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Antitrust law: Google’s defense against lawsuit? You

Antitrust law: Google’s defense against lawsuit? You

Should Google’s benefits to consumers cancel out any alleged abuses of its economic might? That’s where the company and the US government may inevitably clash in court. How a judge answers the question could have far wider ramifications than this one case. It reflects deep tensions between what critics of US law say has allowed decades of corporate concentration, and what its defenders say is a feature of the system — not a bug — that keeps the focus squarely on consumers’ welfare in a… Source link

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Google tests smart displays that activate without a wake word

Google tests smart displays that activate without a wake word

A new feature being internally tested at Google could remove the need to say “Hey Google” before voicing commands to Nest Hub smart displays, Android Central reports. Instead, the feature codenamed “Blue Steel” could allow the device to simply sense your presence, and proactively listen for commands without first needing to hear the wake word. The functionality has been shown off in a video posted to YouTube by Jan Boromeusz, who Android Central notes previously leaked features… Source link

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Top Investigator in Google Case Says There ‘Was Not a Rush’ to Sue

Top Investigator in Google Case Says There ‘Was Not a Rush’ to Sue

Jeffrey A. Rosen, the deputy attorney general, wouldn’t normally oversee an antitrust investigation into Google. It would usually fall to the head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division. But that official, Makan Delrahim, recused himself because the company is a former legal client. So Mr. Rosen took the lead on the investigation, and on Tuesday he announced the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Google, which accuses the company of illegally protecting its monopoly over… Source link

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Google Can Subscribe to Push Notifications

Google Can Subscribe to Push Notifications

Google announced a new Chrome 86 feature that included the news that Google’s “automated web crawling service” can subscribe to push notifications. The reason for doing that is to identify abusive push notifications for the purpose of blocking them in Chrome. Is Googlebot Subscribing to Push Notifications? It’s unclear if the phrase “automated web crawling service” is a reference to Googlebot or some other crawler. The Chrome announcement refers to it as an automated Chrome instance… Source link

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Google antitrust lawsuit: Why dethroning Google Search is so hard

Google antitrust lawsuit: Why dethroning Google Search is so hard

That search dominance is now being targeted by the US Department of Justice, which on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Google in one of the most significant ever antitrust cases against a tech company. It’s unclear what consequences the tech giant may face, but US Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said on a call with reporters that “nothing is off the table.” But if reining in the Google search juggernaut is the goal, the big question is: Will anything on the table be enough? The numbers… Source link

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Google is facing the biggest antitrust case in a generation. What could happen? | Google

After being hit Tuesday with the most significant monopoly-related charges to be filed in the US in decades, Google has a long road ahead in its quest to prove it does not unfairly dominate the online search engine space. Google was accused in the long-expected lawsuit of harming competition in internet search and search advertising through distribution agreements – contracts in which Google pays other companies millions of dollars to prioritize its search engine in their products – and… Source link

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Big Tech’s Professional Opponents Strike at Google

Big Tech’s Professional Opponents Strike at Google

Months before the Justice Department filed a landmark antitrust suit against Google this week, the internet company’s adversaries hustled behind the scenes to lay the groundwork for a case. Nonprofits critical of corporate power warned lawmakers that Google illegally boxed out rivals. With mounds of documents, economists and antitrust scholars detailed to regulators and state investigators how the company throttled competition. And former Silicon Valley insiders steered congressional… Source link

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Apple services success story bolstered by huge Google payments

Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple, speaks at the 2019 Dreamforce conference in San Francisco on November 19, 2019. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images The Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit against Google focuses on deals the company has signed to be the default search engine on mobile devices and web browsers. The biggest of these default search deals is with Apple. Through its placement as the default search engine in the Safari browser for the iPhone and iPad, Google… Source link

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