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Companies Cloudflare Inc FollowGoogle Inc FollowAlphabet Inc Follow Show more companiesWASHINGTON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Internet companies Google, Amazon and Cloudflare say they have weathered the internet's largest-known denial of service attack and are sounding the alarm over a new technique they warn could easily cause widespread disruption. Internet protection company Cloudflare Inc (NET.N) said the attack was "three times larger than any previous attack we've observed." Amazon.com Inc's (AMZN.O) web services division also confirmed being targeted by "a new type of distributed denial of service (DDoS) event." The firms urged companies to update their web servers to ensure that they do not remain vulnerable. None of the three companies said who was responsible for the denial of service attacks, which have historically been difficult to attribute.

Persons: we've, Raphael Satter, Sandra Maler Organizations: Google, Inc, Cloudflare Inc, Thomson Locations: WASHINGTON

☆ German antitrust head warns AI may boost Big Tech's dominance
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-09 | by ( Hakan Ersen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google and Microsoft (MSFT.O) have recently become rivals in artificial intelligence (AI), with the latter investing heavily in OpenAI and the former building the Bard AI chatbot among other investments. The surge in AI popularity has prompted governments around the world to try to impose rules on the use of the technology, with the European Union in a race to adopt its landmark AI rules by the end of the year. "The danger is very great because you need two things above all for AI, powerful servers and vast amounts of data. Mundt said the field was still open to competition but regulators need to ensure it remains so. "Both developments are possible, and as an authority we have to be careful that any competitive potential is not buried from the outset."

Persons: Andreas Mundt, Wolfgang Rattay, Mundt, Foo Yun, Mark Potter Organizations: Federal, Office, REUTERS, Alpha, Big, Google, Microsoft, European Union, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Bonn, Germany, FRANKFURT, OpenAI

☆ S.Korea considers $50.5 mln fine against Google, Apple over app market practices
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] An illuminated Google logo is seen inside an office building in Zurich, Switzerland December 5, 2018. The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) said in a statement that the two tech giants forced app developers into specific payment methods and caused unfair delay in app review. The KCC is notifying the companies for corrective action, and will deliberate on the fines, the statement said. Google and Apple did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. After hearing from the companies, the regulator could decide to impose fines of up to 68 billion won ($50.47 million), including 47.5 billion won for Google and 20.5 billion won for Apple, KCC said.

Persons: Arnd, KCC, 1,347.3200, Joyce Lee, Shri Navaratnam Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Google, Apple, Korea Communications Commission, Telecommunication, Thomson Locations: Zurich, Switzerland, Rights SEOUL, South Korea

An illuminated Google logo is seen inside an office building in Zurich, Switzerland December 5, 2018. The Justice Department has accused Google of manipulating online auctions - a multibillion dollar industry dominated by Google - with these formulas to favor its own bottom line. Dahlquist asked Juda if they had introduced changes to ad sales in a way that raised the cost-per-click by a consumer that advertisers pay. But Wendy Waszmer, a lawyer for Google, asked Juda on Wednesday afternoon on if there were ways that his ads quality team could raise prices unilaterally. Google's advertising business has been criticized by advertisers and website publishers for a lack of transparency, with both accusing Google of siphoning off too much revenue.

Persons: Arnd, Adam Juda, David Dahlquist, Juda, Dahlquist, Wendy Waszmer, Diane Bartz, Aurora Ellis Organizations: REUTERS, WASHINGTON, U.S . Justice Department, The, Google, Justice, European Union, LTV, Thomson Locations: Zurich, Switzerland, Washington, United States

[1/2] The Microsoft logo is seen at the Microsoft store in New York City, July 28, 2015. REBUFFED BY APPLENadella also testified that Microsoft had sought to make its Bing search engine the default on Apple (AAPL.O) smartphones but was rebuffed. On laptops, most of which use Microsoft operating systems, Bing is the default search engine and has a market share below 20%, Nadella acknowledged. Nadella became CEO of Microsoft in 2014, long after the tech giant faced its own federal antitrust lawsuit. As Google, which was founded in 1998, became an industry leading search engine, the two became bitter rivals.

Persons: Mike Segar, Satya Nadella, Nadella, U.S . Justice Department's, APPLE Nadella, John Schmidtlein, Google's, Schmidtlein, Bing, Amit Mehta, Diane Bartz, Christina Fincher, Deepa Babington Organizations: Microsoft, REUTERS, Google, U.S . Justice, Apple, APPLE, Bing, Verizon, BlackBerry, Nokia, District of Columbia, Thomson Locations: New York City, WASHINGTON, U.S, Bing, OpenAI

Nadella was dismissing an argument that Google has made - that it is easy to change defaults on devices. He said that Microsoft, itself a tech powerhouse, had sought to make its Bing search engine the default on Apple (AAPL.O) smartphones but was rebuffed. The clout in search makes Google a heavy hitter in the lucrative advertising market, boosting its profits. "You get up in the morning and you brush your teeth and you search on Google," he added in a reference to Google's dominance in search. As Google, which was founded in 1998, became an industry leading search engine, the two became bitter rivals.

Persons: Mike Segar, Satya Nadella, U.S . Justice Department's, Nadella, Amit Mehta, Bing, Diane Bartz, Christina Fincher, Deepa Babington Organizations: Microsoft, REUTERS, U.S ., Google, Apple, District of Columbia, Thomson Locations: New York City, WASHINGTON, U.S, OpenAI

☆ It's 'really the Google web': Microsoft CEO testifies about how hard it is to break into search
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-02 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Drew Angerer | Getty ImagesWhen it comes to online search, it's Google's web and everyone else is playing in it, according to rival Microsoft. "Everybody talks about the open web, but there is really the Google web," Nadella said from the stand in Washington, D.C., District Court. Perhaps the most famous of those deals is the multibillion-dollar agreement between Google and Apple to make Google search the default on Apple products like the iPhone. He said the integration issues with Google's Search Ads 360 "keeps coming up in escalations" to him. Microsoft has begun integrating ChatGPT into its Bing search results through its partnership with OpenAI and is a leading player in the space, alongside Google.

Persons: Satya Nadella, Nadella, Drew Angerer, Satya Nadella's, Microsoft's Bing, Bing, Bernstein, they've, it's, Connolly's John Schmidtlein, Schmidtlein, there's, Google's, roundtables, he's Organizations: Microsoft, Google, Washington , D.C, Department of Justice, Apple, Apple Microsoft, Windows, Microsoft Windows, Washington Post, Verizon, Bing, AGs, OpenAI, YouTube, CNBC Locations: Washington ,, Washington, Silicon Valley

☆ US Supreme Court to weigh state laws constraining social media companies
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-29 | by ( Andrew Chung | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Supporters of the laws have argued that social media platforms have engaged in impermissible censorship and have silenced conservative voices in particular. In signing the bill in 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said, "There is a dangerous movement by some social media companies to silence conservative ideas and values. The Texas law forbids social media companies with at least 50 million monthly active users from acting to "censor" users based on "viewpoint," and allows either users or the Texas attorney general to sue to enforce it. The industry groups are appealing a decision by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the Texas law, which the Supreme Court had blocked at an earlier stage of the case.

Persons: Kevin Wurm, Joe Biden's, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Greg Abbott, Andrew Chung, Will Dunham Organizations: U.S, Supreme, REUTERS, Republican, Computer & Communications Industry Association, Facebook, Inc, Twitter, Justice Department, Tech, Capitol, Circuit, New, Thomson Locations: Washington , U.S, Texas, Florida, Atlanta, New Orleans, New York

Demonstrators hold placards next to a banner as they attend a protest against the sharing of Cauvery river water with neighbouring Tamil Nadu state, in Bengaluru, India, September 26, 2023. Schools and colleges were shut in the capital of the southern state of Karnataka, home to more than 3,500 tech companies. "I can shed my blood but I don't want to give water to Tamil Nadu," said one protester, Ravi Mallikarjuna. The delay provoked small demonstrations near a railway station in Tamil Nadu. The Cauvery river originates in the Karnataka region of Talakaveri, flowing through Tamil Nadu into the Bay of Bengal.

Persons: Dhanya, Santosh Babu, Ravi Mallikarjuna, Shivakumar, Ramachandra, Rupam Jain, Miral Fahmy, Clarence Fernandez Organizations: REUTERS, Inc, Walmart, Police, Farmers, Google, Schools, Supreme, Tamil, Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Thomson Locations: Tamil Nadu, Bengaluru, India, BENGALURU, India's, Karnataka, Farmers, Bengal

Kevin Hodges, a partner at law firm Williams & Connolly, was the first member of Amazon's defense team identified in a court document in the case. Amazon General Counsel David Zapolsky, a 24-year veteran of the company's legal department, can turn to a stable of top outside law firms that already represent it. Thomas Barnett, co-chair of the firm’s antitrust practice and a former senior Justice Department official, was involved in the effort. A Covington spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on whether the firm is defending Amazon in the FTC antitrust case. Amazon has also turned to U.S. law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison to navigate government scrutiny.

Persons: Jim Vondruska, Kevin Hodges, Williams, Connolly, Hodges, John Schmidtlein, David Zapolsky, Lina Khan, Thomas Barnett, Covington, Paul, Weiss, Garrison, Paul Weiss, Andrew Goudsward, Mike Scarcella, David Bario, Matthew Lewis Organizations: Amazon Logistics, REUTERS, U.S . Federal Trade, Amazon.com, Amazon, Williams, U.S . Justice, Microsoft, BP, Big Tech, Alphabet's, Google, FTC, Burling, Department, D.C, Covington, Thomson Locations: Chicago . Illinois, U.S, WASHINGTON, Washington, Mexico, Covington, Rifkind, Wharton

Yelp (YELP.N) and News/Media Alliance, which are not defendants in the litigation but are targets of Google's subpoenas, argue that law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison should be disqualified. A spokesperson for Paul Weiss said the "firm's representation of Google is appropriate in all respects." Yelp said it hired Paul Weiss in 2016 for counsel on antitrust issues. The Justice Department's antitrust head, Jonathan Kanter, was on the Paul Weiss team representing Yelp. New York-based Paul Weiss, which has about 1,000 lawyers globally, is also representing Amazon.com in various antitrust lawsuits.

Persons: Gonzalo Fuentes, Paul, Weiss, Garrison, Leonie Brinkema, Paul Weiss, Yelp, Jonathan Kanter, Charles Molster III, Brandon Kressin, Brinkema, Kanter, Mike Scarcella, Leigh Jones, Rami Ayyub Organizations: Google, Viva Technology, Porte de, REUTERS, Media Alliance, Yelp, U.S, Google LLC, Eastern, of, Thomson Locations: Porte, Paris, France, U.S, Rifkind, Wharton, New York, States, of Virginia

☆ US stocks close at lowest since June, Treasury yields spike on hawkish Fed
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Stephen Culp | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., August 15, 2023. Interest rate-sensitive megacaps, led by Amazon.com (AMZN.O), Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O), Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) dragged the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq to their lowest closing levels since June. "It gives people another chance to say that the lag time of higher rates – which we're just starting to feel – might really bite." All 11 major sectors of the S&P 500 lost nearly 1% or more, with real estate stocks (.SPLRCR) suffering its biggest one-day percentage drop since March. The S&P 500 posted three new 52-week highs and 29 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 22 new highs and 373 new lows.

Persons: Brendan McDermid, Jerome Powell, dampening, Thomas Martin, we're, –, Martin, Rupert Murdoch, Stephen Culp, Ankika Biswas, Shristi, David Gregorio Our Organizations: New York Stock Exchange, REUTERS, FedEx, Broadcom, Google, Dow, Nasdaq, Treasury, Amazon.com, Nvidia Corp, Apple Inc, Inc, UAW, Dow Jones, . Semiconductor, SOX, Klaviyo Inc, Arm Holdings, Fox Corp, News Corp, NYSE, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York, Bengaluru

WhatsApp has more than 500 million users in India, though regulators there have capped its in-app WhatsApp Pay service to only 100 million people. People shopping on WhatsApp could also pay using popular services like Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google Pay, Paytm (PAYT.NS) and Walmart's (WMT.N) PhonePe but only after being redirected outside WhatsApp. Payments via those rival services - and any others that run on India's instant money transfer system UPI - will now be possible directly within WhatsApp, Meta said in a blog post. While WhatsApp Pay users will remain capped in India, there is no such limit on the number of users permitted to transact with businesses on WhatsApp using the other methods, a Meta spokesperson said. With some 300 million people spending about $180 billion via India's using UPI each month, the new transaction options could serve as a powerful lure to attract businesses to pay Meta for access to WhatsApp users.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, WhatsApp, Meta, Mark Zuckerberg's, Mukesh Ambani, Aditya Kalra, Katie Paul, Munsif Vengattil, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: REUTERS, Meta, Google, UPI, Facebook, Thomson Locations: India, WhatsApp, Chennai, Bangaluru, New Delhi, New York

As it seeks to gain ground in the fast-moving AI space, Google is rolling out Bard Extensions, enabling users to import their data from other Google products. For instance, users could ask Bard to search their files in Google Drive or provide a summary of the user’s Gmail inbox. For now, Bard users will only be able to pull information in from Google apps, but Google is working with external companies to connect their applications into Bard in the future, Google senior product director Jack Krawczyk said. Another new feature in Bard seeks to alleviate a nagging problem for generative AI: inaccurate responses known as “hallucinations”. Bard users will be able to see which parts of Bard’s answers differ from and agree with Google search results.

Persons: Bard, OpenAI, ChatGPT, Jack Krawczyk, it's, ” Krawczyk, Anna Tong, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: Google, Microsoft, Gmail, Thomson Locations: San Francisco

☆ Governments race to regulate AI tools
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

ITALY* Investigating possible breachesItaly's data protection authority plans to review artificial intelligence platforms and hire AI experts, a top official said in May. ChatGPT became available to users in Italy in April after being temporarily banned over concerns by the national data protection authority in March. The country's privacy watchdog said in June it had warned OpenAI not to collect sensitive data without people's permission. SPAIN* Investigating possible breachesSpain's data protection agency said in April it was launching a preliminary investigation into potential data breaches by ChatGPT. It has also asked the EU's privacy watchdog to evaluate privacy concerns surrounding ChatGPT.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Ursula von der Leyen, CNIL, Ziv Katzir, Israel, ChatGPT, OpenAI, Antonio Guterres, Guterres, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Lawmakers, Joe Biden's, Beryl Howell, Alessandro Parodi, Amir Orusov, Kirsten Donovan, Mark Potter, Christina Fincher, Milla Nissi Organizations: REUTERS, Baidu, Microsoft, Markets Authority, Big Tech, Britain, HK, SenseTime, Israel Innovation Authority, EU, UNITED, . Security, International Atomic Energy Agency, United Nations, U.S, IBM, Nvidia, Washington D.C, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, Thomson Locations: AUSTRALIA, Australia, BRITAIN, CHINA, China, FRANCE, Italy, Hiroshima, Japan, IRELAND, ISRAEL, Israel, ITALY, JAPAN, U.S, SPAIN, New York, Washington, Gdansk

A sign is pictured outside a Google office near the company's headquarters in Mountain View, California, U.S., May 8, 2019. Google turned to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) after the General Court in 2021 threw out its challenge to the fine levied by EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager in 2017. Google lawyer Thomas Graf said the European Commission had failed to show that the company's different treatment of rivals was abusive and that different treatment alone was not anti-competitive. "Qualifying every different treatment, and in particular different treatment of first party and third party businesses, as abusive would undermine competition. Commission lawyer Fernando Castillo de la Torre dismissed Google's arguments, saying the company had used its algorithms to unfairly favour its price comparison shopping service, in breach of EU antitrust laws.

Persons: Paresh Dave, Margrethe Vestager, Thomas Graf, Graf, Fernando Castillo de la Torre, Google's, Foo Yun Chee, David Evans Organizations: REUTERS, Google, Justice, European Union, European Commission, v, Thomson Locations: Mountain View , California, U.S

A view of the main lobby of building BV200, during a tour of Google's new Bay View Campus in Mountain View, California, U.S. May 16, 2022. The California settlement requires Google to pay $93 million, and disclose more about how it tracks people's whereabouts and uses data it collects. Money from Google's $62 million settlement with private plaintiffs would, after deducting legal fees, go to court-approved nonprofit groups that track internet privacy concerns. Last November, Google agreed to pay $391.5 million to resolve similar allegations by 40 U.S. states. Lawyers for the private plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Persons: Peter DaSilva, Rob Bonta, cy, Jonathan Stempel, Leslie Adler, Daniel Wallis Organizations: REUTERS, Google, Alphabet Inc, Thomson Locations: Mountain View , California, U.S, California, View , California, Arizona, Washington, New York

A Google logo is seen at the Google offices in the Chelsea section of New York City, U.S., January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton//File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsCompanies Alphabet Inc FollowARLINGTON, Virginia Sept 15 (Reuters) - U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema on Friday declined to order a Justice Department official to stay out of the government's advertising antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google but said the department "should think about it." In November 2021, Google asked the Justice Department to consider requiring Jonathan Kanter, assistant attorney general in charge of antitrust, to recuse himself because of his work for a long list of Google critics. The Justice Department filed the advertising lawsuit in January in Arlington, Virginia, along with eight states, and nine other states joined in April. While Brinkema declined to order Kanter recused, she seemed skeptical during a court hearing that he should be involved and added that the Justice Department should "use some wisdom" in deciding what to do.

Persons: Shannon Stapleton, Leonie Brinkema, Jonathan Kanter, Brinkema, Kanter, David Shepardson, Diane Bartz, Timothy Gardner Organizations: REUTERS, Justice Department, Alphabet's, Google, D.C, Thomson Locations: Chelsea, New York City, U.S, ARLINGTON , Virginia, Arlington , Virginia, Washington, United States

A view of the main lobby of building BV200, during a tour of Google's new Bay View Campus in Mountain View, California, U.S. May 16, 2022. REUTERS/Peter DaSilva/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsCompanies Alphabet Inc FollowSept 14 (Reuters) - Google will pay California $93 million to resolve a lawsuit accusing the search engine company of misleading consumers about its location tracking practices. The Mountain View, California-based company did not admit liability in agreeing to settle. Last November, Google agreed to pay $391.5 million to resolve similar allegations by 40 U.S. states. Some states including California chose to sue Google on their own.

Persons: Peter DaSilva, Rob Bonta, Google, Bonta, Jonathan Stempel, Leslie Adler Organizations: REUTERS, Google, California, Alphabet Inc, Thomson Locations: Mountain View , California, U.S, California, View , California, Arizona, Washington, New York

☆ Google argued during its antitrust trial that Android users can switch default search engines with a couple of clicks. An expert testified it took him 10 steps.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Google's antitrust trial is in full swing. However, one expert testified that switching from Google to Bing on an Android 12 was a 10-step process. Chris Barton, who worked for Google from 2004 to 2011, testified that he made it a priority to negotiate for Google to be the default search engine on mobile devices. He said he acquired an Android 12 phone and studied the process required to replace the Google search engine with Bing; it took 10 steps. Barton, however, testified that Google wasn't the only search engine seeking default status with phone companies.

Persons: Bing, Chris Barton, Antonio Rangel, Rangel, Barton, Microsoft's Bing, Trump, Judge Amit Mehta, Sundar Pichai, Larry Page, Eddy, Hal Varian Organizations: Google, Service, U.S . Justice Department, California Institute of Technology, Bing, Yahoo, Verizon, Justice Department, Inc, Apple Locations: Wall, Silicon, WASHINGTON, Germany, Austria, , California

☆ CEOs from Alphabet, Walmart, Pfizer meet White House officials on refugees
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Jeff Mason | Thomson Reuters | Jeff Mason Is A White House Correspondent For Reuters. He Has Covered The Presidencies Of Barack Obama | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Annegret Hilse/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsCompanies Accenture PLC FollowAirbnb Inc FollowAlphabet Inc Follow Show more companiesWASHINGTON, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Chief executives from a wide array of U.S. companies will meet White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients on Thursday to discuss refugee resettlement and sponsorship programs, a White House official said. The CEOs will include Alphabet's Sundar Pichai, Walmart's Doug McMillon, Pfizer's Albert Bourla, HP's Enrique Lores and others. They are part of a council of leaders affiliated with Welcome.US, a group dedicated to helping support refugees in the United States. They will meet Zients and other White House officials "to discuss specific ways we can continue to work together to support safe, orderly pathways for people in need of safety to come to the United States, including through refugee resettlement and new, expanded humanitarian sponsorship programs," a White House official told Reuters. The White House, which says it wants to partner with the private sector to build a humane immigration system, worked with Welcome.US to help Afghan refugees coming to the United States after Biden pulled U.S. troops out of Afghanistan in 2021.

Persons: Annegret, Jeff Zients, Alphabet's Sundar Pichai, Doug McMillon, Pfizer's Albert Bourla, HP's Enrique Lores, Richard Dickson, Julie Sweet, David Risher, Hamdi Ulukaya, Mike Sievert, Goldman Sachs, Kathy Hochul, Zients, Biden, Donald Trump, Welcome.US, Jeff Mason, Christian Schmollinger Organizations: Google, Arena, REUTERS, Accenture, White, Welcome.US, Reuters, Lyft, Mobile, Blackstone, Comcast, Meta, Republicans, Democrat, Republican, Biden, Thomson Locations: Berlin, Germany, WASHINGTON, United States, Airbnb, New, New York City, United, Afghanistan

OAKLAND, California (AP) — Search giant Google has agreed to a $93 million settlement with the state of California on Thursday over the its location-privacy practices. The settlement follows a $391.5 million settlement with 40 states, reached in November 2022, to resolve an investigation into how the company tracked users’ locations. That’s unacceptable, and we’re holding Google accountable with today’s settlement,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta in a statement. Representatives for Google parent company Alphabet Inc. did not immediately respond to a message for comment. Google said last year that it fixed the problems several years ago.

Persons: ”, Rob Bonta, Google Organizations: Google, Alphabet Inc Locations: OAKLAND, California

First out of the gate, the government questioned a former Google executive, Chris Barton, about billion-dollar deals with mobile carriers and others that helped make Google the default search engine. Google's clout in search, the government argues, has helped Google build monopolies in some aspects of online search advertising. In revenue-sharing deals with mobile carriers and Android smartphone makers, Google pressed for its search to be the default and exclusive. If Microsoft's search engine Bing was the default on an Android phone, Barton said, then users would have a "difficult time finding or changing to Google." Barton said on his LinkedIn profile that he was responsible for leading Google's partnerships with mobile carriers like Verizon (VZ.N) and AT&T, estimating that the deals "drive hundreds of millions in revenue."

Persons: Chris Barton, Barton, Bing, Hal Varian, John Schmidtlein, Judge Amit Mehta, Mehta, Diane Bartz, Nick Zieminski, Richard Chang, Howard Goller Organizations: Justice, Google, Inc, Apple, Mozilla, Verizon, Big Tech, Microsoft, Thomson Locations: U.S

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department pressed ahead with its antitrust case against Google Wednesday, questioning a former employee of the search engine giant about deals he helped negotiate with phone companies in the 2000s. Chris Barton, who worked for Google from 2004 to 2011, testified that he made it a priority to negotiate for Google to be the default search engine on mobile devices. Google counters that it dominates the internet search market because its product is better than the competition. And Barton testified that Google wasn't the only search engine seeking default status with phone companies. Google has emerged as the dominant player in internet searches, accounting for about 90% of the market.

Persons: Chris Barton, Barton, Microsoft's Bing, Trump, Judge Amit Mehta, Sundar Pichai, Larry Page, Eddy, Hal Varian, ____ Michael Liedtke Organizations: WASHINGTON, U.S . Justice Department, Google, Yahoo, Verizon, Justice Department, Inc, Apple Locations: U.S, , California

☆ Dutch groups sue Google over alleged privacy violations
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A Google logo is seen at the Google offices in the Chelsea section of New York City, U.S., January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsCompanies Google Inc FollowAlphabet Inc FollowAMSTERDAM, Sept 12 (Reuters) - The Dutch consumers' association Consumentenbond together with the Privacy Protection Foundation issued legal proceedings against Google on Tuesday for alleged large-scale privacy violations, they said in a statement. Both groups demanded that Google, part of Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), stops "its constant surveillance and sharing of personal data through online advertising auctions" and that it pays 750 euros ($804) in damages "for every consumer who has used Google". The statement said 82,000 people had so far joined the claim for damages since the groups announced the action in May 2023. ($1 = 0.9329 euros)Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout; Editing by David HolmesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Shannon Stapleton, Charlotte Van Campenhout, David Holmes Organizations: REUTERS, Google, Privacy Protection, Inc, Thomson Locations: Chelsea, New York City, U.S

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