If you thought the closing of the Google-ITA Software deal would signal the demise of the opposition organization FairSearch, then think again.
Expedia Inc. counsels Tom Barnett, a former head of the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division, and Patrick Lynch, former attorney general of Rhode Island, continue to serve as attorneys for FairSearch.
And, a few days after the deal closed, the coalition was promoting a Lynch opinion piece for Statesman.com. The article, also posted on the FairSearch website, takes Google to task for its alleged “abuse of power online.”
The article lauds state attorneys general for being “the first line of defense in making sure emerging technologies are safe for families and consumers” and cites the efforts of some for attempting to curb some of Google’s alleged excesses.
As an aside, Statesman.com doesn’t identify Lynch’s FairSearch and Expedia affiliations in its post, although FairSearch notes he is “a consultant to Expedia” in its post of the same article.
One of the concessions that the opposition can point to is that the Google-ITA settlement establishes a formal reporting mechanism, enabling alleged aggrieved parties to file complaints if they believe Google isn’t living up to its obligations.
Perhaps everything will go smoothly, but with this new monitoring of Google’s business practices there is the potential for new flare-ups as ITA contracts expire and it comes time to renew them.
It remains to be seen how active FairSearch members will be in the coalition’s efforts, but rest assured that the organization will not quietly fade away.
Wow I wish FairSearch would just end now. So basically Google’s competitors put together a lobbying group so they could attack Google as a team and try to get bad press for Google because they can’t innovate. The ITA/Google DOJ inquest is the biggest farce I’ve seen since Microsoft’s anti-competitive allegations against Google. I can guarantee my next flight will not be bought through one of the ‘FairSearch’s’ portals.
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So it’s even more of an ‘astroturfer’ group now employing ex-AGs and government lawyer to execute the biting of Google’s competitors.
Congrats on being a bunch of lowlifes.
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How can Kayak, which controls 90% of the US metasearch market and can get away with gobbling up its competitors such as SideStep, possibly make a claim that Google is a monopoly and anti-competitive? That’s hypocrisy at its highest form.
Furthermore, this acquisition had been talked about for years. Why didn’t any of these companies develop their OWN technology so that they wouldn’t be so dependent on ITA? And why didn’t any of them (specifically Microsoft) buy ITA themselves?