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posted by janrinok on Friday February 09 2018, @04:37AM   Printer-friendly
from the play-fair dept.

So it appears, "India's antitrust watchdog on Thursday imposed a 1.36 billion rupees ($21.17 million) fine on Google for "search bias" and abuse of its dominant position, in the latest regulatory setback for the world's most popular internet search engine."

https://in.reuters.com/article/india-google-antitrust/competition-commission-of-india-fines-google-for-abusing-dominant-position-idINKBN1FS29Z

In India, the Commission found, that Google through its search design had placed its commercial flight search function at a prominent position on the search results page to the disadvantage of businesses trying to gain market access.

The penalty... translates to 5 per cent of the company's average total revenue generated from India operations.

Some details of the "search bias" at https://www.gadgetsnow.com/tech-news/competition-commission-of-india-fines-google-for-rs-135-86-crores-for-search-bias/articleshow/62839148.cms

More coverage:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/cci-issues-order-against-google-for-search-bias/articleshow/62838992.cms
http://www.financialexpress.com/industry/technology/big-setback-for-google-whopping-rs-135-crore-fine-slapped-by-competition-commission-of-india-here-is-why/1058516/
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/indias-anti-trust-regulator-fines-google-for-search-bias/

Who trusts Google (an advertisement company) to give the correct, on-time flight details anyway?


Original Submission

Related Stories

The Case Against Google 91 comments

The Case Against Google: Critics say the search giant is squelching competition before it begins. Should the government step in?

[...] might have been surprised when headlines began appearing last year suggesting that Google and its fellow tech giants were threatening everything from our economy to democracy itself. Lawmakers have accused Google of creating an automated advertising system so vast and subtle that hardly anyone noticed when Russian saboteurs co-opted it in the last election. Critics say Facebook exploits our addictive impulses and silos us in ideological echo chambers. Amazon's reach is blamed for spurring a retail meltdown; Apple's economic impact is so profound it can cause market-wide gyrations. These controversies point to the growing anxiety that a small number of technology companies are now such powerful entities that they can destroy entire industries or social norms with just a few lines of computer code. Those four companies, plus Microsoft, make up America's largest sources of aggregated news, advertising, online shopping, digital entertainment and the tools of business and communication. They're also among the world's most valuable firms, with combined annual revenues of more than half a trillion dollars.

In a rare display of bipartisanship, lawmakers from both political parties have started questioning how these tech giants grew so powerful so fast. Regulators in Missouri, Utah, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere have called for greater scrutiny of Google and others, citing antitrust concerns; some critics have suggested that our courts and legislatures need to go after tech firms in the same way the trustbusters broke up oil and railroad monopolies a century ago. But others say that Google and its cohort are guilty only of delighting customers. If these tech leviathans ever fail to satisfy us, their defenders argue, capitalism will punish them the same way it once brought down Yahoo, AOL and MySpace.

[...] There's a loose coalition of economists and legal theorists who call themselves the New Brandeis Movement (critics call them "antitrust hipsters"), who believe that today's tech giants pose threats as significant as Standard Oil a century ago. "All of the money spent online is going to just a few companies now," says [Gary Reback] (who disdains the New Brandeis label). "They don't need dynamite or Pinkertons to club their competitors anymore. They just need algorithms and data."

Related: Microsoft Relishes its Role as Accuser in Antitrust Suit Against Google
Google Faces Record 3 Billion Euro EU Antitrust Fine: Telegraph
Antitrust Suit Filed Against Google by Gab.Ai
India Fines Google $21.17 Million for Abusing Dominant Position
Google's Crackdown on "Annoying" and "Disruptive" Ads Begins


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday February 09 2018, @05:17AM

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 09 2018, @05:17AM (#635391) Journal

    In India, some $millions go a looong way.
    (compare with EU's €2.4bn fine for the same)

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
  • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Friday February 09 2018, @05:24AM (2 children)

    by MostCynical (2589) on Friday February 09 2018, @05:24AM (#635393) Journal

    In the most recently reported fiscal year, Google's revenue amounted to 109.65 billion US dollars.

    https://www.statista.com/statistics/266206/googles-annual-global-revenue/ [statista.com]

    So: India fined Google 0.02% of last year's revenue.

    Wonder if one the staff has delegation to just write a cheque?

    --
    "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday February 09 2018, @06:18AM (1 child)

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 09 2018, @06:18AM (#635411) Journal

      May happen they accidentally pay the fine on a Citi Corporate Card, mistaking the fine as a parking ticket.

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Friday February 09 2018, @07:08AM

        by MostCynical (2589) on Friday February 09 2018, @07:08AM (#635430) Journal

        Add a zero, find you've accidentally bought a city.

        --
        "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @05:31AM (7 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @05:31AM (#635398)

    These things always seem very hypocritical to me; the so-called "government" itself is an organization predicated on abusing its dominance.

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @05:47AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @05:47AM (#635400)

      Don't worry! Trump gonna fine India for all them hindu-chimps whose been domineering the position of H1B visa and then our American nerdy boys can get their jerbs back! Make computers great again!

      .... said every graybeard tech dinosaur who voted Republican.

      • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @05:59AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @05:59AM (#635403)

        Is it because you've constructed your very identity around some organization that calls itself "government"?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @06:16AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @06:16AM (#635410)

          Boo-bloody-hoo, cry me a river.

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Friday February 09 2018, @06:08AM (2 children)

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 09 2018, @06:08AM (#635406) Journal

      Who gets to fine the Government?

      Theoretically:
      - the courts - if you win a suit against the govt - it happens.
      - the Parliament - e.g. by not approving the budgets or by cutting from it
      - the voters - this is closer to symbolic in nature.

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday February 09 2018, @06:44AM (1 child)

        by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Friday February 09 2018, @06:44AM (#635420) Homepage Journal

        ... unless there is a law that specifically says you can sue them.

        Before you can even file such a lawsuit one needs to file a claim, that will be settled purely with money. If the gummint pays the claim then there will be no opportunity for deposition, discovery, sworn testimony or setting precedent.

        --
        Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
        • (Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Friday February 09 2018, @07:32AM

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 09 2018, @07:32AM (#635434) Journal

          Federal Tort Claims Act
          Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Act

          Vivendi-Argentina water dispute
          Vattenfall Europe Generation AG v. Federal Republic of Germany
          Eli Lilly and Company v. The Government of Canada

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @06:25AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @06:25AM (#635414)

      Yes, God forbid that the majority of the people, with protections for the rights of the minority, should have dominance over . . . Who are you suggesting, you unscruopulous AC, that they do not have dominance over? Surely not the Fucking Brits! The Indians spent much blood and treasure and Gandhi to get them to leave. Corporations? Like Union Carbide? Once again, in India, you will lose, oh pernicious AC! So who else? The Brahmins? Are you a fucking caste nationalist Hindu, oh AC who I would have clean my toilets? Oh, you must be and American, which means you are very ignorant, and a libertarian, which means you are even more ignorant. So here is a tip, why don't you go into the Wild, maybe of Alaska, but Colorado or even New Jersey would suffice, and survive on your own with out a government, for, oh, three month. Remember, we are not going to come in an medivac your ass when you eat the wrong wild food, like the "Into the Wild" dude. So guess what, AC? We are going to abuse you, in the ass, while we have you here and you are helpless to prevent it. Hypocritical? Really? Bend over, you biatch!

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday February 09 2018, @06:42AM

    by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Friday February 09 2018, @06:42AM (#635419) Homepage Journal

    - webmaster's hungry children.

    Quite often know when you do a search a snippet of the first hit will display. Quite commonly that's all that one needs to read.

    What that means is that Google is making money off the sweat and tears of website publishers while at the same time depriving such webmasters of ad revenue.

    There are several reasons I don't want to work for "Don't Be Evil" any more, but this one takes the cake.

    --
    Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
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