Google Senate Hearing Recap: ‘We Have Not Cooked Anything’
- Posted on September 22, 2011 at 6:38am by
Liz Klimas
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Google’s grilling before the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee ended Wednesday evening with a simple and cryptic thank you for the valuable information and light shed on this “very important topic,” said committee chairman Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.).
Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt testified on Capitol Hill whether Google has used its dominance unfairly. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The Washington Post reported Schmidt, a first timer to speaking on the Hill, defended the ethics of Google’s algorithm used in searches and other business practices. Schmidt said he “believed” the algorithm used is unbiased. To which, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) responded, “If you don’t know, who does?” The Washington Post has more:
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who has battled Google in the past as a state attorney general, summed it up this way: “First you ran the racetrack, then you owned the racetrack. You own the horses now, and your horses are winning.”
Schmidt responded that the Internet is a platform and that Google is like a GPS system and doesn’t control access to the Web.
The company does, however, control its own search rankings, which were a key issue in the hearing. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) questioned whether the company was “cooking the results” to ensure that Google-related results appeared consistently in product searches.
“Senator, I can assure you we have not cooked anything,” Schmidt said.
Sen. Michael Lee, R-Utah, said "You've cooked it!" to Google's Eric Schmidt at Wednesday's hearing. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Some of Google’s rivals, such as Yelp and Nextag, believing Google gives its own services preference in searches were in attendance and testified at the hearing. USA Today has more:
“Google rigs those results,” Nextag CEO Jeffery Katz said.
Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman said, “Let’s be clear: Google is no longer in the business of sending people to the best destinations on the web. It has everything to do with generating more revenue.”
Here are a more highlights from the hearing.
Mashable collected some notable quotes:
Watch the Associated Press report:
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raderby
Posted on September 23, 2011 at 10:09amwhy o why would Franken complain about google’s search bias? Google is a supporter of Obama, and Obama is favored in google searches.
SOLUTION? Do NOT use ANY google products.
Report Post »Rowgue
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 6:39pmThis is as idiotic as the Microsoft anti-trust lawsuit was, but Google will probably pay too.
I’m no fan of google for various other reasons, but this issue is nonsensical. If the government has it their way they are essentially forcing a business to advertise for their competitors. In what bizzaro universe does even the most insane idiot think that’s reasonable.
The only businesses that actually violate anti-trust laws, and blatantly and grossly I might add, get government exemptions. So I’m about tired of the government pretending they give a damn about fair competition. If they want to tackle anti-trust violations they should start with the multi hundred billion dollar sports leagues that get government exemptions from the laws. Oh but that would involve throwing their union friends under the bus, we know that isn’t happening.
Report Post »ynotindependent
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 1:04pmthis is all so laughable. MSNBC rigs the coverage of the news and spins…wonder why no investigation. maybe b/c you have the OPTION of watching or not…not unlike Google…..
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 12:22pmDoes anyone know the laws on monopolies?
They could come to bear on search engines, either now, or eventually, depending on market share.
Not taking a side, just making an observation.
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Ruler4You
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 12:42pm“Not cooked anything” what laugh! HA! google algorithms are barely understood by the very best techies. some government moron/goon has ZERO chance of proving they do… LOL! What a waste of tax payer dollars.
Report Post »13th Imam
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 12:52pmMy ex CT Atty Gen. Was aptly named Sue Em All Blumenthal. He lied about being a Vietnam Veteran, and was stiil elected by all the TAKERS in CT. I feel the same about Government Motors.The Democrat’s ran the ponzi schemes, then you owned the ponzi schemes, You stole the Taxpayers Funds, now you want more Actual Taxpayers funds. Screw you Blumenthal, you thief.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 12:20pmI‘m just amazed Google didn’t cover up the Apple logo on their laptop with a Google decal.
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Someone in Marketing REALLY dropped the ball on that one !
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FEMALL
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 12:14pmHerb Kohl (D-Wisc.)=Kohls Department Store. Wonder what happens when you google it?
O=o
Report Post »304patty
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 12:12pmAs an owner of a business I can assure you that google does control who shows up on what page. I receive calls 4-5 times a week wanting to SELL me a spot on the first page. I informed the sales person I already show up on the first page. I WAS TOLD THAT WOUN”T LAST FOR LONG!
Im not saying they should not have a right to sell spots but to lie about it says everything you need to know about google.
I removed them from use and would like to remove them from my computer completely.
They weren’t lying about not lasting long we are now 4 pages in on a search, and suddenly a bad review from a customer that know one ever here of. Surprise! Surprise!
Report Post »Rowgue
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 6:42pmGoogle doesn‘t reside on your computer it’s just a website. Unless you’ve installed the actual google browser or IE addons that are actually installed on your computer. But that’s your choice whether you wanted to do that or not.
Report Post »Bill Rowland
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 12:10pmThere are so many really important things for these idiots to look into. What about Fast and Furious, or Solyndra. The porous border that doesn’t even attempt to stop illigal immigration (Police here get in high speed chases with them all the time and we are 200 miles north of the border).
Heck, all Goggle might be guilty of is attempting to increase its market share. The NLRB is telling companies where they can locate there business and who they can hire.
Lets get serious.
OMG – Psalm 109:8
Report Post »jihadazzkicker
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 11:58amHey you dumb F cks, what about the 585 million just lost. Google…you do not like it use somethoing else. You wast time on the dumbest things while corruption of tax dolars is EVERYWHERE
Report Post »V-MAN MACE
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 11:51amNobody believes you liars anymore.
Google is evil NSA keyword software.
Report Post »tankyjo
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 11:44amThere are bigger fish to fry right now.
Report Post »southernORcobra
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 11:15amfigures cry babies no one has ever heard of are bitching about this.
Report Post »BenInNY
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 10:47amThe trick with google is to use operators to refine your results. if you want an exact phrase, put it in quotes, like “senate hearing.“ In searches with multiple words put a ”+” in front of words that have to be in the returns, like +blaze and a “-” in front of words you want disincluded: -joint. Remember that the 1st words have the most importance in the search, too.
Report Post »Put it all together and you end up with fewer results but with a higher quality like this -
+blaze +“senate hearing” -joint -pot The top result is this article but if you take away all the operators and the words “joint, pot” you get over 5M results instead of 45K.
you can also search a particular site like this:
site:www.theblaze.com silly – that’ll give you all the pages on the blaze that contain the word “silly.”
bunnybeads
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 10:11amFor crying out loud…if you don’t like the way Google works, use another search engine!
Report Post »K G
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 9:57amI think Google has some big plans “cooking up.” This is just another step towards it. Next they will have google servers set up for secure gov’t connections all across the globe (already in progress). So…I ask…who will really be in charge?
Report Post »fermilance
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 10:56amAl Gore will be. Just ask him. He created the Internet.
Report Post »Liberalismsamentaldisorder
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 9:56amGoogle is a for-profit company. Of course they rig the rankings. If we still had an effective free market, we the consumer could get information about the issue(like from this hearing) and decide to use another search engine. The problem is now a big company like Google that has the power and position to shape public opinion can either do it right or cozy up to the government for cover. How often has Google been to the White House???
Report Post »Abysmal
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 4:07pmWhat? All the information about the issue that you could want is readily available. The full senate hearing is available online. Google’s competitors Bing and Yahoo were mentioned by name. Content providers who feel aggrieved, such as Nextag and Yelp, testified at the hearing.
In fact, the hearing prompted me to go to Nextag’s price comparison website to see what I had been missing. After a few cursory searches, I concluded that Nextag networks with too few retailers to be worth my time. I will continue to use Google’s price comparison mechanisms instead – and this isn’t because there are not other options, it is because Google has the best product.
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