The statewide implications of a national story tied to the Internet search practices of technology giant Google will be the topic of a panel discussion at the Tuesday, Aug. 23 meeting of the WIN-Madison chapter.
The luncheon will be held at the Sheraton Hotel on Madison’s John Nolen Drive. Registration and networking begin at 11:30 a.m., lunch at noon and the presentation at 12:30 p.m. The cost is $25 for WIN members, $35 for non-members and included with WIN corporate memberships.
Register here.
The Federal Trade Commission served notice in June to Google that it has become the target of an antitrust case, which is based on allegations it is using strategic acquisitions and subtle, mathematical changes in its search engines to control online searches by consumers and others. U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., is the chairman of the Senate subcommittee that will hold hearings in September on the FTC probe – which may rival the Justice Department’s landmark antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft Corp. in the 1990s.
A coalition of business interests called “FairSearch.org” contends Google has unfairly captured significant shares of the online video, map and book markets, and is poised to do the same in travel, shopping and other commercial sectors.
Others believe Google shouldn’t be penalized for being bigger or smarter than its competitors, and that shrewd acquisitions and business practices can be a far cry from anti-competitive behavior. Google says it doesn’t rig the results of such searches, and that there are plenty of alternatives through other search engines and social media.
Speaking Aug. 23 in Madison will be Dan Savage, chief executive officer of SourceTool.com, a business-to-business website that acts as a directory for hundreds of thousands of companies that sell industrial products. SourceTool.com is operated by Trade Comet LLC, based in New York, N.Y. Savage was featured in a 2008 New York Times story headlined “Stuck in Google’s Doghouse.”
Want to learn more about this topic? Here are some useful links:
Click here to watch a short video from June 2011 on Google’s “Panda update 2.2” and what it means for search engine optimization.
Click here to read a New York Times column on speaker Dan Savage and his company’s experience with Google.
Click here to read Tom Still’s July 3 column on the FTC’s inquiry into Google’s Internet search practices and the role being played by U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis.
WIN is the membership arm of the Tech Council, the independent, non-profit science and technology adviser to the governor and the Legislature. It has chapters in Milwaukee, Madison, Northeast Wisconsin, Central Wisconsin, the Lake Superior region and Western Wisconsin.
