Transcript Internet Search Engines

CWAG 2011:
“Internet Search Engines – Latest
Issues”
Pamela Jones Harbour
Partner
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Pamela Jones Harbour
Partner
Washington, D.C.
Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.
[email protected]
+1 202 662 4505
•
Former Federal Trade Commissioner (2003-2010)
•
Well recognized for her knowledge of evolving areas of
competition and consumer protection law, including
privacy and data security issues.
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It’s All About the Data
 Many of the most interesting consumer-focused
elements of this change all require data :
● personalized media
● social media and
● mobile platforms
 How to allow the benefits of this data-flow without
undermining legitimate personal privacy concerns
and without thwarting innovation?
 “Free” products paid for with consumer data
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Privacy and Competition
 Privacy should be cognizable as a nonprice dimension of competition law
 “Consumer data“ should be the basis of a
relevant antitrust product market.
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Search Result Manipulation?
 “advertising funded search engines will be inherently biased
towards the advertisers and away from the needs of
consumers.”
 “advertising income often provides an incentive to provide
poor quality search results.”
 “a search engine could add a small factor to search results
from ‘friendly’ companies, and subtract a factor from results
from competitors. This type of bias is very difficult to detect
but could still have a significant effect on the market.”
 “The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine,”
Sergei Brin and Lawrence Page (1998), available at
http://infolab.stanford.edu/_backrub/google.html (App. A: “Advertising
and Mixed Motives” ).
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Federal Antitrust
 FTC investigation
 Section 2 of the Sherman Act could
apply to “the truthful, non-misleading
speech of firms that, due to their market
power, can affect the competitive
landscape . . .” Sorrell v. IMS Health
Inc., ___ U.S. ____ (June 23, 2011)
(Breyer, J., dissenting, at 12).
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Search Advertising - Japan
 In 2010, Google agreed with Yahoo! Japan, for
Google to serve ads for Yahoo! Japan.
 As a result of the deal, Google had over 90% market
share of search advertising in Japan.
 Immediately following the announcement of the
deal, prices for search advertising in Japan rose by
up to five times pre-deal levels.

Toshio Aritake, Google Ad Rates Soar After Plan to Consolidate with Yahoo
Japan, ANTITRUST & TRADE REG. DAILY, Nov. 29, 2010, available at
http://news.bna.com/adln/ADLNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=18577351&vname
=atdbulallissues&fn=18577351&jd=a0c5k3k3p1&split=0.
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on Privacy
“Google policy is to get right up to the creepy line and not cross it.”
– Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO (Washington Ideas Forum, Oct. 2010)
“I actually think most
people don't want Google
to answer their questions. .
. . They want Google to tell
them what they should be
doing next.” – Eric Schmidt
(WSJ, Aug. 2010)
“If you have something
that you don't want
anyone to know, maybe
you shouldn't be doing it in
the first place.”
– Eric Schmidt (CNBC
interview, Dec. 2009)
“In a world of
asynchronous threats,
it is too dangerous for
there not to be some
way to identify you. . . .
We need a [verified]
name service for
people.” – Eric Schmidt
(Techonomy conference,
Aug. 2010)
“The default is not to use the most secure form because it slows
everything down. . . . Ultimately, we're not going to do anything
that disadvantages speed.” – Eric Schmidt (New America
Foundation conference, Nov. 2008)
“[N]othing you do ever goes away and nothing you do ever escapes notice. . . . [T]here isn’t any
privacy, get over it.” – Vint Cerf, Google VP & Chief Internet Evangelist (Technology Alliance address, Aug.
2008)
THANK YOU
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When You Think
PRIVACY, COMPETITION, AND
DATA PROTECTION,
Think Fulbright.
TM