

Google at the center of antitrust probes - bchjam
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/24/us-google-ftc-idUSTRE75M4QE20110624

======
VMG
TFA: _[Google] has been accused by competitors of favoring its own services
over rivals in its search results_

This is what is wrong with antitrust laws. The definition is so vague that
anything can be construed as anti-competitive. Hopefully they don't dismantle
Google like they dismantled ALCOLA

[http://reason.com/archives/2001/11/01/antitrusts-greatest-
hi...](http://reason.com/archives/2001/11/01/antitrusts-greatest-hits/1)

~~~
zheng
Exactly. What company doesn't favor its own products to people who are using
something the company provides free of charge?

~~~
gojomo
Favoring your own products is fine when you don't have a market-dominant
position. The rules change when you reach a certain level of dominance: that's
the gist of antitrust law.

So it doesn't matter if you're doing the same thing you always did, or that
other less-dominant companies do regularly. Certain pricing strategies,
product-tie-ins, contractual agreements that were legal, stop being legal.

I'd agree that's kind of a mess because there's no bright-line indicator
you've crossed the threshold. It has to be argued, via a bunch of somewhat
subjective and ad hoc per industry standards, after the allegations of abusive
behavior come up.

So perhaps there shouldn't be any antitrust law. Or it should operate on
totally different grounds. But given the way it has been legislated and
practiced, doing the same thing other rational companies do is not an accepted
defense.

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jswinghammer
I wish the government would stay out of these matters. If you don't want to
use a single Google product you as a consumer don't have to. Google provides a
very high quality product and competitors don't like it. I don't like it when
my competition is better than me either but I don't think to file lawsuits
about it.

I think these cases is about making a statement rather than improving anything
for consumers. The attitude of consumers is pretty clear given that most
everyone uses Google. If I felt like I was being deprived of good search
results I would switch.

How many people here on HN have wondered if Google is in decline anyway? I
know it's occurred to me. What is the government hoping to do with this case?

~~~
mrlase
Exactly. I've had the idea of using Google to find information ingrained in me
since elementary school when they taught us how to efficiently search with it.
I use Chrome, google apps for business, google talk, android os, and plenty of
other wonderful Google products simply because they are high quality products
supported by a name I can trust.

I haven't thought much about Google in decline as I see it as almost
impossible at this point in time. They have the number one search engine in
the world that is used by a crazy 1/6 of the population on Earth. With other
tech giants though such as Facebook, I've been thinking recently about whether
or not they're declining already or if they'll continue to grow.

------
immortalbeast
This is not Google's year.

Bing grabs market share from Google over past year

Google has lost close to 16 percent of its share, dropping to 63.6 percent
from 73.9 percent. At the same time, Microsoft grew its share by 75 percent,
jumping to 17 percent from 9.7 percent.

[http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-20072914-75/bing-grabs-
mar...](http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-20072914-75/bing-grabs-market-share-
from-google-over-past-year/)

~~~
jamesaguilar
Anybody can buy market share if they have deep enough pockets. If it's non-
recurring, it doesn't help Bing much in the long run.
[http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-bing-losing-
billion...](http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-bing-losing-
billions-2011-4)

Put another way, you could compare Google and Bing to Apple and Dell. One side
has most of the profits, the other side has most of the volume. Except in the
Google and Bing comparison, Google has both. Microsoft is catching up on
volume, but their profit situation is actually deteriorating.

Anyway, I think it's good for the world if we have multiple competing
financially viable search engines. Unfortunately that describes only Google
right now, because neither Bing nor Yahoo search could survive independent of
Microsoft's deep, deep pockets and total lack of regard for shareholders.

------
bhartzer
why does this not surprise me?

