of the Google-European Commission antitrust settlement. Notwithstanding denials by outgoing competition czar Joaquín Almunia, it’s clear that pressure from major European publishers, rivals and politicians…
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German Official: Google Should Reveal Its Ranking Algorithm
One of the unanswered questions in the ongoing European-Google antitrust saga is what concrete changes or concessions critics want (or will accept) from Google. One of those things may have just come to light in a Financial Times interview with German justice minister Heiko Maas. Maas asserts in…
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Publishers To EC: We Want More From Google Or We’ll Sue
As we discussed last week, the current Europe-Google antitrust settlement is dead. This is a surprising turn of events considering that it was once described by European regulators as essentially a done deal. Outgoing European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia confirmed last week in a talk…
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Google’s Current EU-Antitrust Settlement Appears Dead
Without immediate, new concessions from Google it appears that the company will not be able to finalize an antitrust settlement with the European Commission before antitrust chief Joaquin Almunía leaves office in November. It’s almost certain that a stronger Google critic will succeed him…
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EU-Google Antitrust Deal May Be Collapsing
Since the first Google antitrust settlement proposal was announced in 2013 the company’s rivals and critics have complained loudly that it doesn’t go far enough to remedy what they see as Google’s unjustified “diversion” of their traffic to Google’s own…
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Google Wins Round Against German Publishers, Who Vow To Fight On
The convoluted saga of Google News in Germany took another turn on Friday when regulators declined to pursue an antitrust claim against the company brought by “VG Media,” a consortium of German publishers including publishing giant Axel Springer. Reuters covered the decision but…
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Indian Govt. Rages At Google Maps Outing Of Secret Bases
In 2013 Google imitated a “mapathon” project in India, offering prizes to encourage people to help fill in gaps and improve Google Maps in the country. At the time, India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) asked the company not to collect “classified data,” such…
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Chinese Man Sues Baidu Over “Gay Conversion” Ad In SERP
A gay Chinese man sued search engine Baidu in Bejing for allowing an undisclosed ad for an allegedly unlicensed psychological counseling center to appear at the top of search results. He underwent “gay conversion” therapy and was traumatized by the experience. Without the benefit of…
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Right To Be Forgotten Won’t Happen On Google.com
Many searchers and Google users are asking, will the Right To Be Forgotten form be a feature and option coming to the US on Google.com. The answer is no! A few weeks ago, Google told us the removals will only be available in the European Union, that is…
Yes, Google Will Disclose “Right To Be Forgotten” Removals
The Guardian reports that Google may add a indication in the search results that content has been removed due to the Right To Be Forgotten European Union requirements issued last month. Google told us a couple weeks ago that they will indeed add disclo…