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Anna Eshoo (D-PhRMA) to FTC: "Leave Google ALOOONE!"
Zoe Lofgren (D-CA, @RepZoeLofgren) and Anna Eshoo (D-PhRMA, @RepAnnaEshoo) add their names to the list of members of Congress telling the FTC to abdicate their responsibility to oversee antitrust activity and just let Google do whatever the heck it wants.
Several weeks ago Jared Polis (D-CO, @JaredPolis) actually threatened to cut the FTC’s funding if they pursued antitrust measures against Google, invoking such mind-altering logic as “I have never heard one of my constituents say that they don’t feel like they have enough choices online.”
This comes at a time when the term of J. Thomas Rosch, the only one of the FTC’s five commissioners to stand up to Google (PDF) and Facebook (PDF) over their privacy violations, has expired. Obama’s appointee to replace Rosch, Joshua Wright, has close ties to Google and opposes any meaningful oversight of the corporate behemoth (for more on this, read Gaius Publius’s excellent rundown at AmericaBlog).
Although caught red-handed, both Google and Facebook were allowed to follow the current corporate fad of denying all liability in their settlements with the FTC. Wright’s replacement of Rosch would mean the FTC will essentially operate as a Google wind-up toy.
If anyone was wondering how it happens that regulatory agencies keep abdicating their oversight of banks and other large corporations, having members of Congress threaten to cut off their funding acts as an enormous incentive.
For those just joining our saga, here once again is what Google’s government-protected monopoly has done to newspaper revenues:
Good to know that as Google continues to cannibalize its competitors both small and large, the Congressional elite will be there to shield them from any meaningful investigation.
11 Comments
Pretty sad that both of these critters come from liberal districts. Though Eschoo’s district contains Google HQ, it still shows the effect of a duopoly party system and excess monies to buy off politicians.
Also Jane; I looked today for any reporting on the Google/FTC & couldn’t find any. Should I Google it?
Try DuckDuckGo. Or Bing. But, yes.
;)
Another victory for the LOTE voters out there.
Sad, I recall long ago (early 80′s or so) when Anna Eshoo ran for San Mateo County Board of Supes. Jackie Speir had been or was also a member, on HER way to House Of Reps as Anna later emulated.
Eshoo was a solid liberal and proggy at the time. Now, no so much.
This is how corporate fascism operates, and owns us all.
LeSigh.
Ah, Larue, “corporate fascism” owns those willing to be “bought” …
Many, here, are not bought nor willing to “sell” themselves for a few pieces of silver.
One more time, let us hear how the D’s are fundamentally different from the R’s in their “boughtness”? Let us clearly come to understand how the Democrats are less “sucky” and less “evil” … than the oppressive and greedy “other”, when it gets right down to “brass tacks” and other pointed objects.
Thank you, Jane, for this continuing series on Google and all the many “interesting” things which are revealed around and about the Google and those who support the Google in all of its munificent splendor.
DW
Dems are often bought and paid for by different corporations than Repubs, that’s about all the difference I can see. Internet and entertainment companies seem to buy Dem primarily.
And the Google/Bytegeist coverage is very revealing, Jane, I agree.
***ALERT*** Delete before reading or you’ll be bargained for…
With Democrats like these, who needs Republicans?
The only real difference between Dems and ‘Pubs is how quickly to institute a corporate police state.
We remain, yet still, again, also, in full accord.
You betcha. ;-) ;-)
We need public utility computing stripped of sponsorship. This would include public internet. This would be like a highway system but sans the sponsorship or billboard signs. We are having trouble because all our speech is commercially filtered or censored through sponsorship. We need a level playing field for speech one that filters the bought and paid for tradition instead of venerates it.
That chart pretty much shows the rise of the internet (not just google) and it’s effect on newspapers. You might as well blame blogs like firedoglake. After all, sites like this have replaced my newspaper reading. Newspapers started dying once people’s community stopped being defined by their geography.
Newspapers have no one to blame but themselves for not adapting to the fact that they no longer have a monopoly on my eyeballs.