Missouri Attorney General Launches an Anti-Trust Investigation Against Google

DooKey

DooKey

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Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley announced today that his Office has issued an investigative subpoena to Internet giant Google, Inc., in connection with an investigation into the company’s business practices. Specifically, the investigation will seek to determine if Google has violated the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act—Missouri’s principal consumer-protection statute—and Missouri’s antitrust laws. I'm glad someone is going to look into their activities. Is this how the giant is brought down?

“There is strong reason to believe that Google has not been acting with the best interest of Missourians in mind,” Hawley said. “My Office will not stand by and let private consumer information be jeopardized by industry giants, especially to pad their profits.”
 
Weird that MS still does a ton though in regards to privacy/spying. Google is much worse. Going after the big companies is a good start but many just create subsidiary companies to do the dirty work.
 
grtitan said:
Well, if found guilty, I guess they will get the same harsh punishment that MS got back in the day.
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I think that this time, there will be greater opportunity to show actual harm, instead of potential harm. We're not talking about practices that may or may not hurt other businesses, or potentially made a product more expensive - we're talking about practices that in fact actually affect user privacy. Will be interesting to see, but if no other states jump on, may not go far.
 
I get what the guy I is saying, and It does piss me off the way companies treat people's information. It's down right creepy.

Still, I had to laugh at
“There is strong reason to believe that Google has not been acting with the best interest of Missourians in mind,

Why the hell should any company act fir any states citizens BEST INTEREST. Trample their rights, no. Ignore them, no. You can only keep one groups best interests in mind. For any company, that's the shareholders. Those best interests need to be balanced against ethics, morals, laws, etc of course and Google doesn't seem to do that very well.
 
mord said:
I get what the guy I is saying, and It does piss me off the way companies treat people's information. It's down right creepy.

Still, I had to laugh at
“There is strong reason to believe that Google has not been acting with the best interest of Missourians in mind,

Why the hell should any company act fir any states citizens BEST INTEREST. Trample their rights, no. Ignore them, no. You can only keep one groups best interests in mind. For any company, that's the shareholders. Those best interests need to be balanced against ethics, morals, laws, etc of course and Google doesn't seem to do that very well.
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They should act in a manor that is in the citizens best interests because if they act in a manor that is detrimental or exploitive of the citizenry then there is a legal system there to prevent them from maximising the harm they can do.

It's call the rule of law and every single country where it has broken down is an inescapable pit of shit. Every. Single. One.
 
SecretStash said:
Missouri benefits from Google fiber. I wonder if Google will use that as leverage.
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Unfortunately Google stopped expanding it's Google Fiber network (shortly after Alphabet "took over"). It got MOST of Kansas City covered, but of course they stopped 10 miles away from my house :(
They are still supporting the service, but they have no plans of expansion anymore. I wouldnt be surprised if Google sold off its business in KC and moved on to be honest.

With that said Google Fiber did increase competitiveness and Time Warner (now Spectrum) increased my internet connection from 50Mbps down/5Mbps up to 200Mbps/20Mbps for the same price.
 
Yeah, not really sure what the Missouri AG is alleging. He might as well sue all companies, because I don't think any of them are "acting with the best interest of Missourians in mind". He seems worried about privacy, but doesn't actually point to any issues other than "Google is really big!"
 
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