The Federal Trade Commission is ready to formally declare war against Google, reports the Wall Street Journal:
WASHINGTON—The Federal Trade Commission is poised to serve Google Inc. with civil subpoenas, according to people familiar with the matter, signaling the start of a wide-ranging, formal investigation into whether the Internet-search giant has abused its dominance on the Web.
The agency’s five-member panel of commissioners is preparing to send its formal demands for information to Google within days, these people said. They said other companies are likely to receive official requests for information about their dealings with Google at a later stage.
Representatives for Google and the FTC declined to comment.
[...]
The [FTC's] inquiry…will examine fundamental issues relating to Google’s core search-advertising business, said people familiar with the matter. The business is the source of most of Google’s revenue. The issues include whether Google—which accounts for around two-thirds of Internet searches in the U.S. and more abroad—unfairly channels users to its own growing network of services at the expense of rival providers.
In November, the European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, opened its own formal investigation into allegations by several companies that Google had violated European competition laws. Google denies the allegations.
A key player in the FTC’s investigation will be the Bureau of Economics antitrust unit — which is now headed by a British government official with extensive ties to European Union authorities. I suspected something was up yesterday, but now I think it’s clear: Jon Leibowitz brought in a foreign economist to help oversee the Google investigation because he couldn’t trust any American economist to validate his insane obsession with destroying one of America’s most successful companies.
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If you knew better the dark and incestuous relationship between Google, the DoD/CIA/Pentagon, their financial foundation through INQTEL and DARPA to all the censorship they are doing at the behest of governments the world over.
You wouldn’t be defending them.
They are anti free-market
I think, OWNtheNWO, that Mr. Oliva has pointed out in other articles how one government-run crime syndicate (he usually focuses on the FTC or the SEC) often undermines the interventionist desires of another government-run crime syndicate (e.g. the Patent Office).
I don’t think anyone in their right mind still defends Spookle as being a market-based enterprise. Spookbook either, for that matter.
Plus it doesn’t make sense strategically to try to make a ‘google-government consipiracy’
If the government wants to monitor your activity they don’t need Google’s help. The internet is open. It’s designed this way and one of the negative aspects is that it’s easy to monitor activity on it since most people don’t even use basic security techniques.
If the government wants to monitor citizens then it:
1. Needs to monitor your internet behavior on the ISP level.
2. Use the security certifications your OS considers secure to intercept your SSL/TLS encrypted activities.
And this, is, in fact what the government does. They use certification companies like Verisign to create fraudulent certificates that your Operating System/Web browser trusts. This way when your connecting to your bank or other party the government will setup a server as a proxy between your computer and the service your connecting to.
Since the government’s proxy will have it’s data signed by a trusted party then you won’t be able to tell if your connecting to a legit server, or one that is performing a ‘Man in the middle attack’.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-in-the-middle_attack
The conspiracy theory between Google and the government is idiotic. Not because it’s not possible, but because it’s entirely unneeded and would actually be counter-productive for the police state.
The USA Federal government has setup the ‘Search and Seizure’ laws so that when your data is hosted by a third party then your rights against search is very diminished. Basically to get your gmail account data, especially if you have not touched _all_ your emails in the past few months, then all the FBI needs is to send a letter and Google will be legally forced to provide your data to them.
Why on earth would a conspiracy be needed if they have the ability to get all your information easily no matter what… no matter what services you use?
On the contrary, centralizing online surveillance through a relatively small number of artificially popular sites is exactly what government wants. Much easier than setting up general packet sniffer dragnets and man-in-the-middle crap shoots — less virtual “leg work.”
David has a good point below about Spookle execs at Bilderburg. Then again, maybe Bilderburg isn’t ever an occasion for conspiring to enshrine a one-world socialist tyranny. *COUGH*
Thanks for sharing some good info. But, this is about more than just surveillance. Google and the FTC are both part of the military industrial complex that IS the real government. Please see my response to Mr. Fox below.
Thanks.
I agree wholeheartedly. Google, Inc. is also a Premium Corporate Member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), which is the stronghold of the international, corporatist (fascist), shadow government in the US, so you can bet that behind closed doors, Google and the FTC are working on this together. And, regardless of appearances, ultimately, Google (or their major shareholders) and the FTC will gain from this, and the American people will lose.
Like you, I smell a big rat.
I think you might find it surprising to learn how differently Google advertisers and competitors respond versus the 67% of web surfers that use Google to a question regarding whether Google is anti competitive. Having been in a room filled with these types, I would not be the least surprised if they are cheering the FTC on from the sidelines.
“The issues include whether the FTC—which accounts for around 100% of regulation services in the U.S. —unfairly channels users to its own growing network of services at the expense of rival providers.”
I’ll bet dollars to donuts that Microsoft will supply plenty of other key witnesses.
I think that OWNtheNWO is making an accurate observation but forming an incorrect conclusion. Google knows that being successful is to invite government confiscation of wealth. For this reason Google has cozied up to government agencies in an attempt to gain allies in the power structure. I believe that this is behind the recent efforts to help the Obama reelection campaign.
But what the Google leadership does not understand, and most mercantilist businessmen do not understand, is that those in government do not make friends. Those in government confiscate property and power. If you are successful the government is an enemy that will not allow co-existence.
Good post. The major problem with government sticks-n-carrots in the private sector is that it turns great entrepreneurs into statists and criminals – just to continue to have the right to *be* entrepreneurs!
No offense, Mr. Fox, but I believe OWNtheNWO is more correct than you think. What you and most American’s don’t understand, because the truth is intentionally concealed from you, is that Google IS PART OF the military industrial complex (MIC) that IS our government. It is a front, just like those discussed by ex-CIA economic hitman John Perkins in his book “Confessions of an Economic Hitman.” And, you can bet there is a hidden agenda here. This is the Hegelian dialectic in action. The real government that is the MIC controls both sides of the opposition (Google and the FTC), and thereby controls the outcome: thesis–>antithesis–>synthesis.
There were google guys at the recent bilderberg conference. I smell a conspiracy. Either they
(a) refused to play ball and tried to go against the flow of the elites, or (b) it’s a collusion with the elites to gain control of the internet. Or (c) it’s a real case. I’m banking on the conspiracy side.
I think that its B. When I saw the supoena, I was like wow…they’re really gonna try to basically take over Google or at least get more access to their sea of data… I didn’t even connect the Bildeberger dots. Remember that bill to allow the President to declare a Cyber emergency and shutdown the internet… whatever happened to that?
Regardless, I don’t really see how the government has a leg to stand on. It wasn’t like Google has been doing what MS did, which was steal code and then push people out of the way. There’s still competition for Google (case-in-point Bing), which means there’s choice…which means there isn’t a monopoly. Sure, Google can control links within their algos, but I really don’t think that qualifies as a monopoly if you have a patented piece of software. Of course, it might not be right if they start favoring some groups over others, but its definitely not illegal…if it were, the government would have to go after itself.
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