Google Inc’s methods for recommending Web sites are being reviewed by the US state of Texas’ attorney general in an investigation spurred by complaints that the company has abused its power as the Internet’s dominant search engine.
The antitrust inquiry disclosed by Google late on Friday is just the latest sign of the intensifying scrutiny that is facing the company as it enters its corporate adolescence.
A spokesman for Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott confirmed the investigation, but declined further comment.
The review appears to be focused on whether Google is manipulating its search results to stifle competition.
The pecking order of those results can make or break Web sites because Google’s search engine processes about two-thirds of the search requests in the US and handles even more volume in some parts of the world.
That dominance means a Web site ranking high on the first page of Google’s results will likely attract more traffic and generate more revenue, either from ads or merchandise sales.
European regulators already have been investigating complaints alleging that Google has been favoring its own services in its results instead of rival Web sites.
Several lawsuits filed in the US also have alleged Google’s search formula is biased. Google believes Abbott is the first state attorney general to open an antitrust review into the issue.
“We look forward to answering [Abbott’s] questions because we’re confident that Google operates in the best interests of our users,” Don Harrison, Google’s deputy-general counsel, wrote in a blog post on Friday.
Harrison said that Abbott has asked Google for information about several companies, including: Foundem, an online shopping comparison site in Britain; SourceTool, which runs an e-commerce site catering to businesses; and MyTriggers, another shopping comparison site.
Regulators and lawmakers in the US and Europe also have been looking into Google’s privacy practices and its acquisitions as the company tries to fortify its power. A court document filed on Friday showed that the company has settled a lawsuit accusing it of privacy violations in connection with its Buzz social networking service.
The settlement filing comes on the same day Google said it would simplify and update its privacy policies, associate-general counsel Mike Yang said on the company’s Web site.
Launched in February, Buzz initially used an individual’s e-mail contacts from Google Gmail to build a social network of Buzz contacts that the rest of the world could see, which led to privacy concerns.
Google then changed the settings so that contacts were kept private by default.
To settle the lawsuit brought by a Gmail user, Google will set aside US$8.5 million for attorneys fees and donations to organizations focused on Internet privacy, the court filing said.
In addition, “the settlement requires that Google undertake wider public education about the privacy aspects of Buzz,” the filing showed.
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
RSS