Topic “Google”
Justice Dept. Criticizes Latest Google Book Deal
In another blow to Google’s plan to create a giant digital library and bookstore, the Justice Department on Thursday said that a class-action settlement between the company and groups representing authors and publishers had significant legal problems, even after recent revisions.
Google, Under Attack By China, May Seek to Bolster its Political Ties Domestically
With Google this week enduring a Chinese attack on its computer systems -- and the Obama administration and FBI taking keen interest in the development -- the tech giant may be poised for an uptick in its political influence efforts.
Concerns about corporate tax dodging
Governments around the globe are reviewing corporate tax returns much more closely these days. At a time when public budgets are tighter than ever, the New York Times reports that government officials worry that multinationals may be gaming the system:
Online privacy quickly becoming key issue for lawmakers, activists
Online privacy is a hot conversation topic these days.
Facebook and Google are updating their privacy settings. Reps. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) and Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) are working on broad privacy legislation. Advocacy groups are ramping up their calls for more strict privacy standards on the Web.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is holding its long-awaited first privacy roundtable Monday. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has to address the issue in its national broadband recommendations, due to Congress in February.
Hedge Fund Executive Is Charged With Insider Trading
Update | 10:32 a.m. The founder of the Galleon Group, a big New York hedge fund, was charged on Friday with insider trading in the stocks of several companies, including Advanced Micro Devices, Clearwire and Akamai, earning about $20 million in the process.
Google board member leaves amid probe
Google said Monday that one of its corporate directors has stepped down from its board.
Although Google did not give a reason for Arthur Levinson’s departure, many are connecting it to the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust inquiry into the close ties between Apple and Google board members. The FTC launched the investigation earlier this year.
Levinson, former CEO of Genentech, is a corporate director of Apple and became a Google director five years ago.
Italian Regulators Investigating Google
PARIS — Italian competition authorities said Thursday that they were investigating Google, following complaints from publishers that the company was abusing its dominant position on the Internet to deny them a fair share of online advertising revenue.
Carlo Malinconico, president of the Italian Federation of Newspaper Publishers, said the group had complained to the antitrust authority about a “lack of transparency” in Google’s search engine and Google News service, which compiles blurbs of news stories on the Web and provides links to them.
New Mood in Antitrust May Target Google
For decades, the nation’s biggest antitrust cases have centered on technology companies. And they have all been efforts by the government to deal with powerful companies with far-reaching influence, like AT&T, the telephone monopoly; I.B.M., the mainframe computer giant; and Microsoft, the powerhouse of personal computer software.
Antitrust eyes turn toward Google
Google, the Internet goliath, is on a collision course with President Obama even though its employees and executives have lavished money and support on America’s new chief executive.
The administration’s signal this week that it will take a more aggressive stance toward monopolies has huge implications for Google, according to several antitrust lawyers.
Administration Plans to Strengthen Antitrust Rules
WASHINGTON — President Obama’s top antitrust official this week plans to restore an aggressive enforcement policy against corporations that use their market dominance to elbow out competitors or to keep them from gaining market share.
The new enforcement policy would reverse the Bush administration’s approach, which strongly favored defendants against antitrust claims. It would restore a policy that led to the landmark antitrust lawsuits against Microsoft and Intel in the 1990s.