Google's Head Honcho Gets Grilled

Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google Inc., was seemingly unable to assure some lawmakers during a hearing this afternoon regarding the method by which search results are displayed and ranked by the search engine giant.

Schmidt appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights Subcommittee to emphasize that his company fairly encourages online competition.

“We get the lessons of our corporate predecessors,” Schmidt told Senators as he tried explaining that Google is different than previous companies that exerted monopolies over the internet, such as Microsoft in 2001.

Schmidt listed five different principles of Google Inc. that ensure they fairly compete with other internet businesses:

1. Always put consumers first. There is a ranking system so not every business can be on top.

2. Focus on loyalty. Users can easily switch to other search engines.

3. Open technology. Google Inc. releases and actively supports code that helps spur internet growth.

4. Be transparent. Google Inc. shares information about how its search engine works and provides advertisers with detailed information about their performance and return on investment

5. The only constant is change. Internet is always changing and there will always be different competitors.

Schmidt said that Google is helping the economy by continuing to hire employees, investing in local services, and helping small businesses by giving them exposure they wouldn’t otherwise have.

“Not all companies are cut from the same cloth and one company’s past is not necessarily another’s future,” Schmidt remarked. “We live in a different world today and the open internet is the ultimate level playing field.”

Some members of the committee, however, were not convinced.

While revealing a chart that depicted Google’s sites search results, Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) accused Google of “cooking” an algorithm that placed Google-owned sites higher than competitors in search results.
According to Lee’s chart, Google’s shopping results consistently ranked third while other competitor shopping sites varied.

“It seems to me that this is an uncanny statistical coincidence,” Lee charged. “You’re third almost every time. How do you explain that?”

Schmidt responded that Google searches for the product not for product comparisons like other sites, which can explain the “strange” results.

“It’s an apple to oranges comparison,” Schmidt explained. “I can assure you we have not cooked anything.”

But members of the committee were not assured.

“That seemed like a pretty fuzzy answer to me coming from the chairman. If you don’t know, who does?” Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) inquired.

“That really bothers me, because that’s the crux of this,” Franken continued. “And you don’t know. So we’re trying to have a hearing here about whether you favor your own stuff, and you’re asked that question, and you admittedly don’t know the answer.”

To see photos from today’s hearing click here

Lawmakers And Tech Industry Divided Over Future Of Online Safety Law

By Sofia Sanchez University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Lawmakers and members of the tech industry went head to head Thursday on the issue of whether the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) of 1998 should undergo an overhaul in response to technological advances made in the last decade.

Executives from Microsoft and Facebook appearing before a Senate panel praised COPPA, which requires websites to gain parents’ consent before collecting or using any personal information given by children, as an effective tool, but argued against expanding the legislation.

"COPPA has enabled parents to take a more active and informed role deciding how their children can take advantage of the internet's many benefits...therefore, we do not believe that a legislative amendment is necessary at this time,” Microsoft Associate General Counsel Michael Hintze said.

Sen. John Rockefeller (D-W.VA.), was displeased with the executives' positions and said that he believed the two companies were too confident that they could protect children without the government's involvement.

"You ... ended up with the idea 'we will do this by ourselves, we really don’t need the government to tell us what to do,'" Rockefeller said.

The West Virginia Democrat also took shots at Google and Apple, who both declined to appear before the committee.

“Could they not get the people here because they couldn’t afford the plane tickets?" the senator joked.

No More Faking Sick: Tech Savvy Education Providers Make Learning Fun

By Joseph Russell- Talk Radio News Service

The International Society for Technology Education (ISTE) hosted the 30th annual National Education Computing Conference (NECC) Tuesday to present the latest technological innovations in education to make learning engaging. Companies from around the world presented their ideas for improving learning, teaching, and educational leadership.

Companies, such as Lego and Microsoft, predicted the future of educational improvement will be through fun technology.

“You’re going to see a lot more Web 2.0 kind of features, you’re going to see us more in the multimedia kind of facet . . . and we have a lot of renewable energy products coming out as well,” said Debra Smith, Market Communications Coordinator for LEGO.

The technology on display varied widely. Some technology was interactive, such as LEGO’s robotics, while others, like Microsoft’s Online Office Space, focused on life long education.

“In the future when the students go to college, they go to the workforce right? And so, if they are already familiar with the Microsoft office products it will be very helpful for them,” said Jim Jin, Microsoft Senior Project Manager, who added that the new Online Office Space is an extension of current Microsoft products.

NECC celebrated aspects of U.S. education that seem to be heading in the right direction. However, the conference aimed to improve the lackluster aspects of American education as well.

“I believe we must make going to school a step into the future for our students,” ISTE President Helen Padgett said. “A future defined by an educational environment enriched with technology that will engage them, challenge them, inspire them, and prepare them for all that life has to offer.”

Yahoo! and Google could together control 90 percent of ad market

The House Judiciary Committee Task Force on Competition Policy and Antitrust Laws met to discuss the potential effects of a Yahoo!-Google agreement on search advertising. Steven Chabot (R-Iowa) said that search engines must maintain competition to remain a neutral tool. The potential deal between the two Internet giants raised questions of a monopoly.

Michael Callahan, Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Yahoo!, said that the proposed agreement is not a merger. Yahoo! and Google’s nonexclusive deal assures that the two companies will increasingly compete and remain autonomous. He said the deal is good for advertisers as well as consumers. David Drummond, the Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and the Chief Legal Officer for Google, Inc. contended that the agreement would actually increase competition over search advertising. He said that the deal involves Yahoo! keeping its own search platform, but showing some Google ads. Tim Carter, the President and Chief Executive Officer of AsktheBuilder.com said that the deal will bring hundreds of millions in revenue to Yahoo!, thus making it more competitive with Google and keeping other companies on their toes.

Brad Smith, the Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary for Microsoft Corporation said the agreement would actually concentrate power over search advertising, with Yahoo! and Google together controlling 90 percent of the market, thus decreasing competition. He added that the deal would reduce options for advertisers, increase ad prices, and create online privacy implications. David Sable, Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer for Wunderman, said the agreement would create price-fixing and a non-competitive market. He said that the majority of people use different search engines and this element of choice must be maintained in the market to prevent a monopoly.

Google and Yahoo searching for support

The Google-Yahoo! agreement and the future of advertising on the Internet was discussed by the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights. After tapping elbows with Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Yahoo! and Google representatives defended an agreement in which Yahoo! would outsource advertising space to Google, an agreement that was met with support and anxiety.

General Counsel for Yahoo! Michael Callahan and David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer, explained the agreement between the two companies. Both stated that Yahoo! will not exit the online search business and that the agreement will allow web-based advertising to become a more competitive business. In response to concerns that consumers will only purchase advertisements through Google in anticipation that they will also appear on Yahoo!, Drummond and Callahan said Yahoo! will determine when Google ads will appear on Yahoo! and that consumers will need to buy advertising space on Google and Yahoo! to guarantee exposure on both websites,

Senior Vice President at Microsoft Brad Smith explained his opposition to the agreement between Google and Yahoo! Smith said that the agreement would result in an unprecedented concentration of control in a market, stating that combined, Google and Yahoo! control 90 percent of the online search market. Smith added that Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang told Microsoft that an agreement between Yahoo! and Google would remove Microsoft as a competitor, a move Smith called a monopoly.

Tim Carter, CEO of askthebuilder.com, told the subcommittee it would be un-American to prevent a company from helping its stockholders. Carter said Google’s ability to provide Americans with reliable results has brought Google a 70 percent share of the online search market and that Congress should not punish a company for performing well.