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Relevant information at Wired.com: Why Is Obama's Top Antitrust Cop Gunning for Google?

"I think you are going to see a repeat of Microsoft."

Christine Varney's blunt assessment sent a buzz through the audience at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Varney, a partner at Hogan & Hartson and one of the country's foremost experts in online law, was speaking at the ninth annual conference of the American Antitrust Institute, a gathering of top monopoly attorneys and economists. Most of the day was filled with dry presentations like "Verticality Regains Relevance" and "The Future of Private Enforcement." But Varney, tall and professorial, did not hide her message behind legalese or euphemism. The technology industry, she said, was coming under the sway of a dominant behemoth, one that had the potential to stifle innovation and squash its competitors. The last time the government saw a threat like this--Microsoft in the 1990s--it launched an aggressive antitrust case. But by the time of this conference, mid-June 2008, a new offender had emerged. "For me, Microsoft is so last century," Varney said. "They are not the problem. I think we are going to continually see a problem, potentially, with Google."

Google reshoots Japan views after privacy complaints

Wed May 13, 2009 6:09am EDT

TOKYO (Reuters) - Internet search engine Google said it would reshoot all Japanese pictures for its online photo map service, Street View, using lower camera angles after complaints about invasion of privacy.

Google's Street View, which offers 360-degree views of streets around the world using photos taken by cruising Google vehicles, has already run into privacy complaints in other countries and activists have tried to halt the service in Japan.

Google said in a statement on Wednesday it would lower the cameras on its cars by 40 cm (16 inches) after complaints they were capturing images over fences in private homes.

Not with a whisper...

I had a recent debate over whether a border should be 3, 4 or 5 pixels wide, and was asked to prove my case. I can't operate in an environment like that. I've grown tired of debating such miniscule design decisions. There are more exciting design problems in this world to tackle.

Goodbye Google

Esther Dyson on Google (vs. Yandex) and her preference of market forces for regulation of information on the Internet: Big Brother Google?

As it happens, I have a complex relationship with Google. I have fed at its trough many times – as a personal guest; as an advisory board member of Stop Badware, an NGO it sponsors; and as a speaker at its events. I also sit on the board of 23andMe, co-founded by the wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

But I also sit on the boards of Yandex in Russia, one of a small number of companies around the world who beat Google in their local markets, and of WPP, a worldwide advertising/marketing company famous for its rivalry with Google. Finally, I’m suspicious of concentrations of power of any kind.

So I welcomed the chance to clarify my thinking. I took the con side of the debate: Google does not violate its motto. However, I do think there is a danger that someday it could.

...

A Google that is accountable to its users – searchers, advertisers, investors, and governments – is likely to be a better outfit that does more good in today’s relatively open market. In short, there is no regulatory system that I trust more than the current messy world of conflicting interests. Whatever short-term temptations it faces – to manipulate its search results, use private information, or throw its weight around – Google, it is clear, could lose a lot by succumbing to them in a world where its every move is watched.

Reuters: Japanese group asks Google to stop map service

AFP: Japanese seek to scrap Google's Street View

Best read is this one-

SearchEngineLand: Japanese Lawyers, Professors Try To Block StreetView

UPDATE: Google says that the WSJ doesn't know what it is writing about and that this is about content caching, not network neutrality: Google Public Policy Blog: Net neutrality and the benefits of caching. If that's the case, this is either really shoddy reporting or there's something about "content caching" that is too similar to a real benefit in network access. If you're an entity like Google, and you're willing to pay ISPs around the world to put google content on cache servers all over the Internet, that amounts to a benefit that others without such pockets or agreements cannot get.

What say you?

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WSJ: Google Wants Its Own Fast Track on the Web

Google Inc. has approached major cable and phone companies that carry Internet traffic with a proposal to create a fast lane for its own content, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Google has traditionally been one of the loudest advocates of equal network access for all content providers.

Quite different from what Vint Cerf said in late 2008:



Or in 2006: U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Hearing on "Network Neutrality" February 7, 2006

Or in 2005 to Joe Barton & John Dingell: Vint Cerf speaks out on net neutrality

SONY VETERAN TSUJINO SET TO TAKE HELM AT GOOGLE JAPAN

Only a few weeks ago, I showcased a number of alternative home page interfaces Google is using in East Asia. Today I saw a new UI for Simplified Chinese at one of the Google.cn urls that previously had a different design.

The previous design is here.

You can see the whole set of Google's East Asian home pages at my Flickr account.

But almost five years into its expansion into Europe - where it has a headquarters in Dublin, large facilities in Zurich and London and smaller centers in Denmark, Russia and Poland, among other countries - Google is beginning to bump up against a web of privacy laws that threaten its growth and the positive image it has cultivated as a company dedicated to doing good - its unofficial motto.

In Switzerland, data protection officials are quietly pressing Google to scrap plans to introduce Street View, a mapping service that provides a vivid, 360-degree, ground-level photographic panorama from any address. Swiss privacy law prohibits the unauthorized use of personal images or property.

In Germany, where Street View is also not available, the simple process of taking photographs for the service violates privacy laws.

Once greeted warmly, Google wears out welcome

You don't say?

Well it isn't only in Germany and Switzerland where Street View is unwelcome. Chris Salzberg and Global Voices have months of coverage of Japanese dissent concerning Street View in Japan.

Japan and Google Street View 2008

Via the angrymoose:

Business

Yahoo!

Boo hoo!


Oct 16th 2008 | TOKYO


From The Economist print edition

More bad news for the struggling internet giant, this time from Japan

The brightest treasure in Yahoo!’s empire has long been its Japanese arm, in which it has a 34% stake. It dominates its lucrative local market and reported increased revenue and profit on September 30th for the year to March. But even this jewel is losing its sparkle.

In September Yahoo! Japan admitted that its online-auction site had suffered a huge security breach. Over the summer it had been flooded with fraudulent login attempts using around 1.5m usernames. Having logged in, criminals used hijacked accounts to sell counterfeit luxury goods.

...

Last month the company acknowledged the problem and agreed to reimburse users who had been charged fees relating to fraudulent transactions. This set off a stampede of further complaints, as other users scrutinised their bills. Yahoo! Japan says it does not know how so many usernames were stolen, but suggests that they may have been leaked by another website. It feebly advised users to change their passwords.

The security breach is terrible news. Users may be less inclined to use a site they no longer trust to protect their personal details. And Yahoo! Japan faces other worries. Google is catching up, revenue growth is slowing and managers are defecting to rivals. Its share price has tumbled by 50% in the past six months.