Pissed at google? Tell the FTC.

[ibmethatswhoib]

Sad times when people think Monopolies are ok in the name of business.

 

[Mr Pheer]

Its funny how many people think they are entitled to things.

I'd fall out of my chair laughing if google banned the domains of everyone signing a petition against them or threatened a lawsuit.

 

[assphuck]

What do you pro-Google people think Google is going to do with their Washington D.C. based group named "The Internet Association?" Will they lobby for small business causes? Hell no. That's why no small businesses are allowed in their group. In fact, many of the top players in the one trillion dollar a year eCommerce industry are already members. Besides Google, there is Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, LinkedIN, Facebook, etc. Combined, how much traffic does this group control? A lot.

Let's look at some of "The Internet Association" website statements:

On their homepage they state:

We are the unified voice of the Internet economy.

The Internet Association supports policies that protect and promote Internet freedom - information should flow freely across national borders, uninhibited by tariffs, regulations and government censorship that are fundamentally inconsistent with the transnational, free and decentralized nature of the Internet.

The low-to-nonexistent barriers to entry have made the Internet a remarkable growth engine for small businesses, creating jobs in every sector of the economy.

The Internet Association also supports policies that recognize the diversity and value of the business models used by various players in the Internet ecosystem.

Will everyone sleep better now knowing that The Internet Association is representing the voice of the internet economy? LOL I don't know about you, but I'm not that foolish. The Internet Association's sole purpose is lobbying. Combining the lobbying power of these member companies is not only extremely troublesome, but is a direct threat to the future of small businesses and innovation by anyone other then themselves. Additionally, this lobbying group also may serve as a platform to conspire under a legal umbrella. This, in itself, should be looked at by the FTC under provisions of the Sherman Antitrust Act that prohibit conspiring to monopolize trade or commerce.

I don't know about anyone else here, but I'm not okay with Google and the other 800lb gorillas being the "unified voice of the internet economy." These publicly traded companies represent shareholders. And they will continue to pursue anti-competitive tactics that further erode the ability of small businesses to thrive in the current hostile environment and the one their lobbying efforts produce.

Go check out their site to see how The Internet Association is representing you: http://internetassociation.org/

PS: I believe The Internet Association website contains thin content. However, it ranks well in Google and already has sitelinks. I wonder why?

 

[directaxcess]

The day you stop relying on SEO for the bulk of your traffic and consequently income -- that's the day you will find true success in internet marketing. I'm not saying don't do SEO, but don't use it as your only source of traffic/income... there's plenty of ways to market your websites!

 

[Windmill]

I agree that Google certainly lobbies for large businesses and it is corrupt in that regard; but that doesn't mean that we can complain that they make changes to their private website with their private algorithum or that we can sue them.

You can dislike the company, and the their actions, but we can sue them because we were piggy-backing off of them for income and they chose to lift up another business instead.

 

[partymarty4870]

What do you pro-Google people think

Please note that I'm not pro-Google, just pro hard work and definately anti whinging.

remember I'm the guy who writes "who ate all the pies? Matt did!" on every thread I feel he's having a wank over.

 

[ibmethatswhoib]

What pisses me off is when corruption gets lumped in with "hard-work" and "non-whining".

Two separate things.

Please note that I'm not pro-Google, just pro hard work and definately anti whinging.

remember I'm the guy who writes "who ate all the pies? Matt did!" on every thread I feel he's having a wank over.

 

[assphuck]

I agree that Google certainly lobbies for large businesses and it is corrupt in that regard; but that doesn't mean that we can complain that they make changes to their private website with their private algorithum or that we can sue them.

You can dislike the company, and the their actions, but we can sue them because we were piggy-backing off of them for income and they chose to lift up another business instead.

With antiquated laws that were created in the horse and buggy days, yes, it is difficult to sue them for anti-trust violations. This is why these ancient laws need to be modernized. Google is much larger then search alone. But they can and have used their dominance in search to purchase other companies that shield their position in search and allow them to collect data which is otherwise unavailable to other search engines. A competitive edge it is, but does it rise to the level of being subject to anti-trust scrutiny? Probably not. When most of the anti-trust laws were written, they had no concept of color televisions let alone the internet.

Oddly enough, Google is abandoning its organic search model at the same time this powerhouse lobbying group officially launches (last month). While it may be a coincidence, I think it was planned just as Google's lobbying budget nearly doubled this year.

But for the record, I don't believe we ever really piggy backed off of Google. To the contrary, we are the ones that developed the content in which they presented to users. Still to this day, with an occasional tweak to a title or meta description snippet, Google still scrapes webpages and copies portions of our content to include in their search engine. Sure, they have images, sitelinks, rating stars, etc. for some listings, but the actual content that Google displays is still ours.

 

[Cindy]

Jesus, I thought that this might get into a bit of a discussion, but damn.

To all those people saying "google is a private company, so they they can rape my wife and kids...":

Do you know what an anti trust lawsuit is? A monopoly is a private company that has taken over a large percent of the market (like 90% or so in google's case, the term, just "google it" is now officially in the American lexicon, as apposed to "search it") . And then when they decide to make spur of the moment, radical changes (with no opposition) and banish quality sites with original relevant content (not only what THEY'VE told you to build, but with the explicit intent to force businesses to pay them), I call bullsh*t.

To all those people saying "your crappy EMD doesn't rank now":

Actually, I'm referring to a domain that I have personally been involved in since 1997, that IS an authority in it's field and ranks number one in both yahoo and bing (although they don't bring you any real traffic - hence the google monopoly)

My intent with this thread was not to start a pissing party, but for those who can see what google is moving towards to TAKE ACTION, and maybe we all can collectively have some impact on unfair practices that are affecting ALL of our collective lives. If you're a "google is great" person, cool, wait a few weeks, there were a lot of Germans that never blamed the responsible parties when the reichstag was burned.

Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it, happy g+ing.

 

[manishc]

Google is getting too greedy, and unless someone stops them they will ultimately make every one us pay for our rankings. This is a good move. I'll definitely fill it out.

Good idea Cindy but that is a waste of time. Google has too many politicians in their pocket. We need to start a clickbomb war and get google to start paying advertisers back. We need to hit them as hard as they have hit all of us.

Not a good idea. It will not harm Google, it'll only harm small publishers. Google is too big to be harmed by a click bomb. Everyone of us can make a difference. Everyone counts. If everyone thought that they are just an individual and would not make a difference, nothing would ever get done.

um - what if we're not pissed at google?

Just because you lost rankings doesn't mean everyone has.

How about working out how not to get affected next time rather than whinging about it.

Just because you have escaped this time, doesn't mean you are safe. Google's ultimate mandate is to maximize advertising revenue. Everything it does is based on that objective. You might have escaped this time, but rest assured they will make you pay, sooner or later.

 

[peteisneat09]

or how the trash guy for Mitt Romney is unhappy

did mitt fire him, too?

 

[Expertpeon]

Its funny how many people think they are entitled to things.

I'd fall out of my chair laughing if google banned the domains of everyone signing a petition against them or threatened a lawsuit.

And I'll laugh when google faces down a $10 billion + lawsuit because most of their revenue is being generated through click fraud...
The sword cuts both ways...