I get Sunday delivery of the Washington Post and enjoy reading it the old school way. As I did so this past Sunday I noticed something unusual in the Outlook section. I don’t mean the fact the section was only six pages in length, although that could be the subject of another post.
What I saw was a cartoon at the bottom of three pages from the group FairSearch.org. The cartoon put Google in a bad light, portraying the company as greedy, heavy-handed and omnipotent. Since it was labeled an advertisement it’s not on the Post site — here’s the first panel which will give you the flavor, click to enlarge:
I found the placement effective, so I investigated the group’s site. FairSearch was put together by online travel companies in opposition to Google’s proposed acquisition of ITA Software. ITA software powers most of the popular travel sites online, like Travelocity, Expedia and Hotwire. These companies are concerned about being treated fairly by Google once the company owns ITA, and there were hearings last week on Capitol Hill on the broader issue of Google’s dominance in online search and whether that harms competition. On Wednesday Google’s chairman Eric Schmidt goes before the Senate Judiciary committee, which explains the timing of the ad placement in the Post.
I smiled when I saw the quote by Larry Page from back when he and Sergey Brin were in Stanford. At the time they said that a search engine funded by advertising would be “inherently biased towards advertisers and away from the interests of consumers.” I had used that well known line when I represented a competitor to Google in the enterprise search space a few years ago. As a professional communicator I find the cartoons in the ad and on the site creative ways to make the group’s points.
Having said that, there is a huge difference between a near monopoly you earn — Google’s 70% or so share of search volume — and one you don’t — like me having to buy electricity from Dominion Power. Depending on your viewpoint, Google is far from an all conquering behemoth as search moves from web files to social media interactions. For a totally different take, check out this excellent TechCrunch guest post by Semil Shah called “Google’s Six Front War,” highlighting all the competition Google is taking on at once.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. My firm doesn’t do public affairs per se, but the needs of my clients often require I be well versed in policy debates that can impact their bottom line. For example, a telecom infrastructure client needed advice regarding the Network Neutrality debate, and an Internet security client needed to understand how the Protect IP Act could affect the industry’s (glacial) move to DNSSEC. I’ve worked in many facets of Internet technology in my career, so this is an advisory role I enjoy filling for clients.
It’s the job of every company to make money for its shareholders. I don’t expect Google with their “do no evil” pledge to think of the greater public good any more than I do another company. But Google has created markets (a revenue source for small publishers in AdSense) and tools that have won massive customer acceptance — search, Android OS, Google Apps and most recently Google+.
So I don’t automatically distrust or fear the company, and I don’t think many Americans do either. These cartoons are a smart tactic, but it won’t be easy for FairSearch to generate FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) around Google’s ITA acquisition, which was approved with some conditions by the Justice Department in April.