Google in Hot European Water
An Italian court’s sentencing of three Google execs is just the tip of the iceberg of Google’s European challenges. Good On the Media interview with Siva Vaidhyanathan, a University of Virginia Media Studies and Law professor. Beyond the immediate question of Google’s legal responsibility regarding the content it hosts, we hear about the three major issues confronting the company in Europe: 1) book search; and 2) Street View; 3) impact on rival search engines. EU challenges and U.S. challenges, have differed over time. Now, with the Obama Administration one year in, we’re still to see how the new DOJ anti-trust division and the FTC (which held hearings on the “how journalism will survive the digital age”) will treat the dominance of Google. One thing due for review: digital ad dominance, given Google’s recent acquisition of mobile ad leader Ad Mob. AdWords + DoubleClick + AdMob provides Google unprecedented clout in the fastest growing source of advertising in the country, and Western World.