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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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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Google Pushes Back Against EU Publisher PR Offensive
Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt took to the Google Europe Blog this weekend to defend his company against a Europe-wide ad campaign that asserts Google has abused its dominant market position in search. It’s essentially a public appeal on the same terms being argued to the European…
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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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Spainish Law To Force Google To Index And Pay For Local News
There’s a basic feeling among traditional news publishers throughout Europe, and among some in the US, that Google has benefited enormously from their content but failed to offer anything in return. Furthermore, many publishers see Google as directly responsible for the decline of their…
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Blogger Fined By French Court Because Negative Restaurant Review Was Too Prominent In Google
A French court has ordered a blogger to pay a substantial fine and change the title of a restaurant review because the review was too prominent in search results and harmed business at the restaurant. The review/post has since been removed but can be v…
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…
Right To Be Forgotten “Small Thing” Vs. Copyright Takedowns Says EU Commissioner
European Commissioner for Justice Viviane Reding was quoted in a BBC interview saying that the Right to Be Forgotten (RTBF) will be relatively easy for Google to administer. She asserted that, compared to the millions of copyright removal requests Google deals with, the thousands of RTBF requests…
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EU Regulators Meet Amid “Right To Be Forgotten” Confusion
The caution “be careful what you wish for” might be appropriate going into a meeting of 28 European privacy regulators in Brussels this week. Following the European Court of Justice’s creation of the Right to Be Forgotten (RTBF) and Google’s launch of a web form to field…
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China Engaged In Total Censorship Campaign Against Google
The cat and mouse game between China, Google and the internet continues. Today and tomorrow are the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Fearing another anti-government uprising, every year at this time China cracks down on its citizens’ ability to access information about the…
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Doonesbury Comic: We Need A Company Slogan; Don’t Be Google
Yesterday’s Doonesbury comic strip mocks Google’s company motto and slogan of Don’t Be Evil. The new “Z + Z Bud” company wants to add a company motto to their branding and they think long and hard about what it should be. They said, Google uses “Don’t Be…
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Google Comparison Ads Under Fire In UK
The UK financial services industry regulator Financial Conduct Authority is taking a closer look at Google Comparison Ads. UK price comparison sites have complained that Google is unfairly competing with them by placing its own “product” at the top of search results. Comparison Ads,…
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Actress Sues Google For Indexing Porn Search Results Tied To Her Name
Maria Belen Rodriguez is an Argentina-born model, actress and TV personality who now lives and works in Italy. She successfully sued Google and Yahoo in 2006 in her native country, alleging that her likeness was wrongfully appropriated by porn sites and then indexed/republished or disseminated by…
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Is Google’s European Antitrust Settlement In Jeopardy?
Widespread dissatisfaction among public and political figures with the existing antitrust settlement between Google and the European Commission appears to be putting the existing settlement in danger. According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the run up to this week’s European Parliament…
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New “Open Internet Project” Seeks To Derail Google-EU Antitrust Settlement
Frustrated by what it sees as the European Commission’s capitulation to Google a new group called the “Open Internet Project” (OIP) seeks to derail the current Google antitrust settlement or create a new investigation. A mixture of French and German publishers and companies are…
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The Myths & Realities Of How Of The EU’s New “Right To Be Forgotten” In Google Works
Depending on what you read, a “Right To Be Forgotten” court ruling in the European Union this week means that now anyone can ask for anything to be removed from Google, which will soon collapse under an overwhelming number of requests. In reality, it’s far more limited than it…
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India Opens Second Google Antitrust Investigation Over AdWords
Google is in the midst of an antitrust, anti-competition investigation in India. Not long ago the company was fined by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for not cooperating in that investigation: “not providing information and documents required.” Now a separate…
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