Regarding Google, the FTC did WHAT??

January 6, 2013 John Obeto

It took several years of investigating….for this?

No one expected the FTC to come up with the same nonsense Joel Klein did when he ran President Clinton’s antitrust division at the DOJ.

Moreover, I’m sure nobody expected the incredibly imbecilic performance of Thomas Penfield Jackson in re The United States v. Microsoft.

However, we expected the FTC to do more than tell Google to “Just play nice, kids”.

I mean, seriously, are you freakin’ kiddin’ me?

Google’s transgressions have been laid bare, and deeply analyzed for months by Precursor Group’s Scott Cleland in his Precursor Blog series, called the Google Unaccountability Series, in version 15 as of today.

Scott’s blog series is a useful primer on the atrocities Google has been perpetrating on not just the people of America, but on the world!

Why didn’t the FTC take a least a read of the Precursor blog?

Even then, this is what they could do?

This….is….sh’t!

UPDATE 6/1/2013: The airwaves are abuzz with Google fresh off the New Year’s Day mulligan delivered to them by the FTC already!

Google is abusing their monopoly power by blocking access to Google Maps by users of Windows Phone’s IE, where Windows Phone is a competing mobile platform to Google’s Android.

When asked about this yesterday, January 5, 2013, Google’s reply was:

"The mobile web version of Google Maps is optimized for WebKit browsers such as Chrome and Safari. However, since Internet Explorer is not a WebKit browser, Windows Phone devices are not able to access Google Maps for the mobile web,"

On an abstract level, it seems sensible, until you realize the IE in Windows can get to Google Maps, and that this issue just started last week!

But, that was yesterday.

Today, Google is singing a new tune:

"We periodically test Google Maps compatibility with mobile browsers to make sure we deliver the best experience for those users.

In our last test, IE mobile still did not offer a good maps experience with no ability to pan or zoom and perform basic map functionality. As a result, we chose to continue to redirect IE mobile users to Google.com where they could at least make local searches.

The Firefox mobile browser did offer a somewhat better user experience and that's why there is no redirect for those users. Recent improvements to IE mobile and Google Maps now deliver a better experience and we are currently working to remove the redirect.

We will continue to test Google Maps compatibility with other mobile browsers to ensure the best possible experience for users."

Are you freakin’ kiddin’ me?

IE mobile in Windows Phone does perform panning, zooming, and all that!

Now, Google says it doesn’t?

“Don’t Be Evil”, right?

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