Conservative Search Engine

Google on FTC: Our Success Led to Scrutiny

Google is the most important portal of the Internet.  It's the tool most people use most often to access information online.   Google is the most visited website in the US and captures 85 percent of the US search traffic. 

This level of success has indeed drawn scrutiny.

In the FTC's case, the WSJ reported that the probe is regarding the way Google search ranks its own services.  For example, if Google ranks Gmail the highest for the query "email," Gmail will gain an unfair advantage over other email service providers (this would only appy if Gmail isn't truthfully the most relevant result for "email").

Hypothetically, if Google were to open a random business (say a restaurant in NYC) and rank it first for a key search term ("restaurant nyc"), Google search can virtually guarantee its success.

Google probably doesn't manually manipulate its result.  But what if its internal services are just really good at Google search engine optimization?  What if their funds for Google search advertising is unlimited?

The FTC isn't the only one who's concerned.  One issue raised by Eli Pariser of MoveOn.org is that Google filters information for individual users based on their demographics, search history, and click history.

The search results people receive, therefore, is biased towards reinforcing what they already like and believe.  For example, if a conservative always clicks on FoxNews and conservative-slanting articles, Google would conceivably serve them more conservative-slanting content.

Pariser also claimed that Google might be elevating the status of "information junk food."  People tend to immediately click on and link to sensational content.  They may be less likely to do so for serious-minded, dense, but important content.  By Google's algorithms, the sensational content may get more play.

There are other questions, too.  What about public service announcements? The equal-time rule?  How about a forced split-up (ABC was spun off from NBC on antitrust grounds)?

In short, should Google be held to the same standards as the Big Three Television Networks from the 1950s to the 1980s? 

Whatever the case, Google is right about one thing. Its dominance of the Internet has certainly led to greater scrutiny.

Treasury Secretary Now Taxing Our Patience – Jim Gilmore ...

He told the House Small Business Committee this week that the Obama administration believes taxes on small business must increase so the administration does not have to “shrink the overall size of government programs.” As part of the administration’s plan to raise taxes on all Americans who make more than $250,000 per year, taxes will rise even more on small businesses, which file taxes the same way individuals and families do. This jaw-dropping commentary by our nation’s treasury secretary comes even as he acknowledged the powerful role of small business as the nation’s best hope for new jobs.  By some counts, more than 60 percent of new jobs are created by small businesses.  This is a core reality that can’t be denied or ignored during a painful, anemic growth period when our nation desperately needs every single new job it can create. Consider that our struggling national economy grew at an annual rate of just 0.1 percent during 2009 and 2010, compared to 3.2 percent over a period of nearly the last six decades. We lost jobs at a rate of 2.2 percent a year over the same two-year period, some 265,000 per month, compared to a historic growth rate of 1.6 percent since the early 1950’s. Geithner – capable, bright, energetic technician that he is – not surprisingly views the size of government through a technician’s lens. He is intent on finding ways to finance the funding challenge before him. He sees only two ways to grow revenue.  First, increase borrowing.  Next, raise taxes. In this particular world, there is no room for the third solution—creating more wealth.  Nor is there apparently room for any notion that government must change the way it does business. In a country suffering from a nagging, norm-busting unemployment rate above nine percent, those of us in the working world need the tools and freedom to invest in own productive activities that stimulate new growth, new jobs and, yes, new tax revenues.  We need a tax and regulatory environment that cuts bureaucratic red tape and encourages businesses of all sizes to create jobs and opportunity. Small business is the engine of future growth.  We must support the small businesses and entrepreneurs who are now sitting it out due to taxation, fear of taxation, restricted capital, burdensome regulations and continuing economic uncertainty. We can still take major steps to fix the problem.  We can unleash the last weapon in our national economic arsenal—small business people and entrepreneurs—by empowering them today with the certainty.  Empower them with the confidence that the risks they take today to pursue rewards tomorrow will not be taxed at new and unexpected rates tomorrow.