5 ms·

Texas Asks Whether Google Violates Search Neutrality

7 points by ez77 16y ago

narkee 16y ago
The whole point of search result rankings is to be non-neutral. Of course there's a bias, towards useful and relevant results. A completely neutral search engine would be absolutely worthless. Besides, don't people adhere to the caveat emptor philosophy anymore? If you disagree with the manner in which Google organizes their search results, you are free to choose another service, and in no way hindered in doing so.
yanw 16y ago
There is no such thing as "search neutrality", good search is subjective, also the sites in question seem like spammy link farms, nothing I would miss in my search results. And why is a Texas AG conducting this investigation? not Google nor any of the other companies involved are based in Texas.
gojomo 16y ago
A spectre is haunting America -- the spectre of state Attorneys General running for office. Whenever I see a story like this Google investigation, my first question is: "What's this AG running for?" In this case, Texas AG Greg Abbott is running for reelection to a 3rd term. Often, though, they're running for Governor, Senator, or other statewide office. Chris Tolles' piece on TC a couple weeks ago, "When Attorneys General Attack", is instructive as well: http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/19/when-attorneys-general-attack/ http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/19/when-attorneys-general-atta...
ww520 16y ago
Election year? Tech industry is becoming the preferred political punching bag.
- DTrejo 16y ago
  This makes me sad.
nhebb 16y ago
I think a relevant complaint is when a company like Visual Website Optimizer has to compete against Google Website Optimzer when Google gets to place their link as the first AdWords ad. However, I use the word "complaint" instead of "case" because I have no idea whether there is a legal issue at hand.
- michael_dorfman 16y ago
  The first Adwords ad? That's going to be auctioned, according to the Adwords methodology, so if Paras wants to pay for it, the #1 position should be his. Is anyone actually accusing Google of non-competitive behavior in Adwords?
  - nhebb 16y ago
    When Google puts one of it's services in the AdWords area, I have never seen one listed as anything but the first. And even if Google did bid for the top spot, they have inside access to the AdWords placement algorithm, which other advertisers have to guess at.

7 points by ez77 16y ago

The whole point of search result rankings is to be non-neutral. Of course there's a bias, towards useful and relevant results. A completely neutral search engine would be absolutely worthless. Besides, don't people adhere to the caveat emptor philosophy anymore? If you disagree with the manner in which Google organizes their search results, you are free to choose another service, and in no way hindered in doing so.

yanw 16y ago

There is no such thing as "search neutrality", good search is subjective, also the sites in question seem like spammy link farms, nothing I would miss in my search results. And why is a Texas AG conducting this investigation? not Google nor any of the other companies involved are based in Texas.

gojomo 16y ago

A spectre is haunting America -- the spectre of state Attorneys General running for office. Whenever I see a story like this Google investigation, my first question is: "What's this AG running for?" In this case, Texas AG Greg Abbott is running for reelection to a 3rd term. Often, though, they're running for Governor, Senator, or other statewide office. Chris Tolles' piece on TC a couple weeks ago, "When Attorneys General Attack", is instructive as well: http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/19/when-attorneys-general-attack/ http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/19/when-attorneys-general-atta...

ww520 16y ago

Election year? Tech industry is becoming the preferred political punching bag.

DTrejo 16y ago
This makes me sad.

nhebb 16y ago

I think a relevant complaint is when a company like Visual Website Optimizer has to compete against Google Website Optimzer when Google gets to place their link as the first AdWords ad. However, I use the word "complaint" instead of "case" because I have no idea whether there is a legal issue at hand.

michael_dorfman 16y ago
The first Adwords ad? That's going to be auctioned, according to the Adwords methodology, so if Paras wants to pay for it, the #1 position should be his. Is anyone actually accusing Google of non-competitive behavior in Adwords?
- nhebb 16y ago
  When Google puts one of it's services in the AdWords area, I have never seen one listed as anything but the first. And even if Google did bid for the top spot, they have inside access to the AdWords placement algorithm, which other advertisers have to guess at.