Texas Opens Inquiry Into Google Search Rankings

Hugh Pickens writes "The AP reports that Texas' attorney general, Greg Abbott, has opened an anti-trust investigation against Google spurred by complaints that the company has abused its power as the Internet's dominant search engine. The review appears to be focused on whether Google is manipulating its search results to stifle competition. European regulators already have been investigating complaints alleging that Google has been favoring its own services in its results instead of rival websites and several lawsuits have also been filed in the US that have alleged Google's search formula is biased. However Google believes Abbott is the first state attorney general to open an antitrust review into the issue."

Comments

There's no solution

[mangu]

It's a very simple, easy to obfuscate (cover up) search results manipulation that could quite easily make a multi-hundred millions dollar difference for the company

Two alternatives: you either let them do it or you force them to publish their ranking algorithms.

If page rank were public, there would be no search engines worth using. The whole internet is bad enough with spam as it is.

Better let Google do their stuff, it's not as if they were keeping others from posting their own search results. I started using Google when they started giving me better results than Altavista, which was the search "monopoly" back then.

Re:When you can't compete, sue...

[maxume]

This is a politician looking for attention, not a competitor trying not to compete.