The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday faced renewed questions about its handling of its antitrust investigation into Google, after documents revealed that an internal report had recommended stronger action.The 2012 report, from the agency’s bureau of competition, said that the agency should sue the Internet search company for anticompetitive practices, according to several people who saw the report but would speak about it only under the condition of anonymity. At least one other staff report, they said, recommended not to pursue a lawsuit. In early 2013, the agency unanimously voted not to bring charges after an investigation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/20/technology/take-google-to-court-staff-report-urged-ftc.htmlAlso see:Excerpts from FTC Staff Report on Google’s Search Practices
The Federal Trade Commission inadvertently shared with The Wall Street Journal a document outlining findings by key staffers who spent more than a year investigating Google ‘s business practices. Here are some highlights from the staff report:-The FTC’s bureau of competition recommended that the commission take legal action against Google in three areas, related to the search giant’s advertising practices and its use of content from other web sites to boost its own product offerings. Competition staffers found that Google’s conduct “has resulted – and will result – in real harm to consumers and to innovation in the online search and advertising markets.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/03/19/excerpts-from-ftc-staff-report-on-googles-search-practices/Confidential U.S. FTC report found Google anticompetitive tactics -WSJ
Key staff members at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission were in favour of suing Google Inc for violating antitrust rules before the agency settled its investigation in 2013, according a confidential report cited by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.The report by the staff of the FTC’s competition bureau argued that the owner of the world’s No. 1 Internet search engine illegally took information from rival websites to improve its own search results and placed restrictions on websites and advertisers. The report recommended suing Google for several of its business practices.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/03/20/uk-google-ftc-idUKKBN0MF2MJ20150320