11 ms·

* Finding the most relevant X on the web is fundamentally part of the same market no matter what X is.* The thing is, if what Google displays as "the most rele

by MaysonL 11y ago

* Finding the most relevant X on the web is fundamentally part of the same market no matter what X is.* The thing is, if what Google displays as "the most relevant X" is always or predominantly or even merely often a Google site, rather than what is actually the most relevant X, then Google is abusing their dominant position to create advantage in related markets. I do agree that the failed 2014 deal was a piece of crap.

tmarthal 11y ago
Right. And when someone is searching for facts, Google is using their dominant position to just display the facts, instead of just a link to a web site that has the facts. The problem is the definition of what are 'facts'. Are birthdates? Are consumer good prices? Are classified postings? Airline flight times?
JoshTriplett 11y ago
If Google disproportionately biased their search results, that would be one thing. However, that's not what we're talking about here. People don't want a link to a map, they want a map. People don't want a link to run the same search on an image search site, they want the image they were looking for. It's not even remotely sensible to demand that Google provide the same level of integration with random third-party sites, many of which don't even offer that level of integration at all. I fundamentally don't believe the rules should suddenly become different when you become sufficiently successful. There's no size threshold above which you ought to have to listen when everyone wants a cut. Now, if you're colluding to suppress other products that are actually better, that's a different matter; that's wrong no matter how big or small you are. But that's not what we're talking about here. And I say that as someone who uses DDG for search, and voluntarily chose to switch for a variety of reasons.

11 ms·

* Finding the most relevant X on the web is fundamentally part of the same market no matter what X is.* The thing is, if what Google displays as "the most rele

by MaysonL 11y ago

tmarthal 11y ago
Right. And when someone is searching for facts, Google is using their dominant position to just display the facts, instead of just a link to a web site that has the facts. The problem is the definition of what are 'facts'. Are birthdates? Are consumer good prices? Are classified postings? Airline flight times?
JoshTriplett 11y ago
If Google disproportionately biased their search results, that would be one thing. However, that's not what we're talking about here. People don't want a link to a map, they want a map. People don't want a link to run the same search on an image search site, they want the image they were looking for. It's not even remotely sensible to demand that Google provide the same level of integration with random third-party sites, many of which don't even offer that level of integration at all. I fundamentally don't believe the rules should suddenly become different when you become sufficiently successful. There's no size threshold above which you ought to have to listen when everyone wants a cut. Now, if you're colluding to suppress other products that are actually better, that's a different matter; that's wrong no matter how big or small you are. But that's not what we're talking about here. And I say that as someone who uses DDG for search, and voluntarily chose to switch for a variety of reasons.