More Google...

Our old friend Google seems to have run afoul of the US Government - regardless of their "Don't Be Evil" policies.

A cryptic regulatory file recently disclosed that Google was setting aside $500 million USD (as in half a billion with a 'B' dollars) to potentially resolve a case with the Justice Department.

Supposedly, according to the filing, this involves"the use of Google advertising by certain advertisers."  (This would be the largest fine ever paid by a company - so much for "Don't Be Evil"...)

Unlike a telephone line or ISP that provides internet services a search engine company can be liable for what it does if if makes money with it.  (Telephone laws subsequently applied to ISPs provide that the transmission services are not responsible for what others transmit over their lines or services.)

At issue here is a policy Google had in place to allow Canadian pharmacies to sell drugs to US customers.

Now in general online drug sales are illegal - particularly if no prescription is involved or if the sale occurs outside the US.  In addition it is illegal to import drugs into the US.  Now generally many US citizens purchase drugs from online Canadian pharmacies because they are cheaper.  Yet Google allowed these types of pharmacies to advertise.

Google continues to run afoul of the law both in the US and in other countries.  It seems that they have certain ideas about what is legal and what isn't and they don't seem to understand that another country may have its own ideas about law.  (Perhaps this is a result of "globalist" thinking - that there are no countries or boarders and we all hold hands and sing "Kumbaya"…)

In the long term I would say that what companies like Google do in terms of tracking and location data is going to become more and more "regulated".

For example, in the EU there is currently talk of making your "location" part of your personal information, i.e., private.  Even though Apple, Google and others gain your consent to track your location this may impact what those companies can do with it - and hence limit their potential to profit from that knowledge.

There is also "do not track" which is a set of initiatives that are focused on preventing companies like Google from tracking what you do and where you go ad-wise on the web.

So from my perspective  their "markets"  for tracking your information are becoming more and more limited as time goes by.

In the meantime Google is busy preparing to sell its new Chrome laptop - kind of a netbook running Google's Chrome Operating System.  The concept here is a web-based service that corporate types can use - I guess the reasoning is that corporations will store all their private data on Google's servers.

The last think the world needs is another computer operating system - yet here they are with Android and now Chrome - pounding the pavement to get their name out there.

I have no doubt that somewhere in all the registration nonsense to turn on the Chrome laptop is an "I Agree" button that gives Google access to all of your movements about the web.

(While I write this offline Google claims it is busy restoring lost posts from blogspot - the service I use to post.  Yesterday's post on "Through the Keyhole" is gone as of right now - I hope they get it back as I don't have any backup of that post.  The blog part seems to be up but I cannot add posts… Oh well.)