Senate Judiciary Committee Grills Google

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Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel grilled Eric Schmidt today accusing Google of "cooking" search results.

Lee said that search rankings for price comparison sites -- Nextag, PriceGrabber and Shopper -- varied while Google's shopping site consistently ranked third. "I see you magically coming up third every time," Lee said. "I don't know whether you call this a separate algorithm or whether you've reverse engineered one algorithm, but either way you've cooked it, so that you're always third."
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And is there a law stating that Google can't display search results however they want? :confused:
 
Time2Kill said:
And is there a law stating that Google can't display search results however they want? :confused:
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+1

It's their site and software they can do what they want with it. If you don't want to use it you don't have to, there are plenty of other search engines.
 
Jesus Christ, half of my friends are jobless. Can't they worry about that instead?
 
forcefed said:
Im sure there's one in europe, just ask how a similar situation worked out for microsoft.
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Well, if there is.. there shouldn't be. I know I'd hate it if all google showed up were google related products, it's their program and their site. Silly waste of resource, as someone said.
 
Well, I can see how Google favoring itself in its search results is an antitrust concern. Especially if they imply that the search results are unbiased.

I agree this particular issue isn't a big deal, though. Hopefully this doesn't go beyond a committee grilling.
 
The Republican senator is right, though. By manually altering its search algorithm Google can effectively control competition on the Internet. Someone needs to make clear that they cannot abuse that power.
 
lchan said:
what a waste of time and resources.
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Not really, look at how the media has changed when only a few control what you see and hear. But I would say that this is just grandstanding, giving the impression that our interests are being looked after. Obama didn't invite Google, Facebook, and a few others to the white house for tea and crumpets.
 
Think about it like this:

It would be perfectly fine for google to display a banner that is a "sponsored by google" search result (which damned near EVERY other website does),

but if they merely set their search algorithm to do the same, and maintain some page clarity/unclutter, it's completely wrong ?


And it's THIRD , THIRD. This isn't comparable to say, MS's euro case, where it was a preinstalled component to the OS, with file associations attached, it's the results of a search, with 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th etc etc displayed literally pixels away.

Totally different.
 
HOCP4ME said:
The Republican senator is right, though. By manually altering its search algorithm Google can effectively control competition on the Internet. Someone needs to make clear that they cannot abuse that power.
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why not? plenty of other search engines out there...
 
is google crazy what are they crazy? if I was google my result would show up first.
 
i guess it sucks this time to be #1 huh LULZ says were # 3 were number # 3 roflcopter :p
 
lchan said:
what a waste of time and resources.
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Bingo.

This plays out just like Congress grilling BP over the Gulf of Mexico oil spills. Congress-critters get a chance to act for the cameras, in case some of their constituents actually watch C-SPAN. However, all of the theater-acting doesn't change the outcome of the play itself; when the hearing is over, it's business as usual.

Not saying here that (unlike BP) Google is right or wrong about anything --just that these hearings do little or nothing to improve the lives of voting citizens. Anything that really happens likely happens behind closed doors, with the "help" of lobbyists.
 
Whats next, laws against using white backgrounds?

Congress is like Windows, after a certain period of time it gets bloated and corrupted, the only solution is to nuke and repave.
 
Google can do whatever the fuck they want?

They have no right to tell google what they can and can't use as an algorithm to display search results.

They could post ONLY fucking google products as the result.. guess what that's THEIR FUCKING CHOICE.


Holy shit the things that go on are seriously making me question how the fuck these people get into offices.

Sue grandma for downloading song OK, cool

Fuck with google because they have their site setup which is in every fucking way legal - how they want it... Can google try taking over the government now? Because I'd probably be able to tolerate a competent overlord corporation more so than a "just and equal" lololol retarded governmental body.
 
HOCP4ME said:
The Republican senator is right, though. By manually altering its search algorithm Google can effectively control competition on the Internet. Someone needs to make clear that they cannot abuse that power.
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I think that by saying that Google is controlling competition, you are effectively admitting that there is no competition. Its not like Google controls which search engine you are allowed to use.

Hell, TV Companies only advertise shows that are on their networks, and not on rival networks. If this means that I miss an advert for a TV Show I want to watch on a different channel, and hence miss the show, is that the TV Network's fault? Or my own for not using my brain to look at other channels?
 
Weenis said:
Can google try taking over the government now?[ /QUOTE]I wonder if the federal government sees Google as a contender to their control over the citizenry. Google has everything the legislature wishes they had: knowledge, popular support, competent leadership with mostly good decision making capability, the ability to keep themselves financially solvent, and the ability to be beneficial and pleasing to all parties who deal with them.
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cold&damp said:
I think that by saying that Google is controlling competition, you are effectively admitting that there is no competition. Its not like Google controls which search engine you are allowed to use.

Hell, TV Companies only advertise shows that are on their networks, and not on rival networks. If this means that I miss an advert for a TV Show I want to watch on a different channel, and hence miss the show, is that the TV Network's fault? Or my own for not using my brain to look at other channels?
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Intelligence is hard work, and un-american.
 
Another vote for Congressional PR stunt and waste of time. I don't remember Google ever being declared the one and only authoritative source of search results, even though some less savvy may treat it as such. As far as Nextag, Yelp, Pricegrabber et al. if you don't like the way Google ranks search results, start your own search engine and compete. Change the industry with competition and innovation, not whining to the courts/Congress/yourmom.
 
jthomas said:
Another vote for Congressional PR stunt and waste of time. I don't remember Google ever being declared the one and only authoritative source of search results, even though some less savvy may treat it as such. As far as Nextag, Yelp, Pricegrabber et al. if you don't like the way Google ranks search results, start your own search engine and compete. Change the industry with competition and innovation, not whining to the courts/Congress/yourmom.
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The problem is the majority of our society is fucking retarded, so the PR stunts will continue on and on until people wise up and get involved in government.


So.. time to move to somewhere warmer where they do this anyway and not deal with some dumb bullshit, right?
 
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel grilled Eric Schmidt today accusing Google of not giving them enough money.
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There, just had to fix that headline.
 
The only response Eric needs to bother uttering to this inane committee. "We aren't the only search engine, if you dislike the results that we display you can use something else".

/end committee and waste of tax payers money.
 
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