tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36695887801427355522024-03-05T16:41:54.644-05:00Facts About Google and CompetitionUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3669588780142735552.post-5323163099675148392012-09-20T16:40:00.002-04:002012-09-20T16:40:44.378-04:00What People Are Saying About the FTC’s Investigation of Google<b id="internal-source-marker_0.10628395969979465"></b><br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.10628395969979465"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Search is a “highly competitive market where change happens rapidly”;</span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.10628395969979465"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“To characterize Google as a ‘gatekeeper’ is to attribute to it power that it does not possess”;</span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.10628395969979465"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“It is hard to see how consumers are harmed here”</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Search is “a well-working, highly competitive market where change happens rapidly”; Google’s “next competitive threat can come from anywhere”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Daniel Oliver, former FTC Chairman</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“This competition should also be instructive for the Federal Trade Commission, the several state Attorneys General, and the European Commission who are investigating Google for its alleged dominance of search that they should show actual harm to consumers before seeking to interfere with how markets evolve. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This competition should also demonstrate to them that search is a well-working, highly competitive market where change happens rapidly — the sort of market regulators should let flourish on its own.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” (</span><a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/technology/221385-what-google-monopoly"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Hill,</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> April 13, 2012)</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chris Crum, WebProNews</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The bottom line is: nobody is forcing users to use Google</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Some people use Yahoo as their search engine of choice. Some use Bing. Some use Baidu. Some use Yandex. Some use Blekko. Some use DuckDuckGo. Some use Ask. Some use something else entirely. It just so happens to that the vast majority of people prefer Google.” (</span><a href="http://www.webpronews.com/is-google-a-monopoly-or-do-people-just-prefer-it-2012-06"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">WebProNews</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, June 13, 2012)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hal Singer, Managing Director and Principal at Navigant Economics & Affiliate at the International Center for Law and Economics</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“It may not be natural to associate Amazon (an online retailer), Apple (a device maker), and Facebook (a social media site) with search, but in the technology industry, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">your next competitive threat can come from anywhere</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Monopoly and the kind of robust platform competition between Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook are mutually exclusive portraits of reality. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Will the FTC turn a blind eye toward this advanced form of competition?</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” (</span><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/halsinger/2012/09/18/who-competes-with-google-in-search-just-amazon-apple-and-facebook/"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Forbes</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, September 18, 2012)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gary Shapiro, President and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Ultimately, if an online business is forced to slow its pace of innovation, the company will suffer the same fate as Alta Vista, Infoseek and countless other search engines that didn’t survive. The Internet’s open design, consumer choice, and the nature of competition and free markets almost guarantee it. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Technology and innovation have made it incredibly simple to switch to a competing service -- from Pinterest to Facebook, Bing to Google Search, Hotmail to Yahoo! Mail -- it’s all simply one click away</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.” (</span><a href="http://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2012/05/24/online_change_isnt_just_good__its_a_necessity_149.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Real Clear Policy</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, May 24, 2012)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">National Taxpayers Union Open Letter to Public Officials, Signed by 101 Economists</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Google, with its popular online search engine, is the latest target of regulators claiming to be acting in consumers’ interests, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">even though barriers to entry into the search market are exceedingly low and Google’s competition is but one click away for online users</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Furthermore, such competition can come from many different directions, not just among similarly structured companies in a given sector. Any search engine’s business model faces competitive challenges not only from other search engines, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">but also from social networks such as Facebook, mobile-phone applications, and a variety of other advertising platforms.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” (</span><a href="http://www.ntu.org/news-and-issues/telecom/57an-open-letter-to-public.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">National Taxpayers Union</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, May 7, 2012)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Google doesn’t act like a monopolist”; “to characterize Google as a ‘gatekeeper’ is to attribute to it power that it does not possess”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Glenn Manishin, Duane Morris LLP</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google doesn’t act like a monopolist and shares none of the characteristics sheltering classic monopolists from competition.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Its astounding success in Internet search is universally regarded as a consequence of better design, superior code, better products and plain old hard work.” (</span><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/02/03/off-with-their-heads-the-fantasy-google-monopoly/"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Forbes</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, February 3, 2012)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ed Black, President and CEO of CCIA</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google’s competitors have bellowed about Google’s so-called ‘monopoly.’ But popular doesn’t mean illegal</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. According to economic theory, a monopolist provides a product or service that has few, if any, substitutes and therefore can charge higher prices, innovate less, and generally ignore customer’s needs. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is simply not what is occurring in the ‘search’ space.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” (</span><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/edblack/2012/06/19/understanding-internet-competition-why-all-high-tech-markets-are-not-equal/"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Forbes</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, June 19, 2012)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stephen Foley, Associate Business Editor of The Independent</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">...I'm not convinced Google has a monopoly position in searching the internet.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Yes, the 67 per cent market share is large, and Microsoft's Bing has stalled below 16 per cent, but </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">these figures could change quickly</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> if Microsoft – or more likely, a new pair of graduate students at Stanford University – invent a better search engine.” (</span><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/stephen-foley-regulators-should-resist-temptation-to-gore-google-over-frommers-move-8057331.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Independent</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, August 18, 2012)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Howard Rich, Chairman of Americans for Limited Government</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“As of May 2012, Google sites accounted for 66.7 percent of U.S. web searches, according to comScore. Microsoft sites ranked second with 15.4 percent, while Yahoo sites came in third with 13.4 percent. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That’s a commanding lead, but it’s certainly not a monopoly</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> – and even if it was government would still have no business interfering.” (</span><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2012/06/19/should-government-dictate-the-results-of-your-google-search/"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Forbes</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, June 19, 2012)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tim Worstall, Forbes contributor</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Finally, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in economic terms, that Google has a monopoly is obviously untrue</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. It’s the largest of a number of contestants in the market, this much is true. But market dominance is not in itself an economic reason for legal or political action. Only possession of an uncontestable such position is. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And since anyone can indeed start up a new search engine, indeed people try just that every couple of months, there just doesn’t seem to be any reason at all why Google should be forced to change its ways in the first place. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Further, any web user has a choice of engines to use: there just isn’t a lock in which would justify action.” (</span><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/05/24/googles-problem-with-the-european-union/"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Forbes</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, May 24, 2012)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jonathan Rubin, Rubin PLLC and Advisory Board Member, American Antitrust Institute</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Beyond its influence over users’ preferences, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google has no means of control over its users’ access to any website on the web.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> To characterize Google as a “gatekeeper” is to attribute to it power that it does not possess.” (</span><a href="http://rubinpllc.wordpress.com/2012/07/10/the-case-against-google-search/"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">RUBIN PLLC Public Interest Blog</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, July 10, 2012)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Robert H. Bork, Antitrust Scholar, Law Professor, and Author</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is no coherent case for monopolization</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> because a search engine, like Google, is free to consumers and they can switch to an alternative search engine with a click.” (</span><a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-04-06/news/ct-perspec-0405-bork-20120406_1_unpaid-search-results-search-engines-search-algorithms"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chicago Tribune</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, April 6, 2012)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Comparisons [to the Microsoft case] are naive and inaccurate”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ed Black, president and CEO of CCIA</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Some have compared the FTC’s current investigation of Google to other big antitrust actions in the high-tech space. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These comparisons are naive and inaccurate. Not all ‘high-tech’ markets are built alike, and neither are all antitrust actions</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The markets for mainframes, operating systems, nationwide wireless providers and microprocessors bear as much similarity to the competitive realities of websites as they are to the market for tennis shoes.” (</span><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/edblack/2012/06/19/understanding-internet-competition-why-all-high-tech-markets-are-not-equal/"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Forbes</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, June 19, 2012)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Glenn Manishin, partner at Troutman Sanders and former DOJ antitrust attorney</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">U.S. vs. AT&T and U.S. vs. Microsoft – both of them had a bottle neck over consumer access to technology. Google has no such thing.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> It doesn’t own the line; it doesn’t own the software; it can’t control where users go on the Internet. It has no power over price even for the ads because they’re auctioned off. And there’s no barriers to entry.” (CCIA Media Briefing call, September 13, 2012)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Search results are a “legitimate exercise of Google’s First Amendment right”; “the government cannot force Google to rearrange its search results”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eugene Volokh, UCLA Law Professor</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Briefly, the heart of the accusations is that Google somehow prioritizes its own thematic search results over results originating from specialized competitors. Whether this is so is a contested question, which turns, among other things, on disputes about what would constitute ‘neutral’ judgments and what would be a departure from those judgments. Yet even if it is assumed that Google engages or plans to engage in such prioritizing, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that prioritizing would constitute the legitimate exercise of Google’s First Amendment right to decide how to present information in its speech to its users.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” (</span><a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2055364"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">SSRN</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, May 9, 2012)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Neal Katyal, former U.S. Acting Solicitor General, partner at Hogan Lovells</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The First Amendment protected speech is the creation and use of the [search] algorithms</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> — in expressing a judgment to select from and rank the thousands of sites that might be relevant to a search request. . . . Just as it could not order a newspaper to publish a certain op-ed in the interest of "fairness," so, too, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the government cannot force Google to rearrange its search results</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> because it believes the results would be "better" under some other still-to-be-identified metric. The simple point is that </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">search results are themselves a form of speech because the algorithms that produce those results embody the search engine company's editorial judgment</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> as to which content in its index is most responsive to the user's query.” (</span><a href="http://www.law360.com/articles/371332/search-engines-and-the-1st-amendment"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Law360</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, August 21, 2012)</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“The FTC’s mandate is to protect consumers. Where are the consumers that are hurt?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eric Goldman, Professor of Law at Santa Clara University School of Law and director of the school’s High Tech Law Institute</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">From the consumer side, we don’t have a lot of evidence indicating that consumers have actually suffered any harm themselves.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> In other words, there are a lot of people who have a lot of money and interest in trying to prove that there’s a problem. And yet all those resources dedicated to this issue </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">haven’t yielded anything persuasive that consumers aren’t getting what they’re looking for</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> from the online experience.” (CCIA Media Briefing call, September 13, 2012)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Geoff Manne, Executive Director of the International Center for Law & Economics, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In fact, the theoretical case against Google depends entirely on the ways it may have harmed certain competitors rather than on any evidence of harm to consumer welfare.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> For example, Google’s implementation and placement within its organic search results of its own shopping results is alleged to make it difficult for competing product-specific search sites (like Nextag or Amazon, for example) to reach Google’s users. Leaving aside the weakness of the factual allegation. . . </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">it is hard to see how consumers are harmed here</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.” (</span><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/beltway/2012/05/07/the-folly-of-the-ftcs-section-five-case-against-google/"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Forbes</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, May 7, 2012)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Orson Swindle, Former FTC Commissioner</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Antitrust law is about preserving competition in markets for the benefit of users and consumers</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. . . . And since consumers have the choice of whether or not to use these websites, the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">companies can hardly be legitimately subjected to allegations of unfair business practices or monopolistic pricing schemes</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> when everything is available for free.” (</span><a href="http://dailycaller.com/2012/04/10/privacy-is-important-but-not-an-antitrust-issue/#ixzz1rf5LS0FE"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Daily Caller</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, April 10, 2012)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mike Masnick, Chief Executive and Founder of Techdirt</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"The question is are consumers being harmed, that'd be an interesting debate to have, but the only complaint so far seems to be 'Google's big’ . . . . </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The complaints are coming from companies who don't like how they rank in Google, and it's not government’s job to remedy that</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.” (</span><a href="http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=472688"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dow Jones Newswires</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, April 12, 2012)</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Charlie Black, Republican strategist and adviser to Mitt Romney</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“The FTC and the Justice Department are fighting over who gets to go after Google, because they’re big and successful . . . . </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The FTC’s mandate is to protect consumers. Where are the consumers that are hurt?</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” (</span><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-29/romney-adviser-blasts-phony-antitrust-probe-of-google.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bloomberg</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, August 29, 2012)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wall Street Journal editorial</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tying down Google's search functions in a bid to satisfy Brussels won't necessarily improve the user experience.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Search has come a long way in the past decade, but it's still often frustrating and tedious. That suggests there's plenty of room for improvement and competition. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Making Google less useful to make competitors happy won't make surfing the Web any better for consumers</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.” (</span><a href="http://professional.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304019404577419883251569896.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop&mg=reno64-wsj"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wall Street Journal</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, May 23, 2012)</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Proposed remedies “are problematic and largely unworkable”; they would “harm consumers, impede competition, and stifle innovation”</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin: 0pt 15pt 0pt 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Greg Sterling, Search Engine Land</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Overall I was very surprised at the skepticism that speaker after speaker expressed about the success of a potential antitrust case against Google...While many legal experts conveyed discomfort with Google’s power and size, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the large majority of panelists during the sessions I attended argued that antitrust rules either don’t fit the situation or wouldn’t legally apply or that remedies are problematic and largely unworkable</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Echoing the earlier discussion about GM, etc., there was also a recognition of how dynamic and unpredictable the technology markets are today.” (</span><a href="http://marketingland.com/most-legal-experts-at-antitrust-conference-appear-skeptical-of-action-against-google-12246"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Marketing Land</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, May 17, 2012)</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Marvin Ammori, first amendment lawyer</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The proposed remedies might benefit the short-term economic interests of Google’s competitors that are members of FairSearch and ICOMP, but benefiting competitors is not the goal of antitrust law.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The goal of antitrust law is to promote consumer welfare, competition, and innovation. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The proposed remedies, however, would do the opposite: harm consumers, impede competition, and stifle innovation.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The remedies would invite government agencies and technical committees to second-guess and evaluate both mundane and game-changing engineering and user-interface decisions regarding Google Search, reverse long-standing fair use principles rooted in constitutional requirements, and empower competitors to litigate rather than compete against daily innovations and disclosures by Google." (</span><a href="http://ammori.org/2012/05/14/remedies-proposed-in-the-google-antitrust-inquiry-new-paper/"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">white paper</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, May 14, 2012)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">L. Gordon Crovitz, Commentator for the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wall Street Journal</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“As a regulatory matter, there is real risk that the current antitrust review by the Federal Trade Commission will block innovation in the search industry. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The agency could freeze Google into its historic way of doing business by stopping it from delivering answers directly (removing the consumer benefit)</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and by banning acquisitions such as Frommer's. There is a long history of government overreach in technology, which changes faster than regulators can keep up. Antitrust claims are often based on the size of the companies involved and not on </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">antitrust's true purpose: to maximize consumer benefit, not to protect competitors.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” (</span><a href="http://professional.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444375104577594010338735918.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_BelowLEFTSecond&mg=reno64-wsj"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wall Street Journal</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, August 19, 2012)</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eugene Volokh, UCLA Law Professor</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Most of us started out by using search engines other than Google; we switched to Google because we had heard that it provided superior results. We can easily switch away if we conclude the results are no longer satisfactory. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This user power -- and not governmental coercion -- is the proper remedy for any perceived unfair selection by search engines, and the proper deterrent to such supposed unfairness.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">" (</span><a href="http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/antitrustprof_blog/2012/05/is-search-protected-by-the-first-amendment-comments-by-eugene-volokh.html"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Antitrust & Competition Policy Blog</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, May 22, 2012)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">National Taxpayers Union Open Letter to Public Officials, Signed by 101 Economists</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Perhaps most alarming is the notion that Washington can engineer a “remedy” in this case that is superior to the equilibrium markets will find.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> There is even discussion over rules dictating how search results “should” appear to a user. Micromanagement to this degree deserves neither a place nor a precedent in our economy." (</span><a href="http://www.ntu.org/news-and-issues/telecom/57an-open-letter-to-public.html"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Open letter</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, May 7, 2012)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Robert H. Bork, Antitrust Scholar, Law Professor, and Author</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">n this rapidly changing industry, control through an antitrust decree is simply unrealistic. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some market-oriented legislators have suggested that an antitrust remedy against the search engines is preferable to more direct regulation. But there's not much of a difference.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> An antitrust order would convert a court into a regulatory agency. And what is the court to regulate? Google estimates that it introduces changes to improve its search algorithms 500 times a year, more than once a day. The first opinion completed by a judge will be hundreds of algorithms behind. . . . Competitive discipline is far more effective than any antitrust decree." (</span><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ct-perspec-0405-bork-20120406,0,6256906.story"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chicago Tribune</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, April 6, 2012)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tom Lenard, president and senior fellow of the Technology Policy Institute</span></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.10628395969979465"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[I]f designing a remedy for Microsoft was difficult, it would be even more so for Google.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Virtually any conceivable remedy would constrain Google's ability to improve its search results and be a vigorous competitor in the emerging interplatform competition. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This would not serve consumers.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">" (</span><a href="http://news.investors.com/article/605804/201203271848/google-should-not-be-fighting-antitrust-lawsuits.htm"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Investor's Business Daily</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, March 23, 2012)</span></b></div>
</b>Google Competition Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17153067508819943005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3669588780142735552.post-38668230850436080802012-09-11T11:29:00.003-04:002012-09-11T11:29:38.527-04:00Facebook's Rumored Search Engine Evidence of Competitive Market<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9945136962924153" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></b><br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9945136962924153" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Facebook Doesn’t Need to Index the Web” to Succeed; </span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9945136962924153" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Every Search on Facebook Is a “Query That Users Don’t Need Google For”</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9945136962924153" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9945136962924153" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Facebook’s Foray Into Search Is a “Serious Threat” to Google, Evidence That “the Search Market Is Competitive,” and a Reminder That Tech Companies “Must Run Ever Faster to Stay in Place” </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;">
<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303816504577322071367081342.html"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Robert Hahn (University of Oxford), op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2012</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“[T]he rumors du jour [about Facebook search] should serve as a reminder that </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">no corner of information technology is safe from what Joseph Schumpeter famously called "creative destruction."</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> That, in turn, should remind us that the public policy governing what is OK to do in the marketplace and what's not is based on </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">assumptions that rarely apply to the industries powering innovation and growth in advanced industrial economies</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.”</span></div>
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<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303816504577322071367081342.html"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Robert Hahn (University of Oxford), op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2012</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“[W]hile the management of the current crop of winning companies may be as eager as monopolists of yore to bar the doors to rivals, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">rapid technological change denies them the opportunity.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Thus IBM's lock on mainframe computing was broken by the arrival of small-scale computing. Microsoft's dominance of business-applications software faded with the rise of the Internet.... [</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">W]ith hindsight, it's obvious that the IT behemoths must run ever faster to stay in place</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—and that competition regulators can't show that their intervention has made the products of the IT industry any better or cheaper.”</span></div>
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<a href="http://searchengineland.com/how-facebook-search-might-help-google-escape-the-antitrust-noose-117695"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Greg Sterling, Search Engine Land, April 8, 2012</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Indeed, from all accounts it appeared that the FTC was going to file suit against the Google acquisition [of AdMob] — until Apple bought Quattro Wireless.... Facebook is now analogous to Apple in that it </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">provides a potential argument that the search market is competitive, and soon could become more so</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> if the company launches an improved search capability (whether for site search or the web more broadly).”</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.betabeat.com/2012/04/10/instagram-and-the-age-of-upsets/"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rick Webb, BetaBeat, April 10, 2012</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Of course, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">one could argue that Facebook is the threat to Google’s search that we have all been waiting for.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The thinking is that Facebook is building a social graph of people’s tastes, along with their friends. And in many cases, that information can yield a much better result than a Google search.... </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google may be finally facing its first serious threat in the form of Facebook, which is exciting.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”</span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Facebook’s Move Into Search Is “Not Surprising”; “Over Time, [Facebook and Google] Are Going to Be Directly Competing in Pretty Much Every Area”</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;">
<a href="http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/industry-insights/technology/searching-questions-for-facebook-as-it-challenges-googles-power"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adrian Drury (analyst at Ovum), quoted in The National, April 9, 2012</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It would be more surprising if Facebook did not try and take a share of Google's search market</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">," says Adrian Drury, a principal analyst at the research company Ovum. "Just as Google is pushing itself into the social space to increase relevance of targeted ads and its share of Web 'dwell time', so </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Facebook competitively must move itself into an adjacent market to expand its share of Web audiences and ad spend.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9225771/Facebook_tries_to_out_Google_Google_with_new_search_tool?taxonomyId=212&pageNumber=2"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dan Olds (analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group), quoted in ComputerWorld, April 2, 2012</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It's not surprising that Facebook is working on doing more with search</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, just as it wasn't surprising to see Google push forward with Google+," said Dan Olds, an analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group. "Google and Facebook are like scorpions in a bottle. And the bottle is gradually getting smaller and smaller as both expand their reach. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Over time, they're going to be directly competing in pretty much every area.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;">
<a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-03-28/facebook-delves-deeper-into-search#p2"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Douglas MacMillan and Brad Stone, Bloomberg Businessweek, March 29, 2012</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“With a more potent search engine, Facebook’s wine-loving users might be able to query the closest wineries that have been liked most often. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That would give people one fewer reason to leave the site’s walled garden.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Facebook could also follow the lead of companies such as Google and Microsoft and start selling relevant—and profitable—keyword ads alongside results.”</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a Public Company, Facebook Will “Face Pressure From Shareholders” to Maximize Profitability; Facebook Search Ads Represent “a Huge Amount of Revenue Waiting to be Unlocked”</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;">
<a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2402435,00.asp"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Angela Moscaritolo, PCMag, March 30, 2012</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“With an improved search engine, Facebook users might be able to search for, say, the most-liked restaurants in their area. The social network could also </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">begin selling relevant keyword ads to display along with search results</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (like Google and Microsoft already do).... revamping its search function could allow Facebook to </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">get a cut of the $15 billion search advertising market</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. This is a huge opportunity for the social network, especially as it prepares to go public and </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">faces pressure from shareholders to maximize its options for monetization.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” </span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;">
<a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-03-28/facebook-delves-deeper-into-search#p2"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Greg Sterling (analyst at Opus Research), quoted in Bloomberg Businessweek, March 29, 2012</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Greg Sterling, a senior analyst at Opus Research, says </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Facebook could quickly become the second-most popular search engine</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> if it tackles the problem in earnest. “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There’s a huge amount of revenue waiting to be unlocked</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> if they want to explore search-based pay-per-click advertising,” he says. “They can leverage the data and demographic information they already have.””</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;">
<a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9225771/Facebook_tries_to_out_Google_Google_with_new_search_tool?taxonomyId=212&pageNumber=2"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dan Olds (analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group), quoted in ComputerWorld, April 2, 2012</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Owning a successful search engine is one of the keys to the kingdom of Internet riches.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Advertisers will flock to you and you can build a lot of ancillary products based on search. If Facebook can build a better search mousetrap, or at least a decent one, they'll have a much more compelling product to sell to advertisers," </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[Olds] added. Olds noted that </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google has a lot o</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">f user data, but not nearly as much as Facebook. A strong Facebook search tool, therefore, could prove very attractive to potential advertisers.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” </span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;">
<a href="http://www.straightupsearch.com/search-marketing/2012-04-03-oneupweb-facebook-poised-to-revolutionize-search/"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Brooks, Oneupweb, Apr. 3, 2012</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Suddenly, social, that former clown of the online marketing world, has become the most important ingredient in any marketing campaign. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And oh the ad spend possibilities for Facebook! These guys have the ability to deliver a targeted paid ad like no other company in the business.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Nobody can touch Facebook’s database when it comes to relativity.” </span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Facebook Doesn’t Need to Index the Web” to Succeed, It Just Needs to “Make More Effective Use of [Its Social] Data”; Every Search on Facebook Is a “Query That Users Don’t Need Google For”</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;">
<a href="http://www.webpronews.com/facebook-search-engine-2012-03"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chris Crum, WebProNews, March 31, 2012</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Given Facebook’s enormous user base and all of the content that is posted to the social network every day, a competent search engine is needed badly.... </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Facebook doesn’t need to index the web the way Google does, however, to put a dent into Google’s search market share.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Even if it can convince users to use its own revamped search feature for certain kinds of queries, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that’s queries that users don’t need Google for.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I’ve long maintained that the biggest threat to Google’s search market share is likely not the threat of a single competitor, but the diversification of search in general.”</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;">
<a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-03-28/facebook-delves-deeper-into-search#p2"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Douglas MacMillan and Brad Stone, Bloomberg Businessweek, March 29, 2012</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The company has a lot of social data it can apply to the problem of organizing information.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Instead of crawling and ranking the whole Web, as Google does, Facebook already allows users to avidly flag the most interesting content, such as the best articles, recipes, and shopping deals. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Improving Facebook search in some ways means just making more effective use of that data.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;">
<a href="http://searchengineland.com/how-serious-is-facebook-about-search-116956"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Greg Sterling, Search Engine Land, Mar. 30, 2012</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“There’s no question that an improved search capability would benefit Facebook in several ways. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It would encourage more search activity among users, who would be rewarded with a better experience, creating a self-reinforcing cycle.... Facebook doesn’t need to challenge Google directly in web search.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Improving search on the Facebook site — including a better layout and presentation of results — wouldn’t be anywhere as difficult as general web search.”</span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>Google Competition Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17153067508819943005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3669588780142735552.post-73028675151032113442012-09-10T11:15:00.000-04:002012-10-03T11:16:04.133-04:00Who is FairSearch.org?<b id="internal-source-marker_0.3775983094237745" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FairSearch is an astroturf group comprised of Google's competitors, not consumers</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FairSearch claims to represent consumers’ best interests, but it consists of companies who either compete directly with Google or don’t like where their websites appear in Google’s search results. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">No consumers or consumer groups</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> are members of FairSearch.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FairSearch’s members are:</span></b><br />
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<table style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; width: 624px;"><colgroup><col width="*"></col><col width="*"></col></colgroup><tbody>
<tr style="height: 180px;"><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 12px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 22.2680412371134pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">General web search competitors:</span></div>
<br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: -12px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Microsoft</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 22.2680412371134pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Travel search competitors:</span></div>
<br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: 36px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kayak</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (owns </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">SideStep</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: 36px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Expedia</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (owns </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">TripAdvisor</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hotwire</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">; co-founded </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Level...com</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: 36px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Interactive Travel Services Association</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (Expedia is member)</span></li>
</ul>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 12px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Product search competitors:</span><br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Buscape</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (owned by same parent company as </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Allegro</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Foundem</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Twenga</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">TheFind</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Search advertising competitors:</span><br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">adMarketplace.com</span></li>
</ul>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.3775983094237745" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 31.175257731958762pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Other complainants:</span></div>
<br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: 54px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ShopCity.com</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (site that has complained about its ranking in Google search)</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: 54px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Oracle</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (lost patent lawsuit against Google)</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: 54px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nokia</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (Microsoft mobile partners)</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Consumers and experts say that FairSearch is “a front for Microsoft” and “not in the customer’s best interest”</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Industry analysts call FairSearch “just a bunch of whiners,” “a front for Microsoft,” and say its allegations “are full of exaggerations, half-truths, and mistakes”</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 31.175257731958762pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FairSearch has almost nothing [to do] with fairness, reliability or protecting the the consumers’ best interests.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> It also seems that its only objective is to ram Google on every opportunity it has while pretending to be unbiased and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">only serving the group members’ self-interests.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” [</span><a href="http://www.workinghomeguide.com/16360/fairsearch-org-is-everything-but-fair-about-search"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Omri Shabat, Working Home Guide, 9/14/12</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">]</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 31.175257731958762pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“[FairSearch members] </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">have chosen to whine</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> about their poor, poor situation and they want a regulatory body to bring Google down a few pegs... [It] essentially </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">looks like a front for Microsoft</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to somehow make Google stub its big Internet toe on something to slow them down.” [</span><a href="http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2011/07/is-fairsearch-org-just-a-bunch-of-whiners.html"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Frank Reed, Marketing Pilgrim, 7/18/11</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">]</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 31.175257731958762pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“But reports like [this white paper from FairSearch], which are </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">full of exaggerations, half-truths and mistakes</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> rob from that attention. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This report, as well as FairSearch overall, seems designed solely to target Google no matter what it takes, no matter what tall tales need to be told.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I find that bizarre, that all this attention seems to be revolving around a tiny number of companies that feel Google is somehow being anti-competitive toward them...” [</span><a href="http://searchengineland.com/does-the-fairsearch-white-paper-on-google-being-anticompetitive-hold-up-96567"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Danny Sullivan, Search Engine Land, 10/11/11</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">]</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Consumers say that FairSearch is “not in the customer’s best interest”</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 31.175257731958762pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“So let’s call this [FairSearch] what it is: Companies attempting to strong-arm their name in front of clients through the use of government regulation. That’s Bing, and that’s every webmaster who signs on to this. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That’s not fair. That’s not healthy. That’s not in the customer’s best interest.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The customers know that more search options exist. They simply don’t want them.” [</span><a href="http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2011/07/is-fairsearch-org-just-a-bunch-of-whiners.html"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MrAndrewJ via Marketing Pilgrim, 7/18/11</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">]</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 31.175257731958762pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another misinfomercial from MSs old style PR team</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I am neither surprised or delighted.” [</span><a href="http://searchengineland.com/google-doesnt-require-google-search-on-android-133158#comment-650186231"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">jnffarrell1 via Search Engine Land, 9/14/12</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">]</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 31.175257731958762pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[T]his group is a negative PR and lobbying initiative by Google's rivals</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to eliminate Google as a competitor, it is a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">despicable</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> thing and as to why would anyone give them a second glance (specially those in government) is beyond me.” [</span><a href="http://www.groovypost.com/news/fairsearch-ironic-name-google-haters/#comment-561785731"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">David via GroovyPost, 12/11</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">]</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Comments on FairSearch’s Facebook page criticize its “hypocrisy,” and “obvious smear campaign”</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 31.175257731958762pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“You talk about fair search yet you only question Google - is that fair? ... </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This obvious smear campaign should now be shelved</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, with all of your advertising and after nearly two years in existence, you only have 3,765 likes! Give it up whoever's behind 'Fair Search' - it's clearly not working!” [Nikki Labrum, 8/10/12]</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 31.175257731958762pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“This is </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">just Google's competitors whining</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> because Google is better than them.” [Daniel B.D. Murray, 9/9/11]</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I feel dirty from </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the amount of hypocrisy</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in this place.” [Jeremy Moran, 9/9/11]</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FairSearch is powered by Microsoft and Microsoft affiliates</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FairSearch is run by Microsoft’s former public relations firm and the former head of Microsoft’s Washington office.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 31.175257731958762pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All threads come together at the Glover Park Group in Washington</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. . . . Those seeking to contact the Fairsearch website will encounter Ben Hammer, a former technology journalist, who today is the vice president of Glover Park. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He is willing to talk about anything, just not the relationship between Glover Park, Fairsearch, Expedia and Microsoft.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "Transparency is very important to us," he stresses only to express his displeasure at naming who he works for: "That's beside the point. Do I ask you how much you earn?"” [Brand Eins (Germany), 9/12]</span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 31.175257731958762pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Glover Park Group previously handled </span><a href="http://www.tnooz.com/2010/10/28/news/google-ita-software-deal-microsoft-active-behind-the-scenes/"><span style="background-color: white; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Microsoft’s</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> public policy and government affairs public relations.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ben Hammer</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the director of public affairs at Glover Park,</span><a href="http://www.tnooz.com/2010/10/28/news/google-ita-software-deal-microsoft-active-behind-the-scenes/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">represented Microsoft for years</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, handling much of the work behind the Microsoft-Yahoo! alliance. He is now listed as the press contact for </span><a href="http://www.fairsearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/FairSearch-G-ITA-DOJ-Consent-Decree-Release-FINAL2.pdf"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FairSearch.org</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></li>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jack Krumholtz</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the managing director of government relations at Glover Park, previously served as </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">managing director of federal government affairs and associate general counsel </span><a href="http://www.gloverparkgroup.com/our-team/jack-krumholtz/"><span style="background-color: white; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">at Microsoft</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for fourteen years. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></li>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 31.175257731958762pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“That [Microsoft lobbying] machine was present in the halls of the Dirksen Senate Office Building just prior to Schmidt's testimony last month. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Microsoft's public-relations executives were working the throng of journalists</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> outside the hearing room, pointing to any and all information that would appear to incriminate Google for antitrust violations.” [</span><a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20114547-261/is-google-lining-up-republicans-against-antipiracy-bill/?tag=cnetRiver"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">CNET, Oct. 3, 2011</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">]</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Expedia SVP of government affairs calls himself “the Father of Fairsearch”</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 31.175257731958762pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Expedia manager Brent Thompson [...] refers to himself as the father of Fairsearch</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">...’</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But we aren't even trying to explain this to consumers.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> For that, we’d need to launch a massive campaign as big as the one for the seatbelt requirement or cancer prevention. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We intervene at a higher level in order to initiate investigations on the part of politicians and investigative authorities."</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” [Brand Eins (Germany), 9/12]</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">FairSearch’s so-called “victims” are actually thriving</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Daily Caller </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">reports that “several of Google’s competitors are playing the victim card to regulators while reporting successes to their investors”</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 31.175257731958762pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“[Expedia] complained to regulators that it was largely dependent upon search engines for traffic in 2011, but in October 2010, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">CEO Dara Khrosrowshahi told investors that search traffic is “much less profitable traffic” than direct traffic.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” [</span><a href="http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/20/googles-victims-thriving-despite-telling-regulators-otherwise/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Daily Caller, 9/20/12</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">]</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 31.175257731958762pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“TripAdvisor has also logged complaints with the E.U. Commission and the U.S. government against Google, charging unfair and “anticompetitive practices.” But according to recent statements by TripAdvisor CEO Stephen Kaufer, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google is far from a threat to the company.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> In a July earnings call, not only did Kaufer think that </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google’s Google Places app was not taking traffic away from TripAdvisor</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, but that it would be even better for the company to shift more resources towards Facebook since it was working out well.” [</span><a href="http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/20/googles-victims-thriving-despite-telling-regulators-otherwise/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Daily Caller, 9/20/12</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">]</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 31.175257731958762pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“In the roughly two years since Google launched flight search and hotel search, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kayak CEO Steve Hafner says, “We haven’t seen any impact on our business.”</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> This statement, made in a CNBC interview, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">would appear to directly contradict the central claim of the lobbying group to which Kayak belongs, FairSearch.org.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The central claim is that there’s “growing evidence that Google is abusing its search monopoly to thwart competition.” . . . </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By its own account Kayak is prospering.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” [</span><a href="http://searchengineland.com/fairsearch-member-kayak-google-travel-search-has-had-no-impact-on-our-business-134011"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Greg Sterling, Search Engine Land, 9/21/12</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">]</span></div>
</b><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Google Competition Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17153067508819943005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3669588780142735552.post-19681246466712201532012-09-09T20:11:00.002-04:002012-09-09T20:11:33.035-04:00Microsoft and Experts Agree: Search is Evolving Beyond Links<b id="internal-source-marker_0.7317674341611564"></b><br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.7317674341611564"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Analyst: Google and Microsoft “In an Arms Race...To Make Search More Intelligent”</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b></div>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.7317674341611564"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the past few months, Microsoft and its anti-Google organization FairSearch have criticized Google for including maps, shopping results, and videos in search results -- even if those are the best answer for users. But over the past several days, Microsoft and Yahoo engineers and independent experts have agreed that search has been evolving from just a tool for finding websites, into providing consumers with better answers.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Search Engines Already Providing Richer Answers on Search Pages</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Google and Microsoft’s Bing are able to answer some specific searches -- such as “</span><a href="http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=mariners+score"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mariners score</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” -- with relevant information on the results page. You can search for “</span><a href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=seattle+weather&go=&qs=n&sk=&sc=8-12&form=QBLH"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Seattle weather</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” and and immediately get a forecast, without navigating to someplace like Weather.com.... [Computer scientists Oren] Etzioni envisions a world -- just three to five years from now -- in which search engines scour the Internet based not on keywords, but on extracted information.” (</span><a href="http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/2011/08/03/its-time-for-a-revolution-in-web-search-uw-professor-says/"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 3, 2011</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Microsoft’s Head of Search: Criticizes Search Engines for Being “Still a Web Site Finder”</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Microsoft’s president of the Online Services Unit, Qi Lu, told the </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/technology/with-the-bing-search-engine-microsoft-plays-the-underdog.html"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">New York Times</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that search engines are</span><a href="http://www.google.com/competition/betteranswers.html"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">evolving beyond “ten blue links”</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> into providing richer types of answers for users -- whether that answer is </span><a href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=flights+to+san+francisco&go=&qs=n&sk=&sc=8-24&form=QBLH"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">flight results</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a</span><a href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=jk+wedding+dance&go=&qs=n&sk=&sc=8-13&form=QBLH"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">video</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a</span><a href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=1101+new+york+avenue+nw+washington+dc&go=&qs=AS&sk=AS1&pq=1101+new+york+&sp=2&sc=6-14&form=QBLH"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">map</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">,</span><a href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=samsung+lcd+flat+screen+tv&go=&qs=n&sk=&sc=1-25&form=QBRE"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">shopping results</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, or even a</span><a href="http://www.bing.com/events/search?q=Baltimore+Orioles+%2540+Oakland+Athletics&p1=%5BEvents%20source=%22vertical%22+qzeventid=%22f416095%22%5D&FORM=DTPEVE"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">seating chart</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“In short, Mr. Lu describes a vision of a search engine that is part intelligent software assistant and part mind reader. ‘Search is </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">still essentially a Web site finder.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">’ Mr. Lu says. ‘It’s all nouns. But the future of search is verbs -- computationally </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">discerning user intent to give them the knowledge to complete tasks</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.’”</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“In Bing, the most visible evidence of the decision-engine concept is the ability to aggregate and present specific kinds of information in a search result. Microsoft has invested in travel services, for example. Type “flights to San Francisco” into Bing, and below a few blue-shaded links to ads is a Bing Travel flight database.”</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Microsoft Search Executives: Searchers “Want to Complete Tasks Within Search,” Rather Than Be Sent to Websites</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In an interview with</span><a href="http://paidcontent.org/article/419-interview-microsofts-not-walking-away-from-search/"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">PaidContent</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Bing’s search director, Stefan Weitz, said:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“When they do a standard search, people end up using five to 10 different resources in the completion of these tasks. But, according to our research, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">58 percent of heavy users want to complete tasks inside the search engine</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. That’s a big jump from a few years previously. Google found the same thing recently. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So we’re taking Bing to a place you can actually accomplish things and do things, rather than send you off to those sites</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.”</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Qi Lu agreed with this sentiment at Microsoft’s recent </span><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/investor/downloads/events/09142011_FAM_Qi.docx"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Financial Analyst Meeting</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Search is a means to an end</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. We want our product to go substantially beyond just finding information, go all the way to </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">help the user make decisions and complete tasks</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.”</span><span style="color: #191919; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Microsoft’s Head of Search: Bing “Is Now a Credible Alternative to Consumers, to Advertisers”</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the same </span><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/investor/downloads/events/09142011_FAM_Qi.docx"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Financial Analyst Meeting</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Lu also expressed “a high degree of confidence” that the Bing is very competitive:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“We've been materializing the benefits of the strategic goals for this partnership [with Yahoo], particularly in search quality. Because when you combine the search tasks together... our product gets better and better, benefits both companies, and it benefits consumers, because we, the combined traffic up 30 percent, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">almost 30 percent United States, is now a credible alternative to consumers, to advertisers</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.”</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“We can say our search quality at the baseline is </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">on par with our competitors</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. And even more importantly, the pace of improvement, the speed at which we were improving our quality is </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">faster against our competitions</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">... we do have confidence, a high degree of confidence that we'll be very, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">very competitive in our product quality</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and be able to sustain and accelerate the pace of innovation.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“So, if we add these things together, take a recap for the last 27-plus months, we come from a long way. We started the journey when </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">we were a distant third in a three-way race</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. We had less than 7 percent market share. Now our platform is </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">truly a credible alternative</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in the United States, and we have </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a quality product, a good brand</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.”</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yahoo’s Senior Vice President of Search Products: “Answers, Not Links”</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shashi Seth, Yahoo’s senior vice president for search products, told </span><a href="http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2114498/Yahoos-Shashi-Seth-on-the-Future-of-Search-Mobile-Structured-Data"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Search Engine Watch</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that “users are no longer satisfied with links on a page”:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Yahoo’s next generation of search is defined as “answers, not links.” This means when users ask a question, instead of giving 10 blue links, the engine should be able to provide an exact answer for many of those questions.... Increasingly, [users] demand engines to be able to extract information and provide answers with clarity and quickness through information retrieval usually within seconds.”</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Experts: This is Where Search is Headed</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Experts agree that Google and Microsoft are competing over who can provide better answers and help users complete tasks:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Esther Dyson, Technology Analyst</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“There is so little context in current search, and what Microsoft is trying to do is present users with context and structure, more a map of the world of information instead of just ranking it, especially in specific subject areas like travel and health. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Microsoft is trying to beat Google</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> at this different game.” (</span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/technology/with-the-bing-search-engine-microsoft-plays-the-underdog.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">New York Times, July 30, 2011</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Oren Etzioni, Computer Science Professor, University of Washington</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Instead of poring over long lists of documents that contain requested keywords, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">users need direct answers to their questions</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">."(</span><a href="http://turing.cs.washington.edu/papers/Nature_search_shake-up.pdf"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nature, August 2011</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Both these companies are making important steps to </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">make search more intelligent</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. It’s an arms race.” (</span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/technology/with-the-bing-search-engine-microsoft-plays-the-underdog.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">New York Times, July 30, 2011</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Erick Schonfeld, Editor, TechCrunch</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Senators kept trying to define Google and search in 2004 terms of ten blue links that take consumers away from Google. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But search is very different today.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Increasingly, Google is trying to give you the right answer in the results themselves. And you know who else does exactly the same thing? Bing. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Telling Google that it needs to go back to the 2004 version of itself while Bing and others can keep experimenting with new ways to deliver information to consumers would just hamper innovation in search.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” (</span><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/25/google-monopoly-theater/"><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">TechCrunch, September 25, 2011</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></b>Google Competition Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17153067508819943005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3669588780142735552.post-8140258092055921762012-01-11T14:20:00.003-05:002012-01-12T15:08:13.678-05:00Consumers and Analysts on Google’s Search Plus Your World<div style="background-color: transparent; "><div style="text-align: left;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.30467339139431715" style="font-weight: normal;"><p dir="ltr" style="text-align: center; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“It’s About Time”; “It’s a Great Product” that “Gives Users Control”; </span></p></b></div><b id="internal-source-marker_0.30467339139431715" style="font-weight: normal; "><p dir="ltr" style="text-align: center; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google Had No Choice” Since “Social Is the Future”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Analysts: Search Plus Your World “A Great Product And Represents a Very Important Milestone in Search; “R</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">emember That...Years Ago, Image and Shopping and News Results Were Not Included in the Basic Web Search, Either”</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2012/01/11/googles-new-social-search-how-far-can-you-trust-it/"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Rocky Agrawal, VentureBeat, January 11, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">People have been doing a form of social search in a very inefficient way by using Facebook status updates to pose questions to friends. . . . With SPYW, Google automates this process and makes it instantaneous.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> Instead of relying on users to actively respond to my request, I get access to all of the previous activity they’ve shared. If a second- or third-degree friend shares content about a topic, I instantly have access to it. </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Think of it as word-of-mouth on steroids. . . . SPYW is a great product and represents a very important milestone in search.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Search-Engines/Google-Social-Network-Used-to-Make-Search-Personal-580944/"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Clint Boulton, eWeek, January 10, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google finally managed to fashion a credible social search solution</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, using its Google+ network to include Picasa photos, posts and other personalized content in users' search results...T</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">he </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">new feature</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> is a way to combat the "faceless Web" problem</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> of highly impersonal search results Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and the rest of the search vendors have provided for the last decade and a half.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://paidcontent.org/article/419-google-shakes-up-search-results-with-new-your-world-feature/"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Jeff Roberts, paidContent.org, January 10, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“From a design perspective, the product looks good. . . . The product also </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">makes sense from a conceptual point of view. People value Google’s all-powerful search algorithm and will likely enjoy applying it to their own online lives.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> ”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://searchengineland.com/googles-results-get-more-personal-with-search-plus-your-world-107285"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Danny Sullivan, Search Engine Land, January 10, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Overall, I like the integration that allows for searching through private and public material. As I’ve said, </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">I think many people will find it useful.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">”</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2012/01/10/google-search-plus/"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Jolie O’Dell, Venture Beat, January 10, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“If you, like your curmudgeonly correspondent here, bristle at the thought of yet another change to what was once a simple, beautiful product, </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">remember that short months and years ago, image and shopping and news results were not included in the basic web search, either.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://www.webpronews.com/google-search-plus-your-world-may-draw-ftc-complaint-2012-01"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Chris Crum, WebProNews, January 11, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Part of the reason I use multiple products from Google is because I expect there to be integration. </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">It’s often disappointing when that integration is lacking. It makes things less usable. </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">If I’m signed in to my Google account, I want easy access to content that’s related to my Google account.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> If I want things from Facebook or Twitter, I know where to look.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Personalization Is “Holy Grail of Web Search”; “Social Is the Future”; “For Google To Ignore This Reality Would Be Catastrophic”; Google Would Risk “Being Shunted Aside”</span><br /><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-57356989-264/google-in-search-google-had-no-choice/"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Stephen Shankland, CNET, January 11, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“But Google had no choice [to personalize its search results]. . . . </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google can't simply ignore social information. Because -- perhaps you may have noticed -- social connections are a force that's rebuilding the Internet. . . . </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">For Google to ignore this reality would be catastrophic.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> The first thing that would happen is that genuinely useful search results would be missing, degrading the quality of Google's prime business. Second, because people will seek out socially influenced information, its absence from Google would lead people to search for it elsewhere.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/01/10/google-search-changes/"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Miguel Helft, Fortune, January 10, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">This kind of personalization has long seen as a holy grail of Web search</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. Facebook has been working with Microsoft to allow that company's search engine, Bing, to surface more personalized content. And the Facebook platform has allowed countless services, like Yelp, Pandora and Spotify, to become more personal by showing users content that is relevant to their Facebook friends.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/google-adds-posts-from-its-social-network-to-search-results/"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Claire Cain Miller, New York Times, January 10, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google excels at responding to search queries with links to Web pages, but those have become old-fashioned.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> These days, the company has concluded, Internet users increasingly want to find conversations and photos posted by their friends on the social Web. . . . </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google has risked being shunted aside for failing to get on board with the social Web</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2012/01/gpsf/"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Mike Isaac, Wired, January 10, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“And as users flocked to the [social] platform, a different kind of search evolved. It was a search based on items which users didn’t even know they wanted.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> Facebook begat “likes,” a way of notifying others that you like (or are at the very least interested in) something. ‘Likes’ spread fast, and liking became another way to find new and relevant content from friends. </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And as Facebook widened its reach over time, Google fell further and further behind.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://richoakley.com/post/15664881511/in-defense-of-google-and-more-importantly-the-user"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Rich Oakley, Entrepreneur, January 11, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“The truth is, though, that the functionality is awesome. We all know very well that social context is the next revolution in web search, and </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">for Google to ignore that would be their downfall</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/11/2699113/mg-sieglers-bias-against-google-is-seriously-pissing-me-off"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Okung Nyo, The Verge, January 11, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Social is the future, and sooner or later Google was going to </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">have</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> to integrate Google+ into search</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, just as they have done with Gmail, Reader, aka any other Google service. It was only a matter of time. </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">There was no alternative choice, other than to pray that technology won't evolve...Telling Google not to integrate Google+ into search would be like telling Apple not to use iOS to promote its Newsstand platform</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> or its social iMessage messenger, or Microsoft not to use Windows to promote Bing.”</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Search Plus Your World “Leaves the User in Control,” “A Big Step In Terms of Transparency and Control,” Makes It “So Easy to Flip Back and Forth” Between Settings; “Google Might Have Popped the Filter Bubble”</span><br /><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/they_did_it_google_personalizes_search_it_is_not_e.php"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Jon Mitchell, ReadWriteWeb, January 10, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“[T]he new Google unveiled today </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">leaves the user in control</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">...If you don't want Google+-flavored results, just switch to global mode. You can even turn off personalized search altogether. </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">I expect that social search will be better in some cases and worse in others. It's great to have the option. . . .Today's update shows good faith. Google has given its users control.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2012/01/google-filter-bubble/"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Eli Pariser, Author of “The Filter Bubble,” Wired, January 10, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“‘</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">It’s definitely a big step in terms of transparency and control. It’s kind of awesome to see them do this</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">,’ he told me. . . . [A]t first blush, he says it seemed to really address the concerns he raised in his book. In one fell swoop, </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google might have popped the Filter Bubble.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://techie-buzz.com/tech-news/google-search-personalized-plus.html"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Pallab De, Techie World, January 10, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“While there are plenty of cases where a personalized result will be more relevant, there are plenty of occasions where they will in fact be detrimental. Personalized search often creates a myopic world where new and useful information is buried beneath the familiar and old. . . . </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Fortunately, Google also realizes this. For the first time ever, it will be really easy to opt out of personalized and social search. With the click of a button you will be able to toggle between global results and your personal results</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, on a query to query basis. You will be able to see and judge the pros and cons of personalized search for yourself.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/01/googles-new-search-plus-your-world-shows-difficulty-of-managing-two-missions/251169/"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Alexis Madrigal, The Atlantic, January 10, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“T</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">here are some excellent new things about the design of the new personal search results.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> For one, Google added a toggle to the upper right corner of the search page that allows you to switch between global results and your personal set of results. That's a nice way to opt-out on a case-by-case basis and lets us maintain something like a universally legible Internet. </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">They also added a blanket opt-out to the new personal search results, which is commendable as well.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://www.fiercecontentmanagement.com/story/google-adds-controversial-social-search-integration/2012-01-10"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Ron Miller, Fierce Content Management, January 11, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">[I]t seems to me that Google has come to a reasonable compromise here. You can incorporate the personal content if you wish, but you can keep it hidden as well.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> One of the design problems Google faced was finding a way to keep the results from getting too cluttered and this approach certainly achieves that.”</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Consumers: Search Plus Your World “Beneficial to Users;” “A Good Move In the Right Direction”; “It’s About Time” “My Mind is Blown...Amazing”</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://thenextweb.com/google/2012/01/10/google-search-just-got-whole-lot-more-social-with-google-features-and-more/"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Adam Kubalica, comment on The Next Web, January 10, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“I prefer knowing about something from my friends than from anybody else in the first place, so it's great move and a natural one.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://mashable.com/2012/01/10/google-launches-social-search/#comment-17935371"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">t_ornjira, comment on Mashable, January 10, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“‘Search Across Your World’ Making the most of its resources. Beneficial to users by enlarging search results and fair enough to them in term of their privacy.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://mashable.com/2012/01/10/google-launches-social-search/#comment-17935391"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Zsolt Ciznadia, comment on Mashable, January 10, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“A good move in the right direction.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://mashable.com/2012/01/10/google-launches-social-search/#comment-17935401"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">bethbeck, comment on Mashable, January 10, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Now I’m glad I got involved with Google+ early. Being about to query (search) my social network, along with the larger whole of online data, makes social networking even more valuable. Thanks for sharing!!”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://www.screenwerk.com/2012/01/10/googles-new-plus-personalization-how-will-it-affect-local/#comment-123836"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Stephen, comment on Screenwerk, January 10, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“If you think about it, it is great for local companies because, if someone is searching for their service they will pop up on the listings if the person searching is close to the business. Especially, if someone in the searchers circle has +1 that company.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/AndrewGirdwood/status/157131753620910080"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">@AndrewGirdwood, Tweet, January 11, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Really enjoying playing with Search plus Your World so far. It feels good. Natural and yet connected.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/patrickaltoft/status/157155031911628800"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">@patrickaltoft, Tweet, January 11, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Just tried Google Search plus Your World & my mind is blown. Amazing.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/EmilyatPegasus/status/157108820592697344"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">@EmilyatPegasus, Tweet, January 11, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Trying out Search Plus Your World. Gotta admit, when Google goes social, I'm usually not a fan - but they hit the mark on this one.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://www.zdnet.com/blog/networking/google-search-this-time-its-personal/1885"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, ZDNet, January 11, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">As for me, I’ll be using Personal search from here on out as my default. I’m already finding it darn useful. If you’re also already a Google+ user, I think you will too.”</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Search Experts: Social Signals Will “Improv[e] the Relevancy of Results” and “Add Extra Depth” to Search</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/8646-google-search-plus-your-world-the-experts-view"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Kevin Gibbons, Founder of SEOptimise, eConsultancy, January 11, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">I think this update is more about Google improving the relevancy of results via a more personalised search experience.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> There was an interesting study by Nielsen a couple of years ago, and this stated that 42% of people trust search engine results, while a huge 90% trust recommendations from people they know. </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">In my opinion that is the biggest threat social media/search brings to Google, the ability to provide personal recommendations.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> So it's clear that this is something they have to get better at if they want to retain such a dominant market share in the long-term.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/8646-google-search-plus-your-world-the-experts-view"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Andrew Girdwood, Media Innovations Director at Bigmouthmedia, eConsultancy, January 11, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“I’m excited by Search plus Your World. The video teaser was tantalising in that it sketched a picture but we’re yet to see exactly how Search+ will work. This is such a potentially big change to Google that it is frustrating that we cannot yet examine every atomic detail. </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Search plus Your World looks like a Google I would like to use.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> I really hope it works well with real time. Friends are best for news curation and breaking news needs real time. </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Search+ also adds extra depth to Universal Search. It’s all well and good search returning pictures of products but better to have pictures of products and holiday scenes with a social context.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Bing Has Had a Longstanding Partnership to Use Facebook Data,” But Social Network Content Has Been “Basically... A Black Hole” for Google</span><br /><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/10/google-fuses-google-into-search-and-there-are-bigger-changes-afoot/"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Jason Kincaid, TechCrunch, January 10, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“The idea of integration social with search isn’t unique to Google, either — </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Bing has had a longstanding partnership to use Facebook data in its results</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, and it will also serve up posts your friends have shared alongside its search results.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://allthingsd.com/20120110/google-embeds-social-directly-into-search-but-by-social-it-means-google/"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Liz Gannes, All Things D, January 10, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The content created by users of Facebook, Twitter and other social networks is mostly inaccessible to search </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">— due to privacy settings, limited real-time APIs and competitive reasons. </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Posts on social networks basically go into a black hole</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, save for a few efforts like Bing’s Facebook integration.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2012/01/gpsf/"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Mike Isaac, Wired, January 10, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google and Facebook made headlines last year after Google alluded to issues with indexing Facebook users’ individual profile data for Google’s search results. In vague terms, </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google search seemed limited in how much Facebook data it was privy to. And in an age where social sharing has grown far more relevant than ever before, that’s a huge chunk of pertinent information.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21542677"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The Economist, January 11, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">[Google’s] desire to give search a more social flavour is a response to the rise of Facebook, which is encouraging people to find information via their network of online friends.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> Many people expect the giant social network, which has some 800m active users compared with Google+’s 65m, to push even further into Google’s search stronghold in future. . . . </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Facebook, in particular, has been determined to keep most of the rich data it is gathering about its users out of competitors’ clutches. </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And although Twitter may squawk about Google’s behaviour, it, too, has been reluctant to share more information with a rival.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://techliberation.com/2012/01/12/feds-should-stay-out-of-googletwitter-social-search-antitrust-spat/"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Berin Szoka, Geoff Manne & Ryan Radia, The Technology Liberation Front, January 12, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">If you were CEO of Twitter or Facebook, would you really think it was a net-win if your users could use Google search as an interface for your site?</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. . . . Would Facebook really want to let Google become the tool for searching social networks—one social search engine “to rule them all“? </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Or would Facebook prefer to continue developing “social search” in partnership with Bing?</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> On Bing, it can control how its content appears—and Facebook sees Microsoft as a partner, not a rival (at least until it can build its own search functionality inside the web’s hottest property). . . . </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">It’s simply not clear that Google’s rivals would even want to participate in SPYW</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.”</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Twitter Is “Every Bit As Accessible As Before”; “Nothing [Has] Changed” “People Will Not Find it Harder to Discover Things From Twitter”</span><br /><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57356476-93/twitter-to-google-you-broke-the-internet/"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Elinor Mills, CNET, January 10, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But it's a bit of a stretch to say Google's new function could make Twitter information harder to find, since it's every bit as accessible as before.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> If anything, Twitter lost much more visibility last July, when its two-year-old deal allowing Google to index and display real-time tweets expired.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="https://plus.sandbox.google.com/u/1/115106448444522478339/posts/2wHFhCQsTsJ"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">AJ Kohn, SEO and Marketer, Google+ post, January 10, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“There might not be crying in baseball but there is certainly whining in technology. </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Be better Twitter. If your Tweets are so amazing and vital to query intent then prove it and develop an awesome search experience that people flock to in droves.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> But asking someone else to take mercy on you because your own product isn't up to snuff? That is wrong. P.S. - Twitter, in case you're confused, Google is not a public service.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://news.softpedia.com/news/Twitter-and-Google-Publicly-Bicker-Over-Google-Integration-in-Search-245773.shtml"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Lucian Parfeni, Softpedia, January 11, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Twitter has some valid concerns, but it does exaggerate a bit. </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">People will not find it harder to discover things from Twitter, nothing changed, the same organic results will be shown and many of them may contain links to Twitter</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, though sometimes lower in the page since personal results will be mixed in.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://www.webpronews.com/google-matt-cutts-search-2012-01"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Chris Crum, WebProNews, January 11, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Surprisingly, even Twitter spoke out against the [Search plus Your World] features, </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">implying that it would somehow reduce access to tweets. I’m still trying to figure out how it would do so, as nothing about Google’s announcement indicates this would be the case.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> This would apply more to Twitter and Google failing to reach an agreement over realtime search last year, but for some reason, Twitter chose this announcement to be the time to bring this up.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="https://plus.sandbox.google.com/105076678694475690385/posts/6K9j9RHA2tC"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Jeff Jarvis, Author of </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">What Would Google Do?</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, Google+ Post, January 11, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Me thinks the platform doth whine too much. </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Twitter: Open up our content to us and to search engines and then if Google doesn't present it you'll have grounds to complain. </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But now, not only can't Google get it but we can't get at what we write. It's API time. Think open. Google has a Data Liberation Front. You need one, too.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://scripting.com/stories/2012/01/11/chutzpah.html"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Dave Winer, Scripting, January 11, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“And it's not surprising either that Twitter is upset, but </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">what is surprising is the sheer chutzpah of Twitter complaining about Google shutting them out after Twitter unilaterally reversed course and put most of their developer community out of business</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> when they announced they wanted to completely own the Twitter client business.”</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Legal Experts: “There Is No Such Evidence” of Anticompetitive Harm; This “Is Not Antitrust”; Not Going to Move the Enforcement Meter Even a Millimeter” </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://truthonthemarket.com/2012/01/10/social-search-efficiencies-of-integration-and-antitrust/"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Joshua Wright, George Mason University School of Law, January 10, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(250, 252, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(250, 252, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Personalizing search results makes (at least some!) users better off.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(250, 252, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> When Google or Facebook or Twitter is able to integrate functions of search and social networking to create something different and demanded by consumers, that consumers enjoy and derive surplus from, </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(250, 252, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">this is a competitive benefit. Competitive benefits count in antitrust because they make consumers better off.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(250, 252, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> This is very basic. But worth repeating. The antitrust question is whether, despite these obvious efficiencies, there is plausible evidence of anticompetitive harm -- that is, harm to competition rather than individual rivals like Bing, Twitter, or Facebook. My personal view -- which I’ve written about at great length </span><a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1577556"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(250, 252, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">here</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(250, 252, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, </span><a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1807951"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(250, 252, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">here</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(250, 252, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, and </span><a href="http://www.laweconcenter.org/images/articles/definingmeasuring.pdf"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(250, 252, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">here</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(250, 252, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> -- is that </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(250, 252, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">there is no such evidence.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(250, 252, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(250, 252, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/google-backlash-after-new-google-search-integration/"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(250, 252, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Mark A. Lemley, </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Director, Stanford Program in Law, Science & Technology, in The New York Times, January 10, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(250, 252, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“It can’t be the rule that if Facebook says no, you can’t search our links, that Google can’t search its own links. </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">That is not antitrust.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthof/2012/01/10/evil-or-not-another-view-of-googles-new-social-search-moves/"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Eric Goldman, Director of High Tech Law Institute, Santa Clara University School of Law, in Forbes, January 10, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“In that sense, Google’s decision to use Google+ signals instead of tweets to provide more relevant, personalized results can be viewed as a buy vs. build decision, and Google made the 'build” choice. </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“It’s a rational economic response to the marketplace, so it could be viewed as pro-competitive,” says Goldman.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> What about Twitter’s complaint? To Goldman, </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">it sounds less like a valid antitrust claim and more like the usual “bitching” of intermediaries</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> -- such as Kayak has done in response to Google’s travel search results–when they’re faced with losing their pole position with consumers.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://techliberation.com/2012/01/12/feds-should-stay-out-of-googletwitter-social-search-antitrust-spat/"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Berin Szoka, Geoff Manne & Ryan Radia, The Technology Liberation Front, January 12, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“In general, as with issues surrounding the vertical integration claims against Google, product design that hurts rivals can (it should be self-evident) be quite beneficial for consumers. </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Here, it’s difficult to see how the exclusion of non-Google+ social media from SPYW could raise the costs of Google’s rivals, result in anticompetitive foreclosure, retard rivals’ incentives for innovation, or otherwise result in anticompetitive effects (as required to establish an antitrust claim).</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marvin-ammori/some-thoughts-on-google-s_b_1200009.html"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Marvin Ammori, Former U. Nebraska Law Professor, Huffington Post, January 11, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">I also don't see the antitrust problem</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. . . . But being a monopoly is not enough -- that is the natural result of having better search results. To be illegal, under leveraging theory as I understand it, </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google would also have to have a "dangerous probability" of monopolization of the new market--social. (Trinko, note 4) No offense to Google, but I just don't see how Google has a dangerous probability of knocking off Facebook in social.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://techliberation.com/2012/01/12/feds-should-stay-out-of-googletwitter-social-search-antitrust-spat/"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Berin Szoka, Geoff Manne & Ryan Radia, The Technology Liberation Front, January 12, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“[I]t’s clear that Facebook and Twitter don’t need access to Google search results at all, much less its relatively trivial SPYW results, in order find, and be found by, users; </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">it’s difficult to know from what even vaguely relevant market they could possibly be foreclosed by their absence from SPYW results.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> Does SPYW potentially help Google+, to Facebook’s detriment? Yes. Just as Facebook’s deal with Microsoft hurts Google. </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But this is called </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">competition</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. The world would be a desolate place if antitrust laws effectively prohibited firms from making decisions that helped themselves at their competitors’ expense.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> After all, no one seems to be suggesting that Microsoft should be forced to include Google+ results in Bing.”</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://www.law360.com/competition/articles/299194/new-google-search-not-anti-competitive-attys-say"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">David Balto, Former FTC Policy Director and Antitrust Attorney, quoted in Law 360, January 11, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“‘</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">This isn't going to move the enforcement meter even a millimeter</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. This kind of integration is something that consumers should cheer for,’ Balto said. . . . Despite the alarm from competitors and consumer advocates, Balto said </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">federal regulators would be unlikely to seriously pursue the complaints because Google was expanding its service without trying to block competitors' products.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> The only threat to Facebook and Twitter is the “good healthy threat” of a competent competitor, Balto said, and the strengthening of Google+ could provide consumers an alternative to Facebook's dominance in the social media sphere.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://www.law360.com/competition/articles/299194/new-google-search-not-anti-competitive-attys-say"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">George A. Hay, Cornell University Law Professor, quoted in Law 360, January 11, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“An antitrust complaint against Google's personalized searches would be a hard sell, according to Cornell University law professor George A. Hay, because a violation would have to lead to a monopoly in social networking — unlikely, given Facebook's dominance — or suppress competition to strengthen its existing dominance over search. ‘</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Monopolizing something is not just having a monopoly; it's doing something bad to gain or maintain that monopoly,’ Hay said. ‘It doesn't look like this is going to do anything to cement their monopoly in search.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">’”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://www.law360.com/competition/articles/299194/new-google-search-not-anti-competitive-attys-say"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Robert Lande, University of Baltimore Law Professor, quoted in Law 360, January 11, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“[F]ederal regulators would be unlikely to seriously pursue the complaints because Google was</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">expanding its service without trying to block competitors' products. ‘</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">It's the difference between a competitor running faster and that competitor throwing a stumbling block in the path of someone running toward the same finish line,</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">’ University of Baltimore law professor Robert Lande said.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Industry Commentators: Competitors’ Complaints Seem “Disingenuous”; “Google Can’t Produce Something It Doesn’t Have”</span><br /><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="https://plus.sandbox.google.com/114753028665775786510/posts/eN7dGpv1iv8"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Lauren Weinstein, Co-Founder of People for Internet Responsibility, January 10, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“When you're logged in to Google, you're not just logged in to Search, but to the the entire array of associated services in which you participate. So it makes a great deal of sense for integration of (for example) G+ postings into search results. </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Given that Twitter and Facebook do not surface their users' postings to Google in a comprehensive manner, complaints that the new service arrangement unfairly favors G+ seem moot.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> The only way such complaints could have any validity would be if those non-Google services made their users' postings available in a manner that would allow Google to treat them equally with G+ for ranking purposes, and then Google unfairly ranked them. </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But under the current situation, where those other services' postings are not generally available to Google, arguing that Google should not provide convenient G+ integration with Search just because the other services haven't wanted to play ball, seems rather disingenuous.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/11/a-google-tempest-in-a-teacup/"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Devin Coldewey, TechCrunch, January 11, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“The [Search, plus Your World] service is incomplete — that’s inarguable. But there is no malevolence to its incompleteness, and </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">I’m not convinced that it’s Google’s responsibility to make it complete. . . . The new search type is a deep search, providing rich data. What rich data does Facebook share? What deep search does Twitter permit? Google can’t produce something it doesn’t have</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, and what it does produce isn’t destructive to search — and if it were so, it can be turned off with a click. The suggestion that people won’t do this is at best poppycock, and at worst — flimflam. . . . Google wants to provide socially-determined search. Facebook and Twitter want you to do that kind of social search within their sites. . . . </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The objectives of these three big billy goats gruff, I said, are at odds, and it won’t do to say that Google </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">should</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> have access to Facebook data, or Twitter </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">shouldn’t</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> be providing recent tweets to display under someone’s handle in search. No one gets priority, because they’re all just companies trying to make a buck.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">”</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2012/01/11/google_can_t_break_anti_trust_laws_because_it_doesn_t_have_a_monopoly.html"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Matthew Yglesias, Slate, January 11, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But raising the spectre of antitrust law in this regard is bound to founder on the fact that there's no monopoly power for Google to be abusing.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> A 65 percent market share in web search is big, but by no means a monopoly. </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And there are basically zero barriers to switching from Google Search to Bing.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> I did it a couple of months ago on my Mobile Safari browsers because Google was annoying me, and there's no discernable quality difference (I use Chrome on my MacBook Air).”</span></p><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2012/01/is-google-a-public-company-or-part-of-the-public-domain.html"><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Frank Reed, Marketing Pilgrim, January 12, 2012</span></a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Why can’t we just get off the bandwagon that Google owes the world something? It gives the world something, it does it well and it is rewarded handsomely for a good service that is needed. . . . If you asked the average guy on the street as to whether or not he gives a rip that Google makes a lot of money providing its service and if they think they should be limited in what they provide as a result, </span><span style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">most would . . . say they will take what they can get for free as long as it works well enough to help them do what they want to do.”</span></p></b></div>Google Competition Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17153067508819943005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3669588780142735552.post-4321666198326674512011-10-24T16:12:00.001-04:002011-10-24T16:12:35.942-04:00Advertisers and Ad Agencies: “Government Regulation of Google...Would be a Disaster for Consumers and Advertisers Alike”<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="background-color: transparent; "><span id="internal-source-marker_0.3950713532976806" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google is “Quite Transparent,” “Has Revolutionized” Small Businesses</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Since the Federal Trade Commission launched its review of Google’s business, advertisers and ad agencies have been weighing in with their thoughts:</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Small Businesses: “Government Involvement...Would Suffocate” the “Ever Changing...Online Advertising Arena”; “The Government Has it All Wrong”</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Ross Twiddy, Director of Marketing, Twiddy (vacation rental company)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Corolla, North Carolina</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“As a small second generation family business on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Google’s advertising system has revolutionized our vacation rental business Even though the Outer Banks of North Carolina is a small area, we’re competing on a national level for summer vacations, and we’re able to host more summer family vacations than ever before. In our experience, I cannot see the logic in government involvement as I believe </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">this would suffocate the resources required for the ever changing and sophisticated online advertising arena</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.” (</span><a href="http://blog.twiddy.com/2011/07/11/ftc-investigates-google-give-me-a-break/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Blog, July 10, 2011</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Kevin Bross, Etrailer.com<br />Wentzville, Missouri</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“No company we have dealt with has ever come close to offering as many resources for improving our business as Google...They offer tools and data that help us to better help our customers. We don't use Google because we have to, we use Google because we want to....Customers don't use Google because they have to, there are many search engines. They want to, because it works.” (</span><a href="http://www.etrailer.com/faq/google-as-business-partner.aspx"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Corporate Blog, August 11, 2011</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Quinn Moo, President, Joy Jewelers</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Torrance, California</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">"Since my firm began advertising with Google in 2002, Google has become increasingly transparent, not less so. There is no reason for the FTC to regulate the paid and organic search results that appear on Google." (Statement, July 25, 2011)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Linzie Venegas, Sales and Marketing Manager, Ideal Shield (industrial parts company)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Detroit, Michigan </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">"Last year, we received over one million advertising impressions on Google, but we only paid when people clicked on our ads. With direct mail, I would have paid for all of those impressions, regardless of whether people opened it or not. With Google, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">we’re not locked in</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> like we would be with a quarterly print ad schedule, even if it's not working for us. And we use Google Analytics to help us design our website and develop our advertising. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">It seems like the government has a lack of knowledge about what Google actually does</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> and how it helps businesses." (Statement, July 29, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Tom Nightingale, VP and Chief Marketing Officer, Con-way (freight and logistics company)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Ann Arbor, Michigan </span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Verdana; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“To say that Google has revolutionized our advertising strategy would be an understatement. To say that Google has abused its power would be entirely inaccurate in my view. In short, Google’s model works, it represents the best of the free market and innovation and </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">as an advertiser and a user myself I certainly don't support any action</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> by the federal government to intervene in Google's business.” (</span><a href="http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110802/BLOGS/110809997/1527/BLOGS"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">BtoB Blog</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, August 2, 2011)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Mark Aistrope, CEO, Meeting Tomorrow (audio-visual service)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Chicago, Illinois</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Based on the early reporting of what’s being alleged I think </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">the government has it all wrong</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">...Google, more than any other company I know, has helped drive measurable productivity gains in the US economy and around the world, allowing companies to do more with less, and grow and create jobs. Google is a productivity multiplier for Meeting Tomorrow—both as advertiser and as search users. Google ads provides us with the most efficient and cost-effective way that I know of to reach customers in the market for our services. Google allows us to </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">stretch our marketing dollars farther</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> than any other advertising medium or other means of acquiring customers.” (</span><a href="http://www.meetingtomorrow.com/blog/gvus"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Blog, July 25, 2011</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Rich Craig, Owner Rent-A-Relic (rental car company)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Oakland, California</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">"The rental car industry is dominated by large corporations, and while Rent-A-Relic has been able to compete by providing good value and great service, it has sometimes been difficult to break through in our advertising. Then I started a Google AdWords pay-per-click campaign and the playing field has really leveled out. I know that more new customers are willing to contact us and eventually rent cars from us because our pay-per-click listing is similar to the listings for the national brands. Given how well it's worked for my business, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">I certainly don't see any problems here that the government needs to address</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">." (Statement, July 27, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Cheryl Richardson, Chief Operating Officer, Concept To Promotion (marketing services company)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Benton Harbor, Michigan</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“I own a small business in a small town, and Google AdWords has allowed me to expand my reach to large corporate customers. The success of Google advertising is due to the incredible metrics and the ability for advertisers to choose their level of online participation and at what costs. You can't get that with print ads! This is fair business at its finest, and regulation is not needed.” (Statement, July 27, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Louis Green, President and CEO, Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Detroit, Michigan</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google has been an amazing partner in </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">maximizing the competitiveness of minority businesses</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> and in leveling the playing field for small business owners. The success they have enabled in the communities we serve has transformed companies, neighborhood, careers and lives. Google is a success enabler, and </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">I don’t think the federal government needs to do anything about that except get out of the way</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Rich Masterson, Chairman, CampaignGrid (online ad platform for candidates and causes)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Fort Washington, Pennsylvania</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“The fact that Google has become a worldwide leader should not make us feel threatened; it should make us feel proud. Our Government would do well to think about ways of </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">encouraging success stories like Google</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, not spend taxpayer money on multi year investigations into something as innocuous as advertising. Consumers and advertisers have a choice and if Google violates the trust of either then the market will respond accordingly and it will require neither years of investigation or the using precious taxpayer funds of a country already overburdened with national debt.” (</span><a href="http://www.campaigngrid.com/_blog/Our_Blog/post/On_Privacy/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Blog Post, July 15, 2011</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Lance Trebesch, the CEO of the BBB Accredited TicketPrinting.com and Ticket River, Harlowton, Montana</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google is actually making it possible to compete on a national or global scale, even if you are, for instance, a small online printing company in a tiny town in Montana. [...] In this sense, Google is not only empowering to small businesses, but also to the shoppers who patronize those businesses. Anyone who has ever said, “I don’t have the time to go out and shop; I’ll just get it online,” knows how liberating this model is. This global marketplace allows savvy consumers to find lower prices while searching an almost limitless selection of goods. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google is great for consumers, great for businesses, and overall, great for the economy</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.” (</span><a href="http://www.bbb.org/blog/2011/10/without-google-i-would-be-stuck-in-harlowton/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Better Business Bureau Blog</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, October 20, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Mike Grehan, Incisive Media</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">New York, NY</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“You have no more right to rank at Google than the billions of other pages on the web. And yet some people possess a bet-the-farm mentality when they secure a top rank on Google's search results page and then whine when they lose it. [...]</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“And I'd far rather they [Google] were working on the ranking algorithm with the vastly superior knowledge they have of information retrieval on the web. Far more than I'd have some government senator who has no idea what a meta tag is, let alone a hyperlink based algorithm, sticking his nose in where, to be honest, it's </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">not really wanted and not really necessary</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.” (</span><a href="http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2115721/Should-the-Government-Decide-Where-You-Rank-at-Google"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Search Engine Watch</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, October 10, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Rob Garner, VP, iCrossing</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">New York, NY</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">I would make the case that the right to create an algorithm is also a free-speech issue</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, right up there with the free speech rights of equal network access. Imagine if it was suggested that every </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">New York Time</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">s article was approved by an oversight committee. [...]</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Yes, Google does wield a </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">tremendous</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> amount of power. Yes, there is only one #1 result. Yes, some marketers have highly flawed business strategies that rely on Google natural search results exclusively. Yes, Google and </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">all</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> search engines are biased by design. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Government regulation of an algorithm will not change any of this</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.” (</span><a href="http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/160342/does-senator-franken-and-the-ftc-really-want.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Search Insider</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, October 12, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Ad Agencies: “If Google Screws Up, It Will Lose Advertisers’ Business in a Heartbeat”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Robert Murray, Global CEO, iProspect (digital marketing agency)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Boston, Massachusetts</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">"Our firm helps businesses large and small manage their search advertising campaigns, and based on our experience </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">we just don't see the need for the federal government to get involved</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> in policing search or online advertising. The online advertising space is dynamic and highly competitive -- with new formats like mobile and social competing for advertisers' attention -- and if Google screws up, it will lose advertisers' business in a heartbeat." (Statement, June 22, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Nick Shah, Co-Founder & CEO, Ampush Media</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">San Francisco, CA</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“We use Google’s search advertising tools as well as other internet advertising platforms to identify consumers who are interested in furthering their education on behalf of our university clients. Instead of Google fixing a price for valuable search queries, Google designed an auction process where the advertisers set the price; Google’s ability to engage in monopolistic price gouging is eliminated through this system design. Google also allows smaller, newer advertisers to compete on the same playing field as large, established advertisers. Google’s products and services do a lot to facilitate competition in many industries including education marketing, and there are many other high-flying media & technology companies that compete pretty squarely with Google. Depending on the outcome, the FTC investigation could potentially hurt competition in the internet advertising industry by handcuffing one of the many important players. I hope that does not happen. I’d prefer to see a fair fight.” (Statement, August 22, 2011)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Search Advertising Agencies: “No Antitrust Case...Due to the Way Pricing is Set...in Paid Search”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Craig Macdonald, Chief Marketing Officer, Covario (online advertising agency)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">San Diego, California</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“[Google is] </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">quite transparent when it comes to how they determine Quality Score</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, and advertisers who do not benefit from this understanding either have not put in the work, or are simply unhappy with the result (they are bidding on irrelevant keywords, which hurts quality score, which raises price – those are the publicized rules of the auction – play or don’t play)....Our position then, as it is now, is that </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">there is no antitrust case in paid search due to the way pricing is set in the market for paid search keywords</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.[…] Google provides a service to the market – it </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">organizes information more efficiently than anyone else</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> out there right now, and makes it available to consumers and to advertisers. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And they should be allowed to do so unfettered.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">” (</span><a href="http://multichannelmerchant.com/ecommerce/news/google-antitrust-advertisers-covario-0627tpp4/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Multichannel Merchant, June 27, 2011</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">George Michie, CEO, Rimm-Kaufman Group (search marketing agency)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Charlottesville, Virginia</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Government regulation of Google or the search industry would be a disaster for consumers and advertisers alike</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. Legislating organic search algorithms would destroy the incentives to innovate, and is completely unnecessary as Google's incentive is to provide results that the users want. If Google fails in that, users are one click away from a different search experience with a different engine. The notion that somehow advertisers are hostages to Google </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">is also absurd</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. There is an ever expanding array of advertising opportunities online and off; Google has grown to be a major player precisely because the advertising works so well for both advertisers and consumers. Moreover, advertisers have complete flexibility in how they buy advertising from Google. Advertisers determine how much they are willing to spend for each click on each ad. The price is not set by Google, it is set by the advertiser. Google is a platform on which advertisers compete with each other. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">May the best companies win and may government stay out of the way!</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">” (Statement, July 15, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Industry Experts: “If No Consumers Are Harmed,” What’s the Problem?</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Chris Boggs, President, Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization (SEMPO) and Director of Search and Media Thought Leadership, Rosetta</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">"It's no exaggeration to say that Google's innovations in search advertising have led to the growth of the search engine marketing industry, which today employs thousands of individuals. It's distressing to see some of Google's competitors paint a negative picture of Google, since the Google that I know has created job and economic opportunities for thousands of search advertising experts. I'm concerned by the notion that the Federal Trade Commission might use its investigation of Google to regulate search results or search advertising, especially if they don’t fully understand the industry and the current state of the ecosystem’s evolution.While I may not agree with everything that Google does, I think it would set a terrible precedent and hinder growth if the government were to start messing with Internet content. We have seen this happen in other nations, quickly resulting in international uproar and claims of unwarranted censorship. I encourage everyone in the digital marketing industry to stand with Google – mostly because I believe in the right of any publisher to determine what ii places on its Web site, and to develop a competitive free market advertising solution to cater to its visitors. If Google can be “told” what to do, who’s to say that the next step isn’t me having to send my blog posts by government regulatory team prior to publishing them." (Statement, September 26, 2011)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Robert Barocci, President, Advertising Research Foundation</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“As advertising researchers, we look at the media environment and consumer media behavior - how people use online and traditional communications – and ad effectiveness. Adjusting for quality, as Google and nearly all search engines do, adds relevance, so that consumers see ads that best match their interests – a key to effective advertising. Google and its competitors include nearly all discoverable sites in their organic results for free, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">they do not force advertisers to pay for exposure as paid media requires</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. As I’m writing, proliferating media options for consumers and advertisers, such as social media and mobile communications, are changing the search marketplace through market forces, empowering anyone to locate and share information of all types for their friends, family, colleagues and strangers, perhaps providing the most relevant search results. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">In our view, antitrust review and action appears unnecessary, irrelevant to consumers, and potentially stifling of innovation in media and society</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.” (Statement, August 23, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Joe Rosenbaum, Board Member, Interactive Advertising Bureau</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“At the end of the day, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">if consumers aren’t harmed, if no unfair competition has occurred</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, if no barriers to entry exist, and if no control is exercised because of dominant position—the question we must all ask is whether the government is simply targeting each 800-pound gorilla in each decade, or whether some wrong must be set right.” (</span><a href="http://www.legalbytes.com/2011/06/articles/imho/google-and-the-ftc/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Legal Bytes Blog, June 30, 2011</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p></div></span>Google Competition Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17153067508819943005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3669588780142735552.post-56551502615016445632011-09-22T12:57:00.000-04:002011-09-22T12:58:51.703-04:00U.S. Senators On Google: “A Great American Success Story"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="background-color: transparent; "><span id="internal-source-marker_0.37746932823210955" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">A “Positive Force” Toward Small Businesses; Search Regulation Would “Impede Innovation, Entrepreneurship [and] Economic Recovery”</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Here’s what U.S. Senators had to say about Google at Wednesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee </span><a href="http://www.c-span.org/Events/Google-Exec-Testifies-Before-Congress/10737424248/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Hearing</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">:</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google is “a great American success story” and a “standard for innovation”</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“[Google] has become </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">an emblem for success</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> in the new economy... Whether it is Gmail, Google Books, YouTube, or Google Travel, few companies have invested as much money and creative energy in online ventures - both successes and failures - to improve the online experience, as Google.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“What a tremendous success story Google is, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">a great American success story</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, a great consumer success story.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Senator Al Franken (D-Minnesota)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“I want to start out by saying that I love -- I love Google, and I said that the last time Google was here in front of my subcommittee, but I think it bears repeating. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google has utterly transformed the way we locate and use information.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> And I have a feeling that Google is going to continue to be among those setting the </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">standard for innovation</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> in this country for decades to come.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google and its competitors are </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">building the infrastructure of the future economy</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> and it's critical that technological growth </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">not be unfairly constrained</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. That's how all markets work, but particularly in this area where innovation really matters and things change quickly.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google is “a positive force” and “pretty good” toward small technology companies</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“And every six months or so, I meet with some of the leading high -- the CEOs of the high-tech companies in New York, the growing -- the little ones... And I asked them, "What do you think of Google"? It was off the record... </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Four-fifths of them said Google is a positive force</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, much more positive than most of the other large companies they deal with. They said, "It helps us more than it hurts us." Their words, the consensus was... "</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google is actually pretty good</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. We don't see them as rapacious."</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google did a very good event in Minnesota. They </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">reached out to some of our small businesses</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> and helped them to set up websites, which was helpful. So I know that there's legitimate work being done with the small businesses.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Further regulation may be “burdensome” and will “impede innovation, entrepreneurship... [and] economic recovery”</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wisconsin)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“We recognize the </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">incredible technological achievements</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> of Google and the need to </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">avoid stifling its creative energy</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“[Other Iowans] are extremely supportive of Google's products and services. They're concerned that the federal government is being overly aggressive and will place burdensome regulations on a company that is creating good jobs and innovative consumer tools. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">We should not be penalizing successful companies that are innovating, providing cost-effective and productive services, and creating jobs</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“[One Iowan] wrote that, quote, ‘further restrictions on successful businesses like Google are the surest way </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">to impede innovation, entrepreneurship, ultimately threatening any sustainable economic recovery</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">’?”</span></p></div></span>Google Competition Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17153067508819943005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3669588780142735552.post-9387667963770292262011-09-22T09:21:00.004-04:002011-09-26T17:42:37.467-04:00Commentators on the Senate Judiciary Google Hearing<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="background-color: transparent; "><span id="internal-source-marker_0.44519883138127625" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Schmidt “Responsive and Deferential”, Had “The More Convincing Argument”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Here’s what independent journalists and commentators are saying about Wednesday’s Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on Google: </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Schmidt Was “Prepared and At Ease”, “Responsive and Deferential”, “Calm and Cool”; “Has the More Convincing Argument”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">AdWeek</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“None of the senators were able to lay a glove on him or his company, and...he avoided making any major mistakes, and </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">came off as prepared and at ease</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.” (</span><a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/googles-schmidt-gets-easy-senate-testimony-135023"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">AdWeek</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">San Jose Mercury News</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“For the most part, Schmidt </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">appeared calm and cool</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> as he fielded questions, and he argued that Google isn't using its dominance in search to stifle competitors. He also </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">avoided sounding arrogant, smug or pedantic</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> in explaining Google's business -- traits that seemed to trip up Microsoft founder Bill Gates when he testified before Congress in 1998.” (</span><a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_18947932"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Mercury News</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Wall Street Journal</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Schmidt...</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">emerged mostly unscathed</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> from the company's most dramatic confrontation with Washington in its 13-year existence.” (</span><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903791504576584791155834386.html#ixzz1YeKSsiET"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Wall Street Journal</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Colin Gillis, Analyst, BGC Partners </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br />“Gillis said...some of the senators were ‘gunning hard’ for Google but </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Schmidt handled himself professionally</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.” </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(41, 39, 39); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">(</span><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-google-hearingtre78k41y-20110921,0,3688435.story"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Reuters</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(41, 39, 39); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">National Journal</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt put on </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">a show of confidence</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> on Wednesday before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee, giving excruciating details of competitors from Yelp to Bing in testimony aimed at persuading lawmakers that the company is open, honest, and impossible to indict.” (</span><a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/google-s-schmidt-puts-up-confident-front-to-senate-panel-20110921"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">National Journal</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Reihan Salam, National Review Online</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Schmidt...emphasized the many ways in which the environment in which operates is different from the world of the 1990s...I think that </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Schmidt has the more convincing argument</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.” (</span><a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/agenda/277968/jerry-brito-google-executive-chairman-eric-schmidts-congressional-senate-testimony-rei#"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">National Review Online</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Randy Picker, Univ. of Chicago Law School</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“There was no meltdown there. Schmidt was </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">responsive and deferential</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Soft-spoken; disagreed when he needed to</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.” (</span><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/randypicker/status/116597466966667264"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Twitter</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Jeff Roberts, Paid Content</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(25, 25, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“While the dust is yet to settle, it is clear that </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(25, 25, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google held its own</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(25, 25, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. Schmidt did not make any unforced errors and so the company came away from Washington as well as it could have hoped.” (</span><a href="http://paidcontent.org/article/419-your-guide-to-todays-google-grilling/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">PaidContent)</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(25, 25, 25); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Greg Sterling, Search Engine Land</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google’s Eric Schmidt, the first witness, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">came off better than most of the senators questioning him</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. One of his major themes was that Google creates jobs and economic value and regulation might impair job creation in the future...However mostly people spoke in slogans (“level the playing field”) and generalities. Nobody suggested that Google should be banned from placing its own content on [search engine results pages] or that it should loose control over the layout and content on the page.” (</span><a href="http://searchengineland.com/google-hearings-the-post-game-show-93807?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=feed-main"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Search Engine Land</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Charles Cooper, CBS News</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Then again, the odds were stacked almost entirely in favor of Schmidt, who had the easy advantage in brainpower, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">facility with the subject matter and, ultimately, cool</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. Schmidt, sounding often like a geeky version of Casey Stengel, calmly responded to simple - honestly, sometimes simple-minded - questions with winding, coast-to-coast explanations that left his interlocutors with their eyes glazed over.” (</span><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/21/scitech/main20109671.shtml"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">CBS News</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Schmidt “Avoided a Gates-Like Disaster”; “At Every Turn...Message Seemed to Be: We’re Nothing Like Microsoft”</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">CNET</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Schmidt </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">avoids a Gates-like disaster in D.C</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">...</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">He held his own against what appeared to several skeptical lawmakers.” (</span><a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20109850-261/schmidt-google-doesnt-cook-search-rankings/#ixzz1YdbcSdO1"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">CNET</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">) </span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Roger Kay, Analyst, Forbes</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“[Schmidt’s] smoothness under congressional fire </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">contrasted glaringly with the prickly way</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> Gates handled himself in 1998...He made several references to Microsoft, both as a competitor and as a company that had itself been in the anti-trust hot seat more than a decade earlier. Essentially, he said, we are not like them.” (</span><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerkay/2011/09/26/mister-schmidt-goes-to-washington/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Forbes</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">New York Times</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“After Mr. Schmidt said that he agreed that Google could do a better job describing the changes it makes to its algorithm, Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, said he </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">appreciated Google’s willingness to change</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> and that it was different from Microsoft. (</span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/22/technology/google-takes-the-hot-seat-in-washington.html?_r=1"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">New York Times</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, Sept. 21, 2011)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(41, 39, 39); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Time Magazine - Techland</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(41, 39, 39); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“At every turn, Schmidt's message seemed to be: </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">We're nothing like Microsoft</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">....In the end, Schmidt seems to have faced the grilling as best as he could: </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Polite, deferential</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, but pushing back firmly when he had to.” (</span><a href="http://techland.time.com/2011/09/21/eric-schmidt-to-senators-google-is-nothing-like-microsoft/#ixzz1YeND3Pma"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Time</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Melissa Maxman, Antitrust Attorney, Cozen O’Connor</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Maxman said that was a good tone for Schmidt to hit. ‘It's the smart way to present it because the Microsoft inquiry didn't go all that well.’” (</span><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2011-09-21/google-eric-schmidt-senate-hearing/50501988/1"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">USA Today</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Critics “Failed to Establish that Google Has Harmed Competition”, “Found No Evidence of Google Antitrust Violations”, “Flat Out Lied”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Eric Goldman, Santa Clara Law School</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“The most noteworthy thing is what didn't happen. The senators, obviously amply aided by Google critics, apparently </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">have not found any smoking gun evidence of Google antitrust violations</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, just like all of the other Google critics have failed to do. “ (Politico Pro)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Keith Hylton, Boston University Law School</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“But some legal observers said that rivals have so far f</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">ailed to establish</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> that Google has harmed competition rather than just competitors. ‘</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">At this stage, all we know is that some rival firms have suffered as a result of Google's practices</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">,’ said Keith Hylton, an antitrust expert at Boston University's School of Law. ‘But that doesn't tell us whether consumers have been harmed in any way.’” (</span><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903791504576584791155834386.html#ixzz1YeKSsiET"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Wall Street Journal</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Tom Tobin, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Some of the complaints were </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">puzzling</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, as they dealt with Google’s supposedly agnostic listing of seach findings.” (</span><a href="http://blogs.democratandchronicle.com/business/2011/09/22/google-on-the-carpet/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Rochester Democrat and Chronicle</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">John C. Dvorak, PC Magazine</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Seriously, if we are going to go after Google for playing dirty, let's nab it for something other than the fact that </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">its search engine is doing its actual job</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. I want to remind people that sites unwillingly crawled </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">can simply add some text to the code</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. The stop-the-bot text will prevent a Google bot from reading the page. It seems to work and there are plenty of black sites all over the net that Google does not index...Like any other big company, no matter what the motto, you can be sure Google aggravates someone. The complaint that the company is shuttling search results to its own sites seems bogus. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Let's find something real to complain about</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.” (</span><a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2393435,00.asp#fbid=2tMrrUR_fuB"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">PCMag.com</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Stacey Higginbotham, GigaOM</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“I’m not sure I can buy into the gatekeeper idea as a reason for Washington to intervene. I</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">f consumers can switch easily to a new search engine, Congress getting involved makes it seem like we are in danger of becoming a nanny state</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> to protect specific business interests. And that makes me nervous...In fact, the biggest elephant in the room was a </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">clash of cultures</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> between the Silicon Valley culture of the free market — and using technology to create a better consumer experience — and Washington D.C.’s inherent cynicism and pandering to constituents.” (</span><a href="http://gigaom.com/2011/09/21/congress-doesnt-get-google-it-doesnt-get-congress/%20"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">GigaOM</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Frank Reed, Marketing Pilgrim</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Nobody owes anybody anything in any of this</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. Companies like NexTag, Yelp and even Microsoft, however, are parading out under the banner of “Representing the Commoners” when all they really look like in the end is the guy who thinks that he should have had Google’s ideas and success rather than the version he has. And they feel that, as a result, the search engine owes them something. That’s just whiney and lame especially coming from companies that have benefited greatly from Google’s search engine to this point.” (</span><a href="http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2011/09/google-enables-showtime-for-quite-a-cast-of-characters-opinion.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Marketing Pilgrim</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Mike Masnick, TechDirt</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“The </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">most ridiculous testimony</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> came from Thomas Barnett, a lawyer for Covington & Burling, who was representing a bunch of Google competitors who put together an operation called FairSearch. When asked about whether or not Google was a monopoly player, Barnett </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">flat out lied</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, claiming that Google is dominant and can't be unseated ‘because it got there first.’” </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">(</span><a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110921/14190816043/how-quickly-we-forget-googles-competitors-falsely-claim-google-dominates-because-it-was-first.shtml"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">TechDirt</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, Sept. 21, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Matthew Ingram, GigaOM</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Everyone likes to beat up on large companies...but being big is not illegal, and no one (or at least no one credible) seems to be arguing that Google achieved its market size through nefarious means. And simply being unfair to competitors isn’t against the law either. That leaves it to the government to prove that the company is somehow harming consumers by its behavior, and </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">that is going to be a very difficult case to make</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.” (</span><a href="http://gigaom.com/2011/09/22/whether-google-is-a-monopoly-isnt-the-point/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">GigaOM</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Matt McGee, Search Engine Land</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“I don't have a problem at all with Google showing its own properties (like Google Maps, Google News, etc.) in search results. Of course it does. The analogy that's been made is a good one, I think: We don't demand that the NY Times show articles on its front page from USA Today or the Wall Street Journal, so why should Google have to show other companies' properties ahead of its own?” (</span><a href="http://sphinn.com/story/223785"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Sphinn</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Hearings “A Kind of Theater,” “Seemed Pretty Misguided”; Lack of Independent Witnesses “Is a Critical Flaw”; “People Seemed to Be Making a Big Deal Out of Nothing”</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Greg Sterling, Search Engine Land</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">"Unfortunately the fact that the subcommittee didn’t include any third party analysts, observers, advertisers or search marketing agencies to testify — in other words (relatively) disinterested parties — is a critical flaw in the design of these hearings. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Accordingly they emerge as a kind of theater and not so much a fact-finding inquiry</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">." (</span><a href="http://searchengineland.com/google-expects-to-get-a-black-eye-at-todays-antitrust-hearing-93635"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Search Engine Land</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, Sept. 21, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Erick Schoenfeld, TechCrunch</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“The Senators kept trying to define Google and search in 2004 terms of ten blue links that take consumers away from Google. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But search is very different today</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. Increasingly, Google is trying to give you the right answer in the results themselves. And you know who else does exactly the same thing? Bing. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Telling Google that it needs to go back to the 2004 version of itself while Bing and others can keep experimenting with new ways to deliver information to consumers would just hamper innovation in search</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Erik Sherman, BNET</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The senators came brimming with television-ready outrage, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">not any particular desire to ask serious questions</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> of Schmidt...I’m the last to say that Google is “good.”...But, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">really, making an antitrust violation out of the fact that people like using Google’s search engine?</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> Maybe it’s time for Congress to focus on something more important — like the banking system, the terrible state of the country’s finances, a buckling middle class.” </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">(</span><a href="http://www.bnet.com/blog/technology-business/googles-schmidt-hits-the-senate-fan/12963%20"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">BNET</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Jeff Jarvis, Buzz Machine</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Congress should follow Google's first law: "Focus on customers first." AKA citizens.” (</span><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/jeffjarvis/status/116591473759240192"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Twitter</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/jeffjarvis/status/116591473759240192"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">http://twitter.com/#!/jeffjarvis/status/116591473759240192</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Mike Masnick, TechDirt</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Well, the second part of the Senate's anti-Google hearings have wrapped up, and like the first part, they </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">seemed pretty misguided</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. It was a lot of repeating things about how Google is big. There were some reasonable points that do bear more scrutiny, concerning some of Google's business dealings with partners, but, on the whole, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">people seemed to be making a big deal out of nothing</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.” (</span><a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110921/14190816043/how-quickly-we-forget-googles-competitors-falsely-claim-google-dominates-because-it-was-first.shtml"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">TechDirt</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, Sept. 21, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Whit Andrews, Analyst, Gartner</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“This is just another cycle for Google. It has faced scrutiny before and artfully deflected it through real action and </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">continuing to provide an excellent product.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">” (</span><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/mr-schmidt-goes-to-washington-2358160.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The Independent UK</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, Sept. 21, 2011)</span></p></div></span>Google Competition Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17153067508819943005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3669588780142735552.post-18544847526858001672011-09-21T08:36:00.003-04:002011-09-21T11:36:13.271-04:00Responses to Senate Hearing Witness Claims<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="background-color: transparent; "><span id="internal-source-marker_0.5895238511729985" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Below are responses to some of the claims made in prepared testimony for today’s Senate Judiciary hearing:</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Jeffrey Katz, NexTag</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><ol><li style="list-style-type: decimal; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">CLAIM: “Google rigs its results, biasing in favor of Google Shopping and against competitors like us. As a result, Nextag’s access is more and more discriminated against.”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">RESPONSE: </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">We’re trying to provide our users with better answers, and we have found through our testing that when a consumer types in a query like “flat screen TV prices,” they want to see shopping results (plus, Bing and Yahoo provide the exact same kind of shopping results). Our algorithms are designed to give people the best answer, and we’ve designed a rigorous scientific process that is driven by user feedback. Google and NexTag are both vying to provide consumers with the most useful shopping results possible, and the great thing about the openness of the Internet is that consumers can easily switch from Google to NexTag if they don’t like the answers we’re providing. <br /></span></li></ol><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><ol start="2"><li style="list-style-type: decimal; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">CLAIM: “Google says that competition is just one click away, but that is like saying move to Panama if you don’t like the tax rate in America. It’s a fake choice because no one has Google’s scope or capabilities and consumers won’t, don’t, and in fact can’t jump.”<br /><br />RESPONSE: </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">We’ve seen first hand evidence that consumers can, will, and do jump. In January 2009, a </span><a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/this-site-may-harm-your-computer-on.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">bug in our search results</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> caused all results to be falsely labeled as “harming your computer.” During that time, search traffic to Yahoo! surged by 50 percent as consumers sought alternatives.</span></li></ol><hr /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Jeremy Stoppelman, Yelp</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><ol><li style="list-style-type: decimal; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">CLAIM: “Google is no longer in the business of sending people to the best sources of information on the web. It now hopes to be a destination site itself for one vertical market after another, including news, shopping, travel, and now, local business reviews. It would be one thing if these efforts were conducted on a level playing field, but the reality is they are not.”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">RESPONSE: </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Sometimes the best, most useful answer to a query is one of the traditional “ten blue links.” But sometimes it’s a news article, sports score, stock quote, flight times, video, shopping results, or a map -- any of which we may place above or among the other results from across the web. Every search engine has shifted toward providing more answers directly in the search results -- because it’s what consumers want.<br /><br /></span></li><li style="list-style-type: decimal; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">CLAIM: “We again asked that Google cease its practice of co-opting content from Yelp for its own benefit. Google responded by removing Yelp links from portions of Google’s web search product, providing a new twist on the same old false choice: if we chose not to help power Google Local, we could not appear in the “merged” portions of Google’s web search results. To date, consumers cannot find links to Yelp in Google’s merged results, belying Google’s public pronouncements that “the competition is just one click away.”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">RESPONSE: </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Yelp's website continues to appear in organic web search results like any other site we index (for example, on relevant searches such as "restaurants" and "review site"). However, to meet Yelp’s demand not to use the content we crawl from Yelp for any of our local search services, their website no longer appears on results from precisely those local search services, including when those local results are on the google.com search results page. <br /><br /></span></li><li style="list-style-type: decimal; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">CLAIM: “Is a consumer (or a small business, for that matter) well served when Google artificially promotes its own properties regardless of merit? This has nothing to do with helping consumers get to the best information; it has everything to do with generating more revenue.”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">RESPONSE: </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">In fact, most of the click traffic (roughly two-thirds of clicks) from our local search result pages goes directly to small business websites, and review sites make up the next largest percentage (about a quarter of clicks). Less than 10% of clicks from our local results page go to Google Place Pages.<br /><br /></span></li><li style="list-style-type: decimal; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">CLAIM: “Today represents a rare opportunity for the government to protect innovation.”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">RESPONSE: </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Unfortunately, what Yelp and other sites are proposing is that the government intervene in one company’s product design -- specifically by regulating search results. While competitors may like that, ultimately we believe that regulation of search results will make make search engines less useful for consumers.</span></li></ol><hr /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Tom Barnett, Expedia and FairSearch</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><ol><li style="list-style-type: decimal; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">CLAIM: “Search is the critical gateway by which users navigate the web...As a result, search traffic is the lifeblood of innovation and development on the Internet, and search engines control the flow of that traffic.”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">RESPONSE: </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Search engines are definitely useful, but consumers have lots of ways of finding the content they’re looking for. Google serves more like a GPS on the Internet highway—not an on-ramp. It helps people get around, but it’s not necessary. If someone knows where he wants to go, he can navigate to those destinations directly, whether it’s Craigslist, the New York Times websites, or icanhascheezburger.com. Consumers can also use a “map” (a list of links or portal like Yahoo’s directory), directions or recommendations from a friend (links from Twitter or Facebook friends), or even a mobile application (for example the NY Times or Yelp app).</span></li></ol><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><ol start="2"><li style="list-style-type: decimal; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">CLAIM: “At this point, Google faces competition from only one general search engine in the U.S. -- Bing, which is a distant second.”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">RESPONSE: </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">This isn’t true. The Internet and the advertising space are both incredibly competitive, and Google competes against a broader array of companies than most people realize. In search, we don’t just compete against other general search engines (Bing, Yahoo), but new forms of accessing information, including specialized sites (Amazon, WebMD, eBay), social networks (Facebook, Twitter) and mobile apps. In ads, we compete for ad dollars every day against other forms of advertising, including TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, and online banner ads.</span></li></ol><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><ol start="3"><li style="list-style-type: decimal; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">CLAIM: “Just last week, Google launched its own online travel search service. Notwithstanding the judicial decree and Google’s promise, the service excludes any link to online travel agencies, which are key options for comparison shopping.“</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /><br />RESPONSE: We’re excited about the initial positive reaction to our new flight search tools. But like any other partner, Google needs to honor the airline’s distribution decisions. With the flight search feature, that means that we can only show airlines in the booking links. We will be exploring opportunities within the page to showcase the products and services from other relevant partners, including online travel agencies and metasearch sites.</span></li></ol><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><ol start="4"><li style="list-style-type: decimal; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">CLAIM: “Further, the Google service utilizes a new version of ITA software that, now that Google owns ITA, is available only to Google, also continuing to undermine choices for consumers.”<br /><br />RESPONSE:</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> Under the terms of our </span><a href="http://www.justice.gov/atr/cases/f269600/269632.pdf"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">consent decree</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> (page 16) Google is not required to provide to other companies any technology that we develop exclusively for use in Google services. We committed to </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(23, 30, 36); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">continuing to license ITA’s QPX software to airfare websites on commercially reasonable terms, and maintain that commitment. Furthermore, K</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">ayak </span><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/13/ita-powered-google-travel-launches-kayak-says-its-flight-search-is-superior/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">said</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> just last week, “We’re confident in our ability to compete, and we believe our flight search technology is superior. We recognize Google is a formidable competitor but they haven’t been successful in every vertical they’ve entered.”<br /> </span></li><li style="list-style-type: decimal; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">CLAIM: “Users expect search results to be returned in order from most relevant to least relevant. As discussed above, when Google places links to its own products (</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">e.g.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, News, Product Search, Places) in one of the top positions without any indication that these are “unnatural,” hard-coded links, the result is deceptive to the user.”<br /><br />RESPONSE: </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">There’s no evidence that these type of results are deceptive to user. In fact, Yahoo! and Bing provide the same exact type of results at the top of their results pages, which demonstrates that all search engines have found that users find these type of results useful.</span></li></ol><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><ol start="6"><li style="list-style-type: decimal; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">CLAIM: “In the absence of a competitive search advertising marketplace, the prices Google commands for advertisements are higher than they otherwise would be. Just as in the offline world, higher advertising prices are passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices on goods and services.”<br /><br />RESPONSE: </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google’s advertising prices are set by advertisers themselves, who bid what they’re willing to pay per click, and Google places no restrictions on advertisers moving their own ad campaign data to other platforms. In fact, the vast majority of our advertisers use advertising services from other online search engines in addition to Google’s. Barnett provides no evidence whatsoever that consumer pay higher prices because of Google’s policies.</span></li></ol><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><ol start="7"><li style="list-style-type: decimal; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">CLAIM: “Google’s tactics foreclose the ability of other sites to compete on the merits and to achieve the scale necessary to succeed. Without search traffic and the resulting revenues, these sites are unable to deliver innovative content and better services to consumers.”<br /><br />RESPONSE:</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> Google was built for users, not websites, and Google doesn’t “owe” traffic to any website any more than the Drudge Report “owes” links to the New York Times or the Washington Post. The fundamental openness of the Internet means that any site with a strong offering can find users.</span></li></ol></div></span>Google Competition Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17153067508819943005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3669588780142735552.post-68009491684300736552011-09-20T21:11:00.000-04:002011-09-20T21:12:33.794-04:00Search Startup Blekko: “We’re Not Afraid of Google, Why is Washington?”<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="background-color: transparent; "><span id="internal-source-marker_0.5951981830876321" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Rich Skrenta, CEO of search engine startup </span><a href="http://blekko.com/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Blekko</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, had </span><a href="http://www.skrenta.com/2011/09/blekkos_not_afraid_of_google_w.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">this to say</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> about Wednesday’s Senate Judiciary hearing:</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Blekko's not afraid of Google, why is Washington?</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br />Eric Schmidt will appear before a senate committee tomorrow to defend Google against claims that it has abused its position in the marketplace.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br />Apparently the prize if you win really big: you get to pitch your startup to congress.<br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The former tech darling has begun to assume the same status of “startup grown too big for its britches” that was once hung around the neck of its nemesis Microsoft.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But we don’t need federal intervention to level the playing field with Google.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Innovation and competition are far more powerful instruments to battle companies that have grown powerful and influential. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Which has been more detrimental to Microsoft's business? The lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice in the 90s, or the innovative products Apple has brought to the marketplace?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The success of Google should be applauded on Capitol Hill, not derided.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Let’s let entrepreneurs, technology and good old-fashioned innovation deal with Google. Consumers will always be the winners in that scenario.</span></p></div></span>Google Competition Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17153067508819943005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3669588780142735552.post-32493461258242693162011-09-19T23:15:00.000-04:002011-09-19T23:16:17.618-04:00A Guide to the Senate Judiciary Hearing<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="background-color: transparent; "><span id="internal-source-marker_0.6850282012019306" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Here’s a viewer’s guide to the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee’s Google hearing on September 21:</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><ol><li style="list-style-type: decimal; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">When you hear, </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google is a gateway to the web and controls what people see,”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> remember...</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /></span></li></ol><ul><li style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Using Google is a choice. Sure, Google has lots of users, but Google is more like a GPS for the Internet -- a helpful guide, but not necessary to get around</span></li><li style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Why do people use Google? Because it gives them the answers they’re looking for.</span></li><li style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Unlike technologies of the past (like browsers or operating systems), the Internet is fundamentally open, which means if consumers don’t like the answers Google provides, they can switch with one click to sites like Bing, Yahoo, NexTag, Amazon, Yelp, Facebook or any other website. </span></li><li style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">AOL and MySpace were </span><a href="http://googlecompetition.blogspot.com/2011/09/internet-gatekeepers-history-of.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">called “gatekeepers” once</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> too...<br /></span></li></ul><ol start="2"><li style="list-style-type: decimal; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">When you hear, </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google favors its own content,”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> remember...</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /></span></li></ol><ul><li style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google ranks search results to deliver the best answers to users, and that is the only consideration – not political viewpoints, and not advertising dollars. </span></li><li style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Sometimes the best, most useful answer to a query is one of the traditional “ten blue links.” But sometimes it’s a news article, sports score, stock quote, flight times, video, shopping results, or a map -- any of which we may place above or among the other results from across the web. </span></li><li style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Every search engine has shifted toward providing more answers directly in the search results -- </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">because it’s what consumers want</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. </span><a href="http://googlecompetition.blogspot.com/2011/08/microsoft-and-experts-agree-search-is.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Microsoft and search experts agree</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.</span></li><li style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Can you spot any differences how Bing, Yahoo! and Google answer these queries? <br />“samsung bd-p1600 prices” : [</span><a href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=samsung+bd-p1600+prices&go=&qs=n&sk=&form=QBLH"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Bing result</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">] [</span><a href="http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AreAKGGxsiB2LsJ1DBzEhCibvZx4?p=samsung+bd-p1600+prices&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-701"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Yahoo! result</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">] [</span><a href="http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&source=hp&q=samsung+bd-p1600+prices&pbx=1&oq=samsung+bd-p1600+prices&aq=f&aqi=g-e1g-v3&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=1492l2555l7l2668l7l4l0l1l1l0l153l368l1.2l3l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.&fp=4456ae14e2028100&biw=1425&bih=778"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google result</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">]<br />“chinese restaurants san francisco” : [</span><a href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=chinese+restaurants+san+francisco&go=&qs=n&sk=&sc=4-33&form=QBRE"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Bing result</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">] [</span><a href="http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oG7iPV.XVOV2AAc1tXNyoA;_ylc=X1MDUCMyNzY2Njc5BF9yAzIEYW8DMQRjc3JjcHZpZANWUmpGLkVvRzd2NFhrT2JmVGRFTFl3S19UQldOMVU1MS5kVUFEdkwxBGZyA3lmcC10LTcwMQRmcjIDc2J0bgRuX2dwcwM0BG9yaWdpbgNzcnAEcXVlcnkDY2hpbmVzZSByZXN0YXVyYW50cyBzYW4gZnJhbmNpc2NvBHNhbwMxBHZ0ZXN0aWQDVklQMDkx?p=chinese+restaurants+san+francisco&fr2=sb-top&fr=yfp-t-701&type_param="><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Yahoo! result</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">] [</span><a href="http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=chinese+restaurants+san+francisco"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google result</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">]<br />(we can’t either...)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /></span></li></ul><ol start="3"><li style="list-style-type: decimal; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">When you hear, </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google’s search ranking changes hurt a certain website or caused them to lose traffic,”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> remember...</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /></span></li></ol><ul><li style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google makes more than 500 changes to our search algorithms every year, and each change is designed to improve the quality of our search results for consumers. Consumers come to search engines to help them sift through all the information on the web, and not every site can appear at the top of the results. </span></li><li style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">We have a </span><a href="http://googlecompetition.blogspot.com/2011/08/new-video-under-hood-of-google-search.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">rigorous scientific testing process</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> to assess how consumers respond to potential algorithm changes. </span></li><li style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">We understand that it’s frustrating for websites when their sites fall in the search results. That’s why we provide a </span><a href="http://www.google.com/competition/transparency.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">huge amount of information to websites</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> about how to improve their performance. <br /></span></li></ul><ol start="4"><li style="list-style-type: decimal; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">When you hear, </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google deters other companies from innovating,”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> remember...</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /></span></li></ol><ul><li style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The Internet is the ultimate level playing field. Google’s success in search hasn’t stopped companies like Facebook, Twitter, Groupon or LinkedIn from finding huge audiences online. Google’s success hasn’t stopped the explosion of mobile apps as a new way for people to consume information.</span></li><li style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google has affected innovation in positive ways. Android has sparked new innovation in mobile devices, while our web browser, Chrome, helped jump-start innovation in the stagnant browser space.</span></li><li style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google’s programming tools have allowed new businesses to be created. For example, a business called MapMyRun.com allows you to track your running routes, utilizing Google Maps to power its service. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /></span></li></ul><ol start="5"><li style="list-style-type: decimal; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">When you hear, </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google is hurting small businesses,”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> remember...</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /></span></li></ol><ul><li style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">It’s just not true. In fact, Google’s search quality team has worked hard to develop algorithms that surface small and local business home pages (sometimes ahead of large review sites) when someone is searching for them. </span></li><li style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">We continually keep small businesses in mind when we test out new algorithms and evaluate possible improvements to the algorithms.</span></li><li style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The biggest problem small businesses face is not being online in the first place (63% of small businesses don’t have a website). Google is helping solve that problem through our “</span><a href="http://www.vermontgetonline.com/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Getting America’s Business Online</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">” initiative.<br /></span></li></ul><ol start="6"><li style="list-style-type: decimal; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">When you hear, </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google used third party reviews improperly for its Place Pages,”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> remember...</span></li></ol><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><ul><li style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><p dir="ltr" style="margin-right: -18pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Partly in response to business conversations with third party review websites, Google changed its Place Pages in July to no longer include review snippets from third party review sites (Google never showed whole reviews from other sites). Independent </span><a href="http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2011/07/google-places-update-puts-focus-on-google.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">analysts</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> said that this change “Essentially...</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">gives Yelp and Trip Advisor</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> their wish...” </span></p></li></ul><ul><li style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google still wants to be able to provide high-quality local business information to consumers, which is why we acquired Zagat.</span></li><li style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">If consumers don’t like the answers that Google is providing about local businesses, they can switch to Yelp, TripAdvisor or other sites with one click<br /></span></li></ul><ol start="7"><li style="list-style-type: decimal; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">When you hear, </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google limits choice in the Android mobile operating system,”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> remember...</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></li></ol><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><ul><li style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Android is open source, and any phone manufacturer can use it for free. That’s led to more choice and competition in the smartphone space.</span></li><li style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google doesn’t require phone manufacturers who use Android to pre-install Google apps. If they choose to pre-install Google apps, that doesn’t stop consumers from installing apps from Google’s competitors.</span></li></ul><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">For more, visit </span><a href="http://www.google.com/competition/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">http://www.google.com/competition/</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> </span></div></span>Google Competition Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17153067508819943005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3669588780142735552.post-55786045937316138882011-09-19T11:18:00.001-04:002011-09-19T11:18:58.569-04:00Internet “Gatekeepers”: A History of Exaggerations<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="background-color: transparent; "><span id="internal-source-marker_0.020936020649969578" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Some critics and competitors call Google a “gatekeeper” to the internet. But Google is not the first -- and won’t be the last -- tech company to be branded with this title. Where are these fomer supposed “gatekeepers” today?</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><div dir="ltr"><table style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; border-collapse: collapse; "><colgroup><col width="101"><col width="364"><col width="157"></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 0px; "><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-style: dotted; border-right-style: dotted; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-left-style: dotted; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); vertical-align: top; padding-top: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The Players</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-style: dotted; border-right-style: dotted; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-left-style: dotted; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); vertical-align: top; padding-top: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The Concerns</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-style: dotted; border-right-style: dotted; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-left-style: dotted; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); vertical-align: top; padding-top: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The Outcome</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></td></tr><tr style="height: 151px; "><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-style: dotted; border-right-style: dotted; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-left-style: dotted; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); vertical-align: top; padding-top: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">AOL and Netscape merger, 1999</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-style: dotted; border-right-style: dotted; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-left-style: dotted; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); vertical-align: top; padding-top: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“If it goes through, the software nearly everyone uses to surf the Web will be owned either by Microsoft or AOL. These are the wrong companies to wield so much influence on the future architecture of the Internet... they would be the </span><a href="https://docs.google.com/a/google.com/document/d/1ld8l_Td9IsbbEfGyM4dEYbP8FhowwU4mFT9M_Ahp1yY/edit?hl=en_US"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">gatekeepers</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> for commerce, and they would have the public pay to communicate with each other, or even to debate each other or socialize.” </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-style: dotted; border-right-style: dotted; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-left-style: dotted; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); vertical-align: top; padding-top: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">As of </span><a href="http://browser.netscape.com/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">March 2008</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, Netscape Navigator no longer exists.</span></td></tr><tr style="height: 220px; "><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-style: dotted; border-right-style: dotted; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-left-style: dotted; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); vertical-align: top; padding-top: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">AOL and</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Time Warner </span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">merger, 2000</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-style: dotted; border-right-style: dotted; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-left-style: dotted; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); vertical-align: top; padding-top: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“[Critics] see it as a merger of two of the country's largest information </span><a href="http://articles.philly.com/2000-08-03/business/25594875_1_aol-time-warner-aol-s-internet-merger"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">gatekeepers</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. The combined company would have a huge distribution network -- AOL's Internet business and Time Warner's cable network -- plus a stable of content that includes top-line magazines, movie studios, book publishers and TV networks.” </span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“AOL Time Warner will be like an </span><a href="http://kenauletta.com/leviathan.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">air-traffic controller</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, deciding who gets landing rights and who gets gates.... They can make sure that their services and content get preferential treatment.”</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-style: dotted; border-right-style: dotted; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-left-style: dotted; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); vertical-align: top; padding-top: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The merger was </span><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ahdDfJkn7_BE&refer=home"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">unwound</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> in 2009 after record losses. “To call the transaction the worst in history... does not begin to tell the story.” (</span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/business/media/11merger.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">New York Times</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></td></tr><tr style="height: 136px; "><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-style: dotted; border-right-style: dotted; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-left-style: dotted; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); vertical-align: top; padding-top: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">MySpace, 2005</span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-style: dotted; border-right-style: dotted; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-left-style: dotted; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); vertical-align: top; padding-top: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“MySpace has 41 million registered users and ranks 19th on the list of most-visited Internet sites... Its 24 million unique visitors in October exceeded the combined traffic on Facebook (9 million), Xanga (8 million) and Friendster (1.4 million). That makes MySpace the prime </span><a href="http://articles.philly.com/2005-12-11/news/25422397_1_online-social-networking-networking-sites-web-site"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">gateway</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> to marketing's dream demographic: 14- to 30-year-olds.” </span></td><td style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-style: dotted; border-right-style: dotted; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-left-style: dotted; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); vertical-align: top; padding-top: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">In May 2011, MySpace had 35 million </span><a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/172052/20110630/myspace-news-corp-rupert-murdoch-facebook-justin-timberlake-mark-zuckerberg-twitter-zynga.htm"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">unique monthly visitors</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">; Facebook had 157 million. MySpace was sold in June 2011. </span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></span>Google Competition Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17153067508819943005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3669588780142735552.post-60818658157494241852011-09-14T17:56:00.003-04:002011-09-14T18:39:10.603-04:00Flight Search: Good for Competition and Consumers<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tinos; font-size: medium; "><div style="background-color: transparent; "><p dir="ltr" id="internal-source-marker_0.17684005852788687" style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Consumers and Experts on Google’s New Flight Search Tools:</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Ultra Fast Indeed!” “Rather Powerful”; Other “Companies Will Rise to the Challenge and Offer Different Solutions”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Earlier this week, Google unveiled its new flight search tool (<a href="http://google.com/flights">google.com/flights</a>)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> for consumers, based on Google’s acquisition of travel company ITA Software. Here’s what consumers and experts are saying about these tools:</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Greg Sterling, Search Engine Land</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google has made what amounts to a promising down payment on more ambitious travel search tools with its new Flight Search, debuting today.” (</span><a href="http://searchengineland.com/google-travel-search-takes-flight-with-first-ita-travel-product-92594"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Search Engine Land</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Aaron Ritoper</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google’s product </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">further validates the space</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> and shows that Meta search is a key consumer service that people want...Travel search still has much room to develop, and users will appreciate </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">how some companies will rise to the challenge and offer different solutions</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.” (</span><a href="http://www.tnooz.com/2011/09/13/news/google-launches-flight-search/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Tnooz</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Wired</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google debuted its long awaited flight search Tuesday, achieving </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Concorde-like speed</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> in returning airfares to would-be flyers...Results from flight searches show up almost instantly — which comes as something of a miracle, given how accustomed we’ve all become to ten second-waits to find a cheap fare to Boise, Idaho. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">(</span><a href="http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/09/google-travel-search-2/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Wired</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Tom Costello</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“I’m so stunned that I might smile!” (</span><a href="http://www.tnooz.com/2011/09/13/news/google-launches-flight-search/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Tnooz</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span><br /><a href="http://www.tnooz.com/2011/09/13/news/google-launches-flight-search/?replytocom=1092628#respond"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></a><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">John Pope </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Fast isn’t the word for it though, it’s ultra-super-sonic-speed-in-the-extreme.” (</span><a href="http://www.tnooz.com/2011/09/13/news/google-launches-flight-search/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Tnooz</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Lifehacker</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google Flights Search Is a Powerful, Intuitive, Lightning-Fast Tool for Finding Cheap Tickets”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> (</span><a href="http://lifehacker.com/5839848/google-flights-search-is-a-powerful-lightning-fast-tool-for-finding-cheap-tickets"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Lifehacker</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">J.P. Hart</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Ultra fast indeed! (</span><a href="http://www.tnooz.com/2011/09/13/news/google-launches-flight-search/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Tnooz</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Andrew Tipton</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">It’s rather powerful</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">: as long as the origin airport is one of those shown on the map, and the destination airport is reachable via a domestic flight on one of the major airlines (AA, AS, B6, CO, DL, F9, UA, US), the search results come back instantaneously...Colour me impressed.” (</span><a href="http://www.tnooz.com/2011/09/13/news/google-launches-flight-search/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Tnooz</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Peggy Lee</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Wow! And Fast yes.” (</span><a href="http://www.tnooz.com/2011/09/13/news/google-launches-flight-search/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Tnooz</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)<br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Larry Smith </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“The Limits slider graph is sweet.” (</span><a href="http://www.tnooz.com/2011/09/13/news/google-launches-flight-search/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Tnooz</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)<br /></span><br /></div></span>Google Competition Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17153067508819943005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3669588780142735552.post-71469520914447226152011-08-29T13:12:00.001-04:002011-08-29T13:12:40.562-04:00New video: Under the Hood of Google Search<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="background-color: transparent; "><span id="internal-source-marker_0.31294434308074415" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">In the world of search, we’re always striving to deliver the answers you’re looking for. We put together a short video that gives you a sense of the work that goes into the changes and improvements we make to Google almost every day. While an improvement to the algorithm may start with a creative idea, it always goes through a process of rigorous scientific testing. Simply put: if the data from our experiments doesn’t show that we’re helping users, we won’t launch the change. </span></div></span>
<br />
<br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/J5RZOU6vK4Q" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" width="640"></iframe>Google Competition Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17153067508819943005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3669588780142735552.post-27261808896987112112011-08-05T11:56:00.002-04:002011-09-23T15:54:19.520-04:00Microsoft and Experts Agree: Search Is Evolving Beyond Links<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="background-color: transparent; "><p dir="ltr" id="internal-source-marker_0.5199650931172073" style="text-align: center; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Analyst: Google and Microsoft “In an Arms Race...To Make Search More Intelligent”</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">In the past few months, Microsoft and its anti-Google organization FairSearch have criticized Google for including maps, shopping results, and videos in search results -- even if those are the best answer for users. But over the past several days, Microsoft engineers and independent experts have agreed that search has been evolving from just a tool for finding websites, into providing consumers with better answers.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Search Engines Already Providing Richer Answers on Search Pages</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google and Microsoft’s Bing are able to answer some specific searches -- such as “</span><a href="http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=mariners+score"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Mariners score</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">” -- with relevant information on the results page. You can search for “</span><a href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=seattle+weather&go=&qs=n&sk=&sc=8-12&form=QBLH"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Seattle weather</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">” and and immediately get a forecast, without navigating to someplace like Weather.com.... [Computer scientists Oren] Etzioni envisions a world -- just three to five years from now -- in which search engines scour the Internet based not on keywords, but on extracted information.” (</span><a href="http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/2011/08/03/its-time-for-a-revolution-in-web-search-uw-professor-says/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 3, 2011</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Microsoft’s Head of Search: Criticizes Search Engines for Being “Still a Web Site Finder”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Microsoft’s president of the Online Services Unit, Qi Lu, told the </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/technology/with-the-bing-search-engine-microsoft-plays-the-underdog.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">New York Times</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> that search engines are</span><a href="http://www.google.com/competition/betteranswers.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">evolving beyond “ten blue links”</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> into providing richer types of answers for users -- whether that answer is </span><a href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=flights+to+san+francisco&go=&qs=n&sk=&sc=8-24&form=QBLH"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">flight results</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, a</span><a href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=jk+wedding+dance&go=&qs=n&sk=&sc=8-13&form=QBLH"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">video</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, a</span><a href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=1101+new+york+avenue+nw+washington+dc&go=&qs=AS&sk=AS1&pq=1101+new+york+&sp=2&sc=6-14&form=QBLH"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">map</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">,</span><a href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=samsung+lcd+flat+screen+tv&go=&qs=n&sk=&sc=1-25&form=QBRE"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">shopping results</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, or even a</span><a href="http://www.bing.com/events/search?q=Baltimore+Orioles+%2540+Oakland+Athletics&p1=%5BEvents%20source=%22vertical%22+qzeventid=%22f416095%22%5D&FORM=DTPEVE"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">seating chart</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">:</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“In short, Mr. Lu describes a vision of a search engine that is part intelligent software assistant and part mind reader. ‘Search is </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">still essentially a Web site finder.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">’ Mr. Lu says. ‘It’s all nouns. But the future of search is verbs -- computationally </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">discerning user intent to give them the knowledge to complete tasks</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.’”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“In Bing, the most visible evidence of the decision-engine concept is the ability to aggregate and present specific kinds of information in a search result. Microsoft has invested in travel services, for example. Type “flights to San Francisco” into Bing, and below a few blue-shaded links to ads is a Bing Travel flight database.”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Microsoft Search Executives: Searchers “Want to Complete Tasks Within Search,” Rather Than Be Sent to Websites</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">In an interview with</span><a href="http://paidcontent.org/article/419-interview-microsofts-not-walking-away-from-search/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">PaidContent</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, Bing’s search director, Stefan Weitz, said:</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“When they do a standard search, people end up using five to 10 different resources in the completion of these tasks. But, according to our research, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">58 percent of heavy users want to complete tasks inside the search engine</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. That’s a big jump from a few years previously. Google found the same thing recently. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">So we’re taking Bing to a place you can actually accomplish things and do things, rather than send you off to those sites</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Qi Lu agreed with this sentiment at Microsoft’s recent </span><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/investor/downloads/events/09142011_FAM_Qi.docx"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Financial Analyst Meeting</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">:</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Search is a means to an end</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. We want our product to go substantially beyond just finding information, go all the way to </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">help the user make decisions and complete tasks</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(25, 25, 25); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Microsoft’s Head of Search: Bing “Is Now a Credible Alternative to Consumers, to Advertisers”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">At the same </span><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/investor/downloads/events/09142011_FAM_Qi.docx"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Financial Analyst Meeting</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, Lu also expressed “a high degree of confidence” that the Bing is very competitive:</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“We've been materializing the benefits of the strategic goals for this partnership [with Yahoo], particularly in search quality. Because when you combine the search tasks together... our product gets better and better, benefits both companies, and it benefits consumers, because we, the combined traffic up 30 percent, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">almost 30 percent United States, is now a credible alternative to consumers, to advertisers</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“We can say our search quality at the baseline is </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">on par with our competitors</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. And even more importantly, the pace of improvement, the speed at which we were improving our quality is </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">faster against our competitions</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">... we do have confidence, a high degree of confidence that we'll be very, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">very competitive in our product quality</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, and be able to sustain and accelerate the pace of innovation.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“So, if we add these things together, take a recap for the last 27-plus months, we come from a long way. We started the journey when </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">we were a distant third in a three-way race</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. We had less than 7 percent market share. Now our platform is </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">truly a credible alternative</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> in the United States, and we have </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">a quality product, a good brand</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Experts: This is Where Search is Headed</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Experts agree that Google and Microsoft are competing over who can provide better answers and help users complete tasks:</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Esther Dyson, Technology Analyst</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“There is so little context in current search, and what Microsoft is trying to do is present users with context and structure, more a map of the world of information instead of just ranking it, especially in specific subject areas like travel and health. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Microsoft is trying to beat Google</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> at this different game.” (</span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/technology/with-the-bing-search-engine-microsoft-plays-the-underdog.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">New York Times, July 30, 2011</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Oren Etzioni, Computer Science Professor, University of Washington</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">"Instead of poring over long lists of documents that contain requested keywords, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">users need direct answers to their questions</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">."(</span><a href="http://turing.cs.washington.edu/papers/Nature_search_shake-up.pdf"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Nature, August 2011</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> </span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Both these companies are making important steps to </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">make search more intelligent</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. It’s an arms race.” (</span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/technology/with-the-bing-search-engine-microsoft-plays-the-underdog.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">New York Times, July 30, 2011</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3669588780142735552.post-51717809522197561312011-08-03T13:46:00.003-04:002011-08-03T13:50:49.007-04:00Leading Economics Bloggers: No Case Against Google<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-family:Times;font-size:medium;" ><div style="background- ;color:transparent;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-family:Times;font-size:medium;" ></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-family:Times;font-size:medium;" ><div style="background- ;color:transparent;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.3584276055917144" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background- font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial;font-size:10pt;color:transparent;" ></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="background-color: transparent; "><span id="internal-source-marker_0.3584276055917144" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">A </span><a href="http://www.kauffman.org/uploadedFiles/economic_bloggers_survey_Q311.pdf"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">new survey</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> released by the Kauffman Foundation asked leading economics bloggers whether the U.S. government should file an antitrust suit against Google. 93% said there was no need for a suit:</span></div></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimYhL3-wYyyQZxjR0yNUxpDktUKrcJuB0xoM3iVXlwK_Ed6YaQN_kfqBvrjpbUzV_yRm3J2uj4z6eG9b5MZ3IAWELRHpOVvU4eR0Wau5qeRAAAcdpuIhT_dk2jVRIwxF8A1SYJUwnG3j4/s1600/kauffman+survey+short.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimYhL3-wYyyQZxjR0yNUxpDktUKrcJuB0xoM3iVXlwK_Ed6YaQN_kfqBvrjpbUzV_yRm3J2uj4z6eG9b5MZ3IAWELRHpOVvU4eR0Wau5qeRAAAcdpuIhT_dk2jVRIwxF8A1SYJUwnG3j4/s320/kauffman+survey+short.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636688148694409170" border="0" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="background-color: transparent; "><span id="internal-source-marker_0.3584276055917144" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">This follows a </span><a href="http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/general_lifestyle/january_2011/most_say_no_to_government_regulation_of_search_engines"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">January survey by Rasmussen</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> showing that 77% of people oppose government regulation of search results.</span></div></span><span style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background- font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Arial;font-size:10pt;color:transparent;" ></span></div></span></div></span>Google Competition Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17153067508819943005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3669588780142735552.post-69403603028136286772011-08-01T17:23:00.000-04:002011-08-01T17:24:03.993-04:00New York Times: Bing “Now a Scale Player” in Search<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="background-color: transparent; "><span id="internal-source-marker_0.20483198715373874" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">If you haven’t seen it yet, check out Sunday’s </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">New York Times</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/technology/with-the-bing-search-engine-microsoft-plays-the-underdog.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">profile on Microsoft’s Bing</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> and how it’s competing in the search engine space. Two things worth noting:</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><ul><li style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Microsoft’s head of search Qi Lu comments on how search engines are </span><a href="http://www.google.com/competition/betteranswers.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">evolving beyond “ten blue links”</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> into providing richer types of answers for users -- whether that answer is a </span><a href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=jk+wedding+dance&go=&qs=n&sk=&sc=8-13&form=QBLH"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">video</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, a </span><a href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=1101+new+york+avenue+nw+washington+dc&go=&qs=AS&sk=AS1&pq=1101+new+york+&sp=2&sc=6-14&form=QBLH"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">map</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, </span><a href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=samsung+lcd+flat+screen+tv&go=&qs=n&sk=&sc=1-25&form=QBRE"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">shopping results</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, or even a </span><a href="http://www.bing.com/events/search?q=Baltimore+Orioles+%2540+Oakland+Athletics&p1=%5BEvents%20source=%22vertical%22+qzeventid=%22f416095%22%5D&FORM=DTPEVE"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">seating chart</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">:<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Search is </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">still essentially a Web site finder</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.” Mr. Lu says. “It’s all nouns. But the future of search is verbs — computationally discerning user intent to </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">give them the knowledge to complete tasks</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.”<br /><br /></span></li><li style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Laura Desmond, CEO of ad agency Starcom MediaVest, notes that Bing’s share of its clients’ search clicks has grown over the last nine months, telling the </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Times</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, “Bing is clearly behind Google, but </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">now it’s a scale player as well</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.”</span></li></ul></div></span>Google Competition Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17153067508819943005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3669588780142735552.post-88555117581538831432011-07-25T12:14:00.007-04:002011-09-26T17:48:37.129-04:00Advertisers and Ad Agencies: “Government Regulation of Google...Would be a Disaster"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="background-color: transparent; "><span id="internal-source-marker_0.9288416188210249" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google is “Quite Transparent,” “Has Revolutionized” Small Businesses</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Since the Federal Trade Commission launched its review of Google’s business, advertisers and ad agencies have been weighing in with their thoughts:</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Small Businesses: “Government Involvement...Would Suffocate” the “Ever Changing...Online Advertising Arena”; “The Government Has it All Wrong”</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Ross Twiddy, Director of Marketing, Twiddy (vacation rental company)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Corolla, North Carolina</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“As a small second generation family business on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Google’s advertising system has revolutionized our vacation rental business Even though the Outer Banks of North Carolina is a small area, we’re competing on a national level for summer vacations, and we’re able to host more summer family vacations than ever before. In our experience, I cannot see the logic in government involvement as I believe </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">this would suffocate the resources required for the ever changing and sophisticated online advertising arena</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.” (</span><a href="http://blog.twiddy.com/2011/07/11/ftc-investigates-google-give-me-a-break/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Blog, July 10, 2011</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Kevin Bross, Etrailer.com<br />Wentzville, Missouri</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“No company we have dealt with has ever come close to offering as many resources for improving our business as Google...They offer tools and data that help us to better help our customers. We don't use Google because we have to, we use Google because we want to....Customers don't use Google because they have to, there are many search engines. They want to, because it works.” (</span><a href="http://www.etrailer.com/faq/google-as-business-partner.aspx"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Corporate Blog, August 11, 2011</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Quinn Moo, President, Joy Jewelers</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Torrance, California</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">"Since my firm began advertising with Google in 2002, Google has become increasingly transparent, not less so. There is no reason for the FTC to regulate the paid and organic search results that appear on Google." (Statement, July 25, 2011)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Linzie Venegas, Sales and Marketing Manager, Ideal Shield (industrial parts company)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Detroit, Michigan </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">"Last year, we received over one million advertising impressions on Google, but we only paid when people clicked on our ads. With direct mail, I would have paid for all of those impressions, regardless of whether people opened it or not. With Google, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">we’re not locked in</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> like we would be with a quarterly print ad schedule, even if it's not working for us. And we use Google Analytics to help us design our website and develop our advertising. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">It seems like the government has a lack of knowledge about what Google actually does</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> and how it helps businesses." (Statement, July 29, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Tom Nightingale, VP and Chief Marketing Officer, Con-way (freight and logistics company)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Ann Arbor, Michigan </span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Verdana; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“To say that Google has revolutionized our advertising strategy would be an understatement. To say that Google has abused its power would be entirely inaccurate in my view. In short, Google’s model works, it represents the best of the free market and innovation and </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">as an advertiser and a user myself I certainly don't support any action</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> by the federal government to intervene in Google's business.” (</span><a href="http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110802/BLOGS/110809997/1527/BLOGS"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">BtoB Blog</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, August 2, 2011)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Mark Aistrope, CEO, Meeting Tomorrow (audio-visual service)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Chicago, Illinois</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Based on the early reporting of what’s being alleged I think </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">the government has it all wrong</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">...Google, more than any other company I know, has helped drive measurable productivity gains in the US economy and around the world, allowing companies to do more with less, and grow and create jobs. Google is a productivity multiplier for Meeting Tomorrow—both as advertiser and as search users. Google ads provides us with the most efficient and cost-effective way that I know of to reach customers in the market for our services. Google allows us to </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">stretch our marketing dollars farther</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> than any other advertising medium or other means of acquiring customers.” (</span><a href="http://www.meetingtomorrow.com/blog/gvus"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Blog, July 25, 2011</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Rich Craig, Owner Rent-A-Relic (rental car company)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Oakland, California</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">"The rental car industry is dominated by large corporations, and while Rent-A-Relic has been able to compete by providing good value and great service, it has sometimes been difficult to break through in our advertising. Then I started a Google AdWords pay-per-click campaign and the playing field has really leveled out. I know that more new customers are willing to contact us and eventually rent cars from us because our pay-per-click listing is similar to the listings for the national brands. Given how well it's worked for my business, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">I certainly don't see any problems here that the government needs to address</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">." (Statement, July 27, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Cheryl Richardson, Chief Operating Officer, Concept To Promotion (marketing services company)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Benton Harbor, Michigan</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“I own a small business in a small town, and Google AdWords has allowed me to expand my reach to large corporate customers. The success of Google advertising is due to the incredible metrics and the ability for advertisers to choose their level of online participation and at what costs. You can't get that with print ads! This is fair business at its finest, and regulation is not needed.” (Statement, July 27, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Louis Green, President and CEO, Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Detroit, Michigan</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google has been an amazing partner in </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">maximizing the competitiveness of minority businesses</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> and in leveling the playing field for small business owners. The success they have enabled in the communities we serve has transformed companies, neighborhood, careers and lives. Google is a success enabler, and </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">I don’t think the federal government needs to do anything about that except get out of the way</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.”</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Rich Masterson, Chairman, CampaignGrid (online ad platform for candidates and causes)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Fort Washington, Pennsylvania</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“The fact that Google has become a worldwide leader should not make us feel threatened; it should make us feel proud. Our Government would do well to think about ways of </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">encouraging success stories like Google</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, not spend taxpayer money on multi year investigations into something as innocuous as advertising. Consumers and advertisers have a choice and if Google violates the trust of either then the market will respond accordingly and it will require neither years of investigation or the using precious taxpayer funds of a country already overburdened with national debt.” (</span><a href="http://www.campaigngrid.com/_blog/Our_Blog/post/On_Privacy/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Blog Post, July 15, 2011</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Ad Agency: “If Google Screws Up, It Will Lose Advertisers’ Business in a Heartbeat”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Robert Murray, Global CEO, iProspect (digital marketing agency)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Boston, Massachusetts</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">"Our firm helps businesses large and small manage their search advertising campaigns, and based on our experience </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">we just don't see the need for the federal government to get involved</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> in policing search or online advertising. The online advertising space is dynamic and highly competitive -- with new formats like mobile and social competing for advertisers' attention -- and if Google screws up, it will lose advertisers' business in a heartbeat." (Statement, June 22, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Nick Shah, Co-Founder & CEO, Ampush Media</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">San Francisco, CA</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“We use Google’s search advertising tools as well as other internet advertising platforms to identify consumers who are interested in furthering their education on behalf of our university clients. Instead of Google fixing a price for valuable search queries, Google designed an auction process where the advertisers set the price; Google’s ability to engage in monopolistic price gouging is eliminated through this system design. Google also allows smaller, newer advertisers to compete on the same playing field as large, established advertisers. Google’s products and services do a lot to facilitate competition in many industries including education marketing, and there are many other high-flying media & technology companies that compete pretty squarely with Google. Depending on the outcome, the FTC investigation could potentially hurt competition in the internet advertising industry by handcuffing one of the many important players. I hope that does not happen. I’d prefer to see a fair fight.” (Statement, August 22, 2011)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Search Advertising Agencies: “No Antitrust Case...Due to the Way Pricing is Set...in Paid Search”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Craig Macdonald, Chief Marketing Officer, Covario (online advertising agency)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">San Diego, California</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“[Google is] </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">quite transparent when it comes to how they determine Quality Score</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, and advertisers who do not benefit from this understanding either have not put in the work, or are simply unhappy with the result (they are bidding on irrelevant keywords, which hurts quality score, which raises price – those are the publicized rules of the auction – play or don’t play)....Our position then, as it is now, is that </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">there is no antitrust case in paid search due to the way pricing is set in the market for paid search keywords</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.[…] Google provides a service to the market – it </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">organizes information more efficiently than anyone else</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> out there right now, and makes it available to consumers and to advertisers. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">And they should be allowed to do so unfettered.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">” (</span><a href="http://multichannelmerchant.com/ecommerce/news/google-antitrust-advertisers-covario-0627tpp4/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Multichannel Merchant, June 27, 2011</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">George Michie, CEO, Rimm-Kaufman Group (search marketing agency)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Charlottesville, Virginia</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Government regulation of Google or the search industry would be a disaster for consumers and advertisers alike</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. Legislating organic search algorithms would destroy the incentives to innovate, and is completely unnecessary as Google's incentive is to provide results that the users want. If Google fails in that, users are one click away from a different search experience with a different engine. The notion that somehow advertisers are hostages to Google </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">is also absurd</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. There is an ever expanding array of advertising opportunities online and off; Google has grown to be a major player precisely because the advertising works so well for both advertisers and consumers. Moreover, advertisers have complete flexibility in how they buy advertising from Google. Advertisers determine how much they are willing to spend for each click on each ad. The price is not set by Google, it is set by the advertiser. Google is a platform on which advertisers compete with each other. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">May the best companies win and may government stay out of the way!</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">” (Statement, July 15, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Industry Experts: “If No Consumers Are Harmed,” What’s the Problem?</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Chris Boggs, President, Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization (SEMPO) and Director of Search and Media Thought Leadership, Rosetta</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">"It's no exaggeration to say that Google's innovations in search advertising have led to the growth of the search engine marketing industry, which today employs thousands of individuals. It's distressing to see some of Google's competitors paint a negative picture of Google, since the Google that I know has created job and economic opportunities for thousands of search advertising experts. I'm concerned by the notion that the Federal Trade Commission might use its investigation of Google to regulate search results or search advertising, especially if they don’t fully understand the industry and the current state of the ecosystem’s evolution.While I may not agree with everything that Google does, I think it would set a terrible precedent and hinder growth if the government were to start messing with Internet content. We have seen this happen in other nations, quickly resulting in international uproar and claims of unwarranted censorship. I encourage everyone in the digital marketing industry to stand with Google – mostly because I believe in the right of any publisher to determine what ii places on its Web site, and to develop a competitive free market advertising solution to cater to its visitors. If Google can be “told” what to do, who’s to say that the next step isn’t me having to send my blog posts by government regulatory team prior to publishing them." (Statement, September 26, 2011)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Robert Barocci, President, Advertising Research Foundation</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“As advertising researchers, we look at the media environment and consumer media behavior - how people use online and traditional communications – and ad effectiveness. Adjusting for quality, as Google and nearly all search engines do, adds relevance, so that consumers see ads that best match their interests – a key to effective advertising. Google and its competitors include nearly all discoverable sites in their organic results for free, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">they do not force advertisers to pay for exposure as paid media requires</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. As I’m writing, proliferating media options for consumers and advertisers, such as social media and mobile communications, are changing the search marketplace through market forces, empowering anyone to locate and share information of all types for their friends, family, colleagues and strangers, perhaps providing the most relevant search results. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">In our view, antitrust review and action appears unnecessary, irrelevant to consumers, and potentially stifling of innovation in media and society</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.” (Statement, August 23, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Joe Rosenbaum, Board Member, Interactive Advertising Bureau</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“At the end of the day, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">if consumers aren’t harmed, if no unfair competition has occurred</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, if no barriers to entry exist, and if no control is exercised because of dominant position—the question we must all ask is whether the government is simply targeting each 800-pound gorilla in each decade, or whether some wrong must be set right.” (</span><a href="http://www.legalbytes.com/2011/06/articles/imho/google-and-the-ftc/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Legal Bytes Blog, June 30, 2011</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">)</span></p></div></span>Google Competition Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17153067508819943005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3669588780142735552.post-85502482039598878482011-07-17T12:06:00.002-04:002011-07-17T12:52:11.496-04:00Microsoft and FairSearch: Distorting the Truth About Google and Search<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; "><p class="c5" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; direction: ltr; "><span class="c10 c0" style="font-style: italic; font-size: 10pt; ">Microsoft and its anti-Google organization FairSearch are distorting the truth about Google and how search and search advertising works -- and making assertions without any evidence whatsoever. Here’s the truth:</span></p><hr style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Microsoft/FairSearch Claim: “A website‘s ability to compete depends largely on whether it appears on search results pages in response to users‘ queries and, more importantly, on where it appears within those results.”</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5 c7" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Fact:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="c4 c0" style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-size: 10pt; ">We built Google search for consumers, not websites, and consumers don’t need Google to access the web. Google serves more like a GPS on the Internet highway—not an on-ramp. It helps people get around, but it’s not necessary. If someone knows where he wants to go, he can navigate to those destinations directly, whether it’s Craigslist, the New York Times websites, or icanhascheezburger.com. Search engines are popular and useful, but they’re just one of many ways to navigate</span><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "> the web</span><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">.</span><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "> For example, according to Compete.com, NYTimes.com receives only 18% of its traffic from Google, while TMZ.com receives more traffic from Facebook than from Google, and Politico.com receives more traffic from the Drudge Report than Google.</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Microsoft/FairSearch Claim: “As a result of its dominance in search and search advertising, Google can control where users go and what sites they find.”</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5 c7" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Fact:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Using Google is a choice, and there are lots of other choices available to you for getting information: other general-interest search engines, specialized search engines, direct navigation to websites, mobile applications, social networks, and more</span><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">.</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Microsoft/FairSearch Claim: “As described more fully below, consumers are misled by Google‘s manipulated search rankings and by its deceptive and preferential display of its own sites in response to users‘ queries.”</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5 c7" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Fact: This is false. Microsoft and FairSearch provide<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="c3 c0" style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 10pt; ">no evidence whatsoever</span><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "> that consumers are misled by Google’s search results. Furthermore, Microsoft and Yahoo both show<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="c3 c9 c0" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-size: 10pt; "><a class="c2" href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=sony+digital+camera+prices&go=&qs=n&sk=&sc=8-26&form=QBLH" style="color: inherit; text-decoration: inherit; ">their own specialized shopping results</a></span><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "> when users enter a product query, or show<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="c3 c0 c9" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-size: 10pt; "><a class="c2" href="http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AreAKGGxsiB2LsJ1DBzEhCibvZx4?p=1000+E+street+nw%252C+washington+dc&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-701" style="color: inherit; text-decoration: inherit; ">their own maps</a></span><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "> when a user enters an address or local query.</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Microsoft/FairSearch Claim: “Further, Google‘s exclusionary conduct denies revenue and traffic to sites that compete with Google, hindering the ability of those sites to bring more innovative online content and better services to consumers.”</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5 c7" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Fact: This is false. Microsoft and FairSearch provide<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="c3 c0" style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 10pt; ">no evidence whatsoever</span><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "> that Google has acted to harm competitors. Google doesn’t “owe” traffic to any website, just as the Drudge Report or Huffington Post don’t “owe” links to any particular website.</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Microsoft/FairSearch Claim: “Websites lose critical traffic when Google steers users to its own or preferred partners‘ sites and forecloses the visibility of rival sites.”</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5 c7" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Fact: Microsoft and FairSearch provide<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="c3 c0" style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 10pt; ">no evidence whatsoever</span><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "> that users are misled by Google’s search results. And of course, every website would like to be at the top of Google’s results, but Google doesn’t “owe” any website a particular position.</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Microsoft/FairSearch Claim: “[Website publishers] also pay Google an ever-higher percentage of the advertising revenues that their sites generate for non-search (</span><span class="c0 c10" style="font-style: italic; font-size: 10pt; ">i.e.</span><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">, content and display) ads served by Google.”</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5 c7" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Fact: Website publishers don’t pay Google; rather, when Google places ads on publisher’s website, Google shares the lion’s share of the revenue with the publisher. Google<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="c3 c9 c0" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-size: 10pt; "><a class="c2" href="http://adsense.blogspot.com/2010/05/adsense-revenue-share.html" style="color: inherit; text-decoration: inherit; ">disclosed in May 2010</a></span><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "> that publishers in its AdSense program receive 51% or 68% of the revenue (depending on which program they use</span><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">)</span><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">; those percentages have not changed.</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Microsoft/FairSearch Claim: “Advertisers pay ever-higher fees to Google and have little choice but to accept Google‘s terms, such as its restrictive policies that prohibit advertisers from using their data freely on other ad platforms. Those fees are passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.”</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5 c7" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Fact: Google’s advertising prices are set by advertisers themselves, who bid what they’re willing to pay per click, and Google places no restrictions on advertisers moving their data moving their own ad campaign data to other platforms. Furthermore, Microsoft and FairSearch provide<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="c0 c3" style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 10pt; ">no evidence whatsoever</span><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "> that consumer pay higher prices because of Google’s policies.</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Microsoft/FairSearch Claim: “Google now displays non-algorithmic results at the top or in the middle of the results page in a manner that does not clearly flag for consumers that these results are placed there artificially by Google – frequently with links to Google‘s own pages.”</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5 c7" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 10pt; ">Facts: These results are also delivered via algorithms, and</span><span class="c0" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 10pt; "> are identical to how Bing and Yahoo show local search results</span><span class="c0" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 10pt; ">.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="c4 c0" style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-size: 10pt; ">When we organize local information we organize search results around particular businesses. Local search results<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="c0 c12" style="font-size: 10pt; "><a class="c2" href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/place-search-faster-easier-way-to-find.html" style="text-decoration: inherit; ">cluster web results in an efficient display</a></span><span class="c0 c4" style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-size: 10pt; ">, packing in 30-40 web links on a single results page. This makes it easier for people to scan the results page and compare businesses. In our testing we’ve found this saves users an average of two seconds to find the place they’re looking for. Our search results are good for businesses and review sites too. Google sent 27 billion clicks to local businesses in the last year alone.</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Microsoft/FairSearch Claim: “The result is to induce users to click on the artificially placed links regardless of whether those links are the most relevant to the user‘s query.”</span></p><p class="c1 c7" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36pt; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5 c7" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Fact: Google doesn’t “induce” any of our users to click on anything. Users click on whatever they find useful</span><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">.</span><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "> Furthermore, Google’s results doesn’t contain any “artificially placed” content -- we provide the answers that we think users will find most useful.</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Microsoft/FairSearch Claim: “[Google’s search] algorithms can be programmed, however, to exclude, penalize, or promote specific sites or whole categories of sites.”</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5 c7" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Fact: Our algorithms attempt to serve and protect consumers by making sure they see the most relevant results. For example, a site called DecorMyEyes was ripping off its customers and believed negative reviews of its business were helping its Google rankings. We<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="c3 c9 c0" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-size: 10pt; "><a class="c2" href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/being-bad-to-your-customers-is-bad-for.html" style="color: inherit; text-decoration: inherit; ">built an algorithm</a></span><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "> to ensure that businesses that are bad to their consumers aren’t rewarded in the Google results -- that’s an example of improving the search results to help consumers.</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Microsoft/FairSearch Claim: “[Google’s Place Pages] enable Google to earn advertising revenues and to deprive the other website of user traffic.”</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5 c7" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Fact: Review websites receive a tremendous amount of traffic from Google, and that traffic has consistently grown over time. As of March 2011, Google sent approximately 44 million clicks per month to Yelp; 36 million clicks per month to TripAdvisor; and 13 million clicks per month to Citysearch. Comparing February 2010 to February 2011, Yelp saw a 63% growth in referral traffic from Google, TripAdvisor a 9% year-over-year growth, and Citysearch a 5% year-over-year growth.</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Microsoft/FairSearch Claim: “Google is now seeking to coerce TripAdvisor into acquiescing to this use by tying the removal of TripAdvisor content from Google Places pages to the exclusion of all TripAdvisor links from appearing in Google‘s dominant algorithmic search engine results.”</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5 c7" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Fact: This is false. Google hasn’t sought to coerce TripAdvisor into anything. TripAdvisor, like all websites, can remove its content from the web index using the robots.txt protocol, which disallows Google from indexing the content of the page. Webmasters could also use robots.txt to disallow crawling of all their pages or particular pages. A webmaster can, for example, allow Google to crawl the primary page of information about a particular place and prevent us from crawling subsequent pages containing reviews.</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c8 c0" style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Microsoft/FairSearch Claim: “Google handicaps each bidder with a quality score. The lower a quality score, the higher a price the advertiser has to bid to win the auction.”</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5 c7" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Fact: Microsoft and FairSearch’s criticisms are hypocritical. Every search engine — Google, Yahoo and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="c3 c9 c0" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-size: 10pt; "><a class="c2" href="http://community.microsoftadvertising.com/blogs/advertiser/archive/2011/03/08/adcenter-quality-score-coming-soon-what-you-need-to-know.aspx" style="color: inherit; text-decoration: inherit; ">Bing</a></span><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "> — uses quality scores to ensure that consumers see relevant ads.</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Microsoft/FairSearch Claim: “Google adopts policies that prevent the development of software that would enable advertisers – and small advertisers, in particular – to use and compare Google‘s prices and returns on investment with those of Google‘s competitors.”</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5 c7" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Fact: Google has no such policies. Advertisers control their own ad campaign data, and have full ability to export their ad campaign data either through comma separated value (CSV) export, or through our AdWords Application Programming Interface (API). Advertisers can use Google AdWords Editor to export their ad account data – including ad campaigns and keywords in a common CSV format. In fact, Microsoft provides detailed instructions and videos on how advertisers can export their campaigns from Google to Bing.</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Microsoft/FairSearch Claim: “Google prevents advertisers from synchronizing updates or other changes to their ad campaign data across multiple platforms. Google also imposes limits on advertisers‘ ability to port their Google AdWords data to any other ad platform using third party tools that would make the process simple or even automatic.”</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5 c7" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Fact: This is false — Google places no limits on advertisers. Google does place some co-mingling limits on third parties who sell the AdWords API, in order to provide advertisers with similar experiences through the AdWords program. Each ad network offers different features to enable advertisers to target specific types of ads to the right audience. These features are typically not compatible with one another. In our experience, user interfaces that copy data between different ad networks create incentives for developers of those interfaces to build the lowest common denominator of the features of all ad networks, for the sake of compatibility and portability. Such a lowest common denominator approach would prevent advertisers from taking advantage of some of the unique features we have built within AdWords. Again, these restrictions only apply to third party tools, and there are no restrictions on advertisers’ direct use of the AdWords API.</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Microsoft/FairSearch Claim: “As a Harvard Business School professor has stated with respect to Google‘s restrictions on advertising data portability, the 'net effect . . . is to reinforce the tendency of small to medium-sized advertisers to "single-home" – to use only Google AdWords to the exclusion of competing platforms.'”</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5 c7" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Fact: The “Harvard Business School professor” is Ben Edelman, a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="c3 c9 c0" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-size: 10pt; "><a class="c2" href="http://www.benedelman.org/bio/" style="color: inherit; text-decoration: inherit; ">paid Microsoft consultant</a></span><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">.</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Microsoft/FairSearch Claim: “In addition to government investigations, several private cases have been filed against Google under both under Federal and State law.”</span></p><p class="c1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; height: 11pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; "></span></p><p class="c5 c7" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36pt; direction: ltr; "><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">Fact:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="c3 c9 c0" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-size: 10pt; "><a class="c2" href="http://www.dinkypage.com/54816/" style="color: inherit; text-decoration: inherit; ">As reported in 2010 by the Wall Street Journal</a></span><span class="c0" style="font-size: 10pt; ">, these lawsuits have been filed against Google by Microsoft’s antitrust law firm, Cadwalader.</span></p></span></span>Google Competition Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17153067508819943005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3669588780142735552.post-85382108646279341282011-07-14T12:06:00.001-04:002011-07-14T12:07:55.558-04:00Bloomberg Editorial: “Do we want the U.S. government constantly fiddling with Google’s algorithms?”<break><br />Check out <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-13/google-s-conduct-requires-oversight-but-not-a-u-s-antitrust-probe-view.html">Bloomberg’s new editorial</a> about the FTC investigation, arguing against “a drawn-out antitrust suit”:<br /><blockquote>The protracted rituals of antitrust, however, were built for a world in which monopolists stymied innovation, jacked up prices, stifled competition and arm-twisted customers into buying extra goods or services they didn’t need. It’s not that simple in high tech.<br /><br />Google hardly acts like a classic monopolist. It innovates furiously, having made 500 refinements to its search-engine algorithms last year alone. Google gives away most of its products. Google’s easy-to-use AdWords and AdSense products have helped thousands of businesses get started. And for all its supposed market clout, Google has launched its share of flops, such as Google Health.</blockquote>Read the whole thing <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-13/google-s-conduct-requires-oversight-but-not-a-u-s-antitrust-probe-view.html">here</a>.</break>Google Competition Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17153067508819943005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3669588780142735552.post-70636979374282932322011-07-12T11:07:00.002-04:002011-07-19T14:53:20.627-04:00Commentators: Google Is Not Microsoft<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="background-color: transparent; "><span id="internal-source-marker_0.2514664023183286" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Here’s what antitrust experts, journalists and others are saying about the oft-repeated but mistaken analogy between the FTC investigation of Google and the Microsoft case of the 1990s:</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Comparisons are “Plainly Ridiculous”</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The Economist</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Yet even if Google has to make some concessions in the end, talk of its predicament being the same as Microsoft’s in the 1990s is plainly ridiculous. By embedding only its own web browser into its Windows operating system, Microsoft deliberately restricted users’ choice in the hope they would become addicted to its products.” (</span><a href="http://www.economist.com/node/18897553?story_id=18897553&fsrc=rss"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The Economist</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, June 30, 2011)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Glenn Manishin, Antitrust Attorney</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“[U]nlike the historic AT&T and Microsoft monopolization prosecutions, which were based on plainly anti-competitive conduct taken by monopolists to squelch competition, the concerns of travel and other so-called ‘vertical’ competitors of Google is that the search giant has what they term the ‘incentive and ability’ to harm competition in the future. U.S. antitrust law, to the contrary, bases liability on actual practices, not the potential for future bad acts. Google is most definitely big, but in America big alone has never been bad, let alone illegal.” (</span><a href="http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202499176249&No_need_for_antitrust_prosecution_of_Google&slreturn=1&hbxlogin=1"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">National Law Journal</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, July 4, 2011)</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Joshua Wright, Professor, George Mason Law School</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> "As an outsider I would say that obstacle is far higher for them today with Google than it was back then with Microsoft.” (</span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jun/23/google-investigation-federal-trade-commission"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The Guardian</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, June 23, 2011)</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">David Balto, Former Policy Director, Federal Trade Commission</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google is not like Microsoft. Google's conduct today is not like Microsoft's conduct during the 1990s. The markets in which Google competes are vibrant, competitive, and rapidly evolving. Any analogy between a potential antitrust case against Google and the antitrust case against Microsoft ignores the underlying facts and is a misguided over-simplification of the complicated nature of the on-line search market.” (</span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-balto/google-is-no-microsoft_b_885616.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The Huffington Post</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, June 30, 2011)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Clint Boulton, eWeek</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“...I and others find it hard to believe it when Gary Reback, who helped prosecute Microsoft, says this is "Microsoft redux" and that it "is almost exactly the same case." (</span><a href="http://googlewatch.eweek.com/content/google_vs_government/googles_antitrust_inquiry_is_different_from_microsofts_doj_smackdown.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">eWeek</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, June 28, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Kathy Kristof, CBS MoneyWatch</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Unless there is some evidence of coercion that we’ve yet to hear, this is not the same as the 1990s Microsoft antitrust case.” (</span><a href="http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/devil-details/the-senate-google-and-atlas-shrugged/4814/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">CBS BNET</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, June 23, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Bianca Bosker, Technology Editor, Huffington Post</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Yet some experts counter that the nature of the technology involved makes it difficult to compare Microsoft's antitrust lawsuit and the FTC's reported investigation into Google.” (</span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/23/google-antitrust-inquiry-_n_883389.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The Huffington Post</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, June 23, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">No Lock In</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">David Balto, Former Policy Director, Federal Trade Commission</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Additionally, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">unlike Microsoft's operating system product, whatever power this 65% share confers to Google is moot because search consumers face zero switching costs</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">! You can't have monopoly power if it is costless to switch to an alternative...Consumers have choices that are mere keystrokes away. Bing, Yahoo!, Ask.com all have measurable share of the core search market and there are also a number of niche search sites such as WebMD, Kayak, and Wikipedia. Unlike the cost of buying and installing a new operating system, users need only type "bing.com" into their browser's address bar to use a different search engine.” (</span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-balto/google-is-no-microsoft_b_885616.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The Huffington Post</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, June 30, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Robert Cyran and Jeffrey Goldfarb, Reuters Breakingviews</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“In essence, Microsoft had a true monopoly, abused its position and government intervention was the only immediate cure. Google’s situation is more complex. The firm claims only about two-thirds of the search market in the United States. Rivals also accuse Google of putting its services first. For example, its own maps might turn up in search results. But </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">customers can easily use other search engines or type in a Web site address directly</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, and search doesn’t appear to be a utility in need of regulation.” (</span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/01/business/01views.html?_r=1"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Reuters</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, June 30, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Glenn Manishin, Antitrust Attorney</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“The only thing that keeps Internet users returning to Google — </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">which unlike AT&T or Microsoft has no technological means to lock consumers into its site or services</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> — is running faster than its competitors. Antitrust law should intervene in that race only if Google acts to trip a competitor — if it cheats.” (</span><a href="http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202499176249&No_need_for_antitrust_prosecution_of_Google&slreturn=1&hbxlogin=1"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">National Law Journal</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, July 4, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The Economist</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google is also addictive, but in the way that chocolate is, not in the way that cigarettes are. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">People love Googling, but they can easily give it up</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.” (</span><a href="http://www.economist.com/node/18897553?story_id=18897553&fsrc=rss"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The Economist</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, June 30, 2011)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Clint Boulton, eWeek</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Fairly or not, DOJ Vs. Microsoft set the standard for modern high-tech cases. Except in this case I would argue Google had the foresight long ago to architect its business so that </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">consumers are not locked in</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> to anyone software platform (as people were with Windows) or browser (as people were with Internet Explorer).” (</span><a href="http://googlewatch.eweek.com/content/google_vs_government/googles_antitrust_inquiry_is_different_from_microsofts_doj_smackdown.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">eWeek</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, June 28, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Herb Hovenkamp, University of Iowa law professor</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">"There's no lock-in with a Google search engine. If you want to have six different search engines all on your desktop, you can do that. It's all free. That's a very different situation than Microsoft was in. ... </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">It was very hard to escape from the Microsoft operating system, but here the escape costs are zero</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">." (</span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/23/google-antitrust-inquiry-_n_883389.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000008"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The Huffington Post</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, June 24, 2011)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Kathy Kristof, CBS MoneyWatch</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“For those who don’t remember, back in the late 1990s, when you got a computer loaded with a Windows operating system, it was “bundled” with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser. Microsoft strong-armed its vendors into making it difficult for consumers to get access to the then-leading browser, Netscape Navigator, as a way of driving Netscape out of the business and unfairly capturing a dominant market position, according to the antitrust case...Google, which now offers its own browser called Chrome, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">clearly does not pressure anyone</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> to use either its browser nor its search engine when we access the web from our homes and offices. When I open up the Chrome web browser, it’s just as easy to get to Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, as it is to get to Google.” (</span><a href="http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/devil-details/the-senate-google-and-atlas-shrugged/4814/"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">CBS BNET</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, June 23, 2011)</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Bianca Bosker, Technology Editor, Huffington Post</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“In the 1990s, there were few alternatives to Microsoft's Windows operating system -- rival computer and software manufacturer Apple, for example, was near bankruptcy in 1997 -- and disconnecting from the Microsoft ecosystem was costly, time intensive and complicated, requiring companies to overhaul systems and retrain personnel. By contrast, users can stop using Google's search engine at any time. Switching is free, requires simply typing a different web address into a browser and requires essentially no new skills.” (</span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/23/google-antitrust-inquiry-_n_883389.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The Huffington Post</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, June 23, 2011)</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Services are Free</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">David Balto, Former Policy Director, Federal Trade Commission</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“For consumers Google's services are almost completely free. Indeed, it is the fact that the services are free that Google search has transformed the nature of retail competition. Contrast this to the Microsoft case where the cost of Windows 95 was $200 retail and $100 for an upgrade. Consumers' pocketbooks do not see Google as any type of monopolist.” (</span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-balto/google-is-no-microsoft_b_885616.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The Huffington Post</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, June 30, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">No Harm to Consumers</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Thomas M. Lenard, President, Technology Policy Institute & Paul H. Rubin, Economics Professor, Emory University</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“With Google</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">there is the threshold question of whether the company has actually violated the antitrust laws. While the FTC may know things we don't, there is thus far no evidence in the public domain that Google is guilty of violations similar to those of which Microsoft was convicted a dozen years ago. (</span><a href="http://www.forbes.com/2011/06/28/google-ftc-investigation.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Forbes</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, June 28, 2011)</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Geoffrey Manne, Antitrust Professor, Lewis & Clark Law School & Joshua Wright, Antitrust Professor, George Mason University Law School</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“The focus of any antitrust inquiry must always be on consumer harm--not harm to certain competitors. We are skeptical that any such harm can be proven here. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google today is not the Microsoft of 1998</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, and even if it were, subsequent history has demonstrated that consumers are better served by letting rapid technological change play out in digital markets than by heavy-handed antitrust remedies.” (</span><a href="http://techfreedom.org/blog/2011/06/24/manne-wright-statement-ftcs-google-antitrust-investigation"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Tech Freedom</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, June 24, 2011)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">David Balto, Former Policy Director, Federal Trade Commission</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“There is a fundamental difference between the evidence of anticompetitive harm in Microsoft and Google's alleged exclusionary conduct. In Microsoft, there was a mountain of evidence that Microsoft's conduct led to significant rivals being severely handicapped and excluded. In Google's case, there are merely anecdotal and speculative claims of exclusion and harm, mostly offered by those with an affiliation to Google's competitors.” (</span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-balto/google-is-no-microsoft_b_885616.html"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The Huffington Post</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, June 30, 2011)</span></p></div></span>Google Competition Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17153067508819943005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3669588780142735552.post-64980938557947825862011-07-12T11:05:00.000-04:002011-07-12T11:06:33.357-04:00What Consumers and Internet Users are Saying About the FTC Investigation of Google<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; "><span id="internal-source-marker_0.08370433887466788" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Consumers Choose Google</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 66pt; text-indent: -30pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/Stephenie816"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">@Stephenie816</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> I CHOOSE to Google</span><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23theresnogunbeingheldtomyhead"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> #theresnogunbeingheldtomyhead</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> RT</span><a href="http://twitter.com/google"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> @google</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">: Supporting choice, ensuring economic opportunity:</span><a href="http://t.co/Kk1w2kb"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">goo.gl/HJM1J</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> </span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">6/24/11</span></p><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">@</span><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/joelinux117"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">joelinux117</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> </span><a href="http://twitter.com/google"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">@google</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> should not have to be the subject of an antitrust lawsuit... it's your choice to use Gmail/Maps/Voice/etc, and it's free </span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">6/24/11</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Technology Logs:</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> “Yes, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">users have the choice, and majority of them chose Google </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">simply because they always find the information that they want.” </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span></span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google Responds To FTC Inquiry: “Using Google Is A Choice,” </span><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/24/google-responds-to-ftc-inquiry-using-google-is-a-choice/"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">TechCrunch</span></a><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, 6/24/11</span></p><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">@</span><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/rafaelbran"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">rafaelbran</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> That's why we love you so much</span><a href="http://twitter.com/google"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> @google</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, because we've chose to. :) </span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">6/24/11</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">@</span><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/cyrowski"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">cyrowski</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> </span><a href="http://twitter.com/google"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">@google</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> I'm a</span><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23Googler"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> #Googler</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> by</span><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23Choice"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> #Choice</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">!</span><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23FTC"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> #FTC</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, should I use</span><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23AltaVista"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> #AltaVista</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> instead?</span><a href="http://t.co/MdU4uAs"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> </span></a><a href="http://bit.ly/knML1O"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">bit.ly/knML1O</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> </span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">6/24/11</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">haikued2m: </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Folks, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google is used more as a search engine because it is better, by far,</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> than the rest. I have 4 search options that I use, but the best by far is Google. And ‘they didn't bring anything new to the technology’...ok..smart guy...why didn't someone else develop a google capability and form a hugely successful company. Get real.” </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span></span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google confirms FTC probe: Translating what the company really means,” </span><a href="http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/google-confirms-ftc-probe-translating-what-the-company-really-means/51361"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">ZDNet</span></a><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, </span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">6/24/11</span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> </span></p><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">DCMetroGuy:</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> “Google is where they are .... because they provide a good service. They are fairly non-intrusive with their products, and work pretty much on an opt in model. Alot of companies slide things onto peoples computers when you go to their website, You do not necessarily know they are putting things on your computer. Google products and add-ons usually have several notices anytime they are updating or changing anything on your computer. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">They got to where they are by providing products and informationn people want and CHOOSE to use. Yes they are huge, but it is because people have chosen to use them.” </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span></span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google Confirms FTC Antitrust Investigation,” </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/24/google-confirms-ftc-antitrust-investigation_n_883951.html"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Huffington Post</span></a><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, 6/24/11</span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span></span></p><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">nimbus2020 2020: </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">I have been using Google from since beginning. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">If I had felt at any time that the results are intentionally tempered, I would not have been using such a service.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> Have they made mistakes, surely yes (remember things like buzz etc), but are they anti-competitive and dishonest, I will be shocked if that is proven.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“</span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">FTC probe could be hard, costly battle for Google,” </span><a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9217924/FTC_probe_could_be_hard_costly_battle_for_Google?taxonomyId=70#disqus_thread"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">ComputerWorld,</span></a><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> 6/24/2011</span></p><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Nirvana-bound:</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> "’The other possibility is that Google’s search engine is more popular because it is better.’ BINGO! Who in their cotton-picking minds can deny that? As for the controversy facing them, I call it a storm in their 'search engine' cup. Will pass over. More power to unfettered Googling!!”</span></p><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span>“Google's enemies: The search giant’s antitrust headache gets bigger,” </span><a href="http://www.economist.com/node/18897553/comments"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The Economist</span></a><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, 6/30/11</span><span style="font-size: 24pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> </span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">On the FTC’s Review</span><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><div dir="ltr"><table style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; border-collapse: collapse; "><colgroup><col width="187"></colgroup></table></div><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Sean Flaim</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">: [...] there has been no specific articulation of any reason for the investigation other than Google is a large company who may have market power, which I don't think is a foregone conclusion. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Inevitably such fishing expeditions will be sure to find some evidence of "guilt" for Google playing hardball here or there, but without proving damage to consumers, of what use is that? </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Using antitrust law to effect a form of ex-ante regulation on Google's conduct seems precisely backwards to the primary goals of antitrust law.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 72pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“The FTC makes its Google investigation official, now what?” </span><a href="http://techliberation.com/2011/06/24/the-ftc-makes-its-google-investigation-official-now-what/"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Tech Liberation Front</span></a><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, 6/24/11</span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">@MatthewWhatley</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> I really hope the #FTC doesn't destroy #Google after this anti-trust investigation. Why ruin a good product to let other worse products in? </span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">6/25/11</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">bluelinerci: </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">How is it that the FTC investigates Google...a company that is really only guilty of being successful. They have plenty of competition and Internet companies can fall faster than any traditional company...Yet, Ticketmaster is unfettered with their monopolistic ways?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 20pt; margin-right: 20pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span>“Google To Antitrust Enforcers: What's Up?,” </span><a href="http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/06/google-to-antitrust-enforcers-whats-up.php"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">TPM</span></a><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, 6/24/11</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Bob: </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“FTC is going to look mighty funny when they find out, after they pull their heads out from their arse that </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">google is used by choice and not out of compulsion by end-users</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. Sheer </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">waste of tax payer money.” </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“GOOGLE: Yes, We’re Under Investigation, But we Don’t Know Why,” </span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-antitrust-2011-6"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Business Insider</span></a><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, </span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">6/24/11</span></p><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">@</span><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/egpierro"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">egpierro</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> FTC going after</span><a href="http://twitter.com/Google"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> @Google</span></a><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23lawsuit"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> #lawsuit</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> seriously?! more waste of tax money... </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">aren't we a free market economy </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">after all?</span><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23survivalofthefittest"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> #survivalofthefittest</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> </span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">6/24/11</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">ChristopherIstvan</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">: “Our countries </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">businesses suffer more and more to the hands of our countries politics. Google offers great services </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">and help many web developers, search engine marketers, small, medium and large companies advertise services and products. People need to make a stand on this issue!”</span></p><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span></span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“FTC launches investigation of Google,” </span><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-google-ftc-20110625,0,3764144.story#tugs_story_display"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Los Angeles Times</span></a><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, 6/24/2011</span><br /><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">@</span><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/ronito_cruz"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">ronito_cruz</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> </span><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23FTC"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">#FTC</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> launching antitrust inquiry against</span><a href="http://twitter.com/google"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> @google</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. Two wireless companies running the market and regional telecom monopolies apparently ok. </span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">6/24/11</span></p><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">coolrepublica:</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> “Yeah that investigation puzzle me as well. If Google can be investigated for doing things to their site to keep them in business than it means that the Apple antitrust investigation is not too far behind. But </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">this is has Microsoft's hand all over it.” </span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span>“GOOGLE: Yes, We’re Under Investigation, But we Don’t Know Why,” </span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-antitrust-2011-6"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Business Insider</span></a><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, </span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">6/24/11</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Linux Geek:</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> “The unholy alliance of M$, Apple & Co. + corrupt government officials are fighting against Google and free market principles. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google, unlike M$ or Apple brought real innovation in US and created millions of jobs and business opportunities</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">.” </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span></span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google confirms FTC probe: Translating what the company really means,” </span><a href="http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/google-confirms-ftc-probe-translating-what-the-company-really-means/51361"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">ZDNet</span></a><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, </span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">6/24/11</span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">@</span><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/Dubai_CEOs"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Dubai_CEOs</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> Am I the only one that thinks the anti-trust allegations against</span><a href="http://twitter.com/google"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> @google</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> are rediculous? Keep doing what you do. And do it harder </span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">6/24/11</span></p><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">whoshooter: </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“For all you anti-Google folks, I have a question about your "monopoly concerns"....How much money has Google EVER asked you to pay using their search engine, maps, or Youtube? HOW MUCH - Zero. That is where the </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">FTC is wasting their time.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> MSN's antitrust case was valid - not this one.”</span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span>“Google Confirms FTC Antitrust Investigation,” </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/24/google-confirms-ftc-antitrust-investigation_n_883951.html"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Huffington Post</span></a><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, 6/24/11</span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span></span></p><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">DTree: </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Indeed, some of these "competitors" would be better of spending money on creating *better* websites rather than on litigation. Google algorithms reward good websites with top search rankings... it is is a purely objective form of measurement. These plaintiffs need to wake up and start spending their resources in the right places. </span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "></span></span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google Confirms FTC Antitrust Investigation,” </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/24/google-confirms-ftc-antitrust-investigation_n_883951.html"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Huffington Post</span></a><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, 6/24/11</span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">@</span><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/remtonar"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">remtonar</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> It seems </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">nonsensical 2 accuse</span><a href="http://twitter.com/Google"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> @Google</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> of market manipulation;</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> most of its services are free. 2 c a real monopsony look at</span><a href="http://twitter.com/Apple"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> @Apple</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. </span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">6/24/11</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Douglas Gawtry: </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">I will never understand this anti-trust mentality of our government. You don't have to search with google, you don't have to own an android phone,.... So why would the company get in trouble for some sort of monopoly? There is plenty of competition for everything google does. Leave them alone and spend my tax dollars on something more worthwhile.</span></p><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span>“</span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Google Confirms FTC Investigation; Will States Launch Inquiries, Too?,” </span><a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2387544,00.asp"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">PCMag</span></a><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, 6/24/11</span><br /><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">CForest: </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Another reason Google is facing anti-trust attention is that it is starting to encroach on Microsoft’s $22B Office suite monopoly. We have already used syncdocs.com to move all our Office and Sharepoint data to Google Docs cloud. Many others will follow. You can bet Microsoft’s lobbyists will be working hard in Washington...</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span></span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google's enemies: The search giant’s antitrust headache gets bigger,” </span><a href="http://www.economist.com/node/18897553/comments"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The Economist</span></a><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, 6/30/11</span><span style="font-size: 24pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Big Isn’t Bad</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">m2skd:</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Consumers benefiting from google search is not allowed apparently.” </span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span>“Google Responds To FTC Inquiry: “Using Google Is A Choice,” </span><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/24/google-responds-to-ftc-inquiry-using-google-is-a-choice/"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">TechCrunch</span></a><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, 6/24/11</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">gwailo247:</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> “Google doesn't spend millions/billions to acquire companies because they suck. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">They usually buy companies because they are good investments</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, and they then </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">usually put money into making them better.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> Same with Microsoft and (at least in the old days) with Yahoo.” </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span></span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google says trustbuster concerns are 'unclear',” </span><a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20074067-93/google-says-trustbuster-concerns-are-unclear/"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">CNet</span></a><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, 6/24/11 </span></p><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">@</span><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/TheDudeDiogenes"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">TheDudeDiogenes</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> I generally distrust companies, but I trust</span><a href="http://twitter.com/Google"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> @Google</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> more than I trust our government. </span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">6/24/11</span></p><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">willyampz:</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> “A business is especially obligated to be out for itself first - and society benefits in the form of jobs. Where things go wrong is when a company or individual enriches themselves AT THE EXPENSE of society. In my opinion, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">I see Google as being one of the more ethical companies, and gives back so much for free</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. Of course, they CAN do that because they are ad-supported.” </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span></span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Google confirms FTC probe: Translating what the company really means,” </span><a href="http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/google-confirms-ftc-probe-translating-what-the-company-really-means/51361"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">ZDNet</span></a><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, </span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">6/24/11</span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> </span></p></div></span>Google Competition Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17153067508819943005noreply@blogger.com