Two senators want to launch anti-trust investigation against Google

[Sheldon]

Google Feels More Heat From the Hill - Washington Wire - WSJ

Mr. Lee, the new ranking member of the Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee, sent a strongly worded letter to subcommittee chairman Sen. Herb Kohl (D., Wis.), expressing his “strong concerns” about Google’s “possible abuse of its predominant position” in Internet search. He called for “vigorous antitrust enforcement in this area.”

Sen. Kohl said Thursday the committee may hold hearings on Google this legislative session to examine whether the company is abusing its dominance in the Internet search market. Sen. Lee is usually highly critical of government intervention in business. But, as the WSJ has written before, tea partiers aren’t necessarily as friendly to big business as the traditional Republican establishment.

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UPDATE: It turns out that Sen. Mike Lee, as a lawyer in private practice, represented 1-800-Contacts, and the senator’s chief of staff, Spencer Stokes, acted as a lobbyist for company. The senator’s spokesman said, “This has absolutely nothing to do with why Mr. Lee is calling for hearings. The substance of the concerns is valid.”

The strongly-worded letter:

Senator Lee, U.S. Senator for Utah

Likewise, some claim that Google may disadvantage rivals in subtle, potentially undetectable, ways. Indeed, Google’s founders recognized as early as 1998 that “a search engine could add a small factor to search results from ‘friendly’ companies, and subtract a factor from results from competitors” and that “[t]his type of bias is very difficult to detect but could still have a significant effect on the market.”[1]

Whether this type of behavior is occurring is a question of great practical significance. The powerful position Google occupies in the general search arena creates myriad opportunities for anticompetitive behavior.

Haters gonna hate!

 

[Polk]

This sort of thing is very hard to prove, even if it were true (which it may or may not be).