Google’s Sky Darkens with Wings of Legal Eagles
September 16, 2008
The European Union has shifted its laser beams of investigation to Google. Microsoft must be chortling with the news. You have many ways to get the inside scoop on this inquiry. I liked Silicon.com’s summation. You can read “EU to Probe Yahoo!-Google Advertising Tie Up” here. For me the most important point in the story was this comment:
The Commission spokesman said there was no deadline for the investigation in Brussels.
I don’t know much about law in general and EU inquiries in general, but what I saw the words “no deadline”, I thought, “Yikes, probers can poke around for months, even years.” When governmental agencies gear up for a “no deadline” inquiry, the likelihood of uncovering mountains of information that can be interpreted in many different ways becomes a certainty.
My thinking is that Google might conclude the Yahoo deal is too much hassle and walk away. Let’s assume this happens.
First, I think the EU will keep its lasers on Mr. Google. The group working to gather information won’t go gently into that good night. At this point, I think the EU will keep on probing and sifting no matter what Google does with regard to Yahoo. Committees can find many interesting issues to weigh and then measure against applicable guidelines, regulations, and laws. Therefore, it’s open season on Mr. Google for the foreseeable future.
Second, if Google leaves Yahoo at the alter, what will Yahoo do? It’s bold play to get hackers to generate revenue appeals to my teen age self. But the 65 year old side of that self thinks, “Yahoo may be pushed off the cliff and into the clutches of gravity.” The “gravity” to which I refer is the pre crash 2000 notion of “zero gravity” Web companies. I think Isaac Newton and his mythical apple remind me of what may happen to Yahoo unless a fairy godmother rescues the company. Yahoo costs are tough to control and the loss of Google revenue may be too much for the Yahooligans to bear.
I see the EU investigation as a turning point for Google and possibly for Yahoo. What do you think? Mr. Google wows Brussels. Yahoo surges when cut free. Let me know because I see Google’s sunny day occluded by the wings of legal eagles.
Stephen Arnold, September 16, 2008
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One Response to “Google’s Sky Darkens with Wings of Legal Eagles”
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Legal eagles are broad and long, they cloud the sky of whatever entity they fly above. Without deadlines the search will indeed continue as long as the bills are getting paid.