The Hill News

The Senate Antitrust Subcommittee has called Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt to testify during a hearing examining online competition.  Google seemingly showers consumers with dozens of free servicesâ€"and connects us to other businessesâ€"so why is its chairman being called to DC?
 
The issues involve threat to consumer privacy and anticompetitive risks that limit market choices and innovation.  Members of the U.S. Senate are right to ask Schmidt some tough questions about how Google operates, its 100-plus mergers and how its operations impact consumers and healthy marketplace competition.
 
Whether you realize it or not, Google is virtually impossible to avoid on the Internet. The company’s dominant position in search, search advertising, mobile search, online video, mapping, and website analytics means Google constantly collects your data.  And Google is now leveraging its dominant position to move into other markets, including t! ravel, local information services and mobile phones.

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