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Australian Court Rules Google's Search Ads OK

Posted by samzenpus on from the and-now-a-result-from-our-sponsor dept.

daria42 writes "A long-running Australian court case debating whether Google has done enough to differentiate paid advertisements from normal organic search results has come to an end, with the search giant the victor over the country's competition regulator. The landmark case influenced how Google discloses which search results were advertisements — with the result that it now labels ads as 'Ads' rather than as 'Sponsored links.' In addition, Google now prohibits companies from advertising products or services with which they are not associated — making it much harder for competitors to artificially take valued positions in Google's rankings."

5 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. Wait wait wait by gman003 · · Score: 5, Funny

    What is this? A case of the system working? A government body charged with regulating corporations doing its job competently (not being lax, but not being unreasonably strict), the corporation making reasonable and beneficial changes, and the entire thing being resolved in a civil and logical manner?

    And to make things worse, it's a relevant, timely article on Slashdot with an accurate summary and non-sensationalist headline.

    Did I miss something? Was the 2011 World Peace and Utopia Act passed without me noticing? Is it opposite day?

    1. Re:Wait wait wait by Cimexus · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yep. The ACCC is one government body that is very well respected here in Australia and usually (though not always) fights the good fight. They are the reason that things like DVD region locking isn't permitted here (DVD players in Australia are sold region-unlocked, capable of playing any disc). They are the reason we have a pretty competitive mobile phone and internet industry compared to many places (lots of choice of ISPs and phone companies compared to the US). They are the reason why there are certain automatic levels of quality guarantees and warranties for all products purchased in Australia that cannot be avoided by vendors no matter what disclaimers they may choose to write in the fine print.

      TBH most Australian government bodies/public authorities, except the legislature itself, are run pretty competently and rank well by world standards of transparency/anti-corruption (though not as well as our friends across the Tasman in New Zealand - who are consistently at the very top of that list).

      It's just the politicians (legislature) themselves that seem to be the idiots, mostly (especially at the moment with our minority-government situation and petty squabbles over relatively insignificant issues). But Australians don't have the same level of mistrust of government in general that they seem to in the US (where anything run by government is assumed to be inefficient and/or corrupt by default). Because on the whole, they do a decent job and keep this country running pretty smoothly (and importantly in the current economic climate - solvently, with low sovereign debt).

    2. Re:Wait wait wait by Demonoid-Penguin · · Score: 4, Interesting

      What is this? A case of the system.

      I'm impressed by the outcome - but saddened it even occurred. You might want to have a read of the complaints, and have a chat to some of the ACCC staff who did not believe there was a case to begin with, and don't like Americans "advising" them on how to do their jobs. Telstra own Sensis - Sensis (like Telstra and Optus) continually break the law - and did again. This time using ads in Trading Post (Fairfax) to trick consumers - then tried to blame Google. Seems a few business monopolies are feeling threatened by Google, and by coincidence, an inquiry that was meant to happen a month ago was delayed till this week for some unknown reason (*cough* US Senate *cough*)

      One peppercorn does not compensate for the money that farce cost. If there's a problem with Google there's a problem with Google - no need to make shit up. That was just pathetic.

  2. Re:look out by woot · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I suggest the Australian government get into the search business. There's obviously an opportunity here.

    We were, we got out:

    http://www.csiro.au/news/ps19r.html

    http://www.csiro.au/science/Panoptic.html

  3. Re:Are we really that stupid... by Hazel+Bergeron · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Unfortunately, I don't have a degree and decades of experience in all of agriculture, construction, medicine, finance, law and science, so I sometimes need other people to do my thinking for me. I commend you and envy you slightly for having the capacity to do it all yourself.