the satff of the Ridgewood blog
Glen Rock NJ, A group of 50 attorneys general from 48 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico unveiled a major antitrust investigation of Google Monday, sharply escalating the regulatory scrutiny facing the tech giant.The probe will focus on whether Google (GOOG) has harmed competition and consumers, looking at least initially into the company’s conduct in its search, advertising and other businesses, though it may expand from there.
Today it was announced that a bipartisan group of attorneys general, including New Jersey, have opened a multi-state investigation into allegations of anti-competitive conduct by Google in the market for internet advertising.
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal issued the following statement about the investigation:
“Technology companies like Google exert incredible influence and power over our daily lives. Whether it’s checking the news, preparing a report for work, or even planning the details of a family vacation, we rely on big tech for information, and they use our usage behavior to monetize their businesses. How they acquire and exert their power and influence on our behaviors should be subject to public scrutiny; and no company is too big or too powerful to avoid it. That’s why we’ve joined a broad coalition of 50 attorneys general who are examining anti-competitive conduct in big tech.”
Switched to DuckDuckGo a long time ago on the advice of many tech writers re: Google’s privacy violations and recommend that others do the same.
Google and the rest of valley data companies should offer users paid subscription. We get the best of their machine learning tech and they + Privacy agreement and they get steady income.
The sad fact is that by having advertisers as clients and consumers as product, Google became a powerful mechanism of transferring wealth and power from individuals to corporate interests and their (major) shareholders. This goes beyond business practices. This is a power used against the people of this country. I’m surprised it took that Long for the gov’t to act.
No benefit will go to individuals. This is an attempt to shake the biggest money tree in sight
internet 2.0 is coming