In the current legal proceedings where Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) alleges misleading and deceptive conduct by Trading Post and Google, Alan Kohler writes:
“If you google the phrase ‘Alan Kohler’, the top link in the main, unpaid search results is one of my articles on smh.com.au. Next is Eureka Report. But above that, against a beige background, there are two other links – one is to Eureka Report and the other is a link to Australian Stock Report, one of our competitors.”
…
“In essence the ACCC claims two things: a business’s competitors should not be allowed to ‘buy’ its name and muscle into its search results page; and the ‘sponsored links’ are not sufficiently distinguished from the main, unpaid, results in the middle of the page. The ACCC is not saying this, but I think it would accept a settlement based on the latter point, and not press on the first. In other words, Google could probably end the case with more prominent signage on its sponsored links.”
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/07/17/1184559788867.htmlEarlier stories highlighted on TechNewsReview are available at http://technewsreview.com.au/article.php?article=2002 and http://technewsreview.com.au/article.php?article=1992.