Texas AG Probes Google

According to the WSJ, the Attorney General for Texas is probing Google inc. for antitrust laws business practice violations. Complaints concerning rankings violations by some small firms have led to this action. Google has responded by alleging that the complaints stem from Microsoft Corporation-based companies and their offshoots.

These smaller companies (and what companies are not smaller than Google.com), are price comparison sites whose visitation and success would be in part decided by the mysterious formulas of the Google organization. The companies, Foundem.co.uk, Tradecomet.com LLC, and myTriggers.com are evidently at the root of the matter. legal action has been ongoing. British authorities are also looking into the matter.

But can any company today get a fair judicial hearing against a company with the resources and business powers that Google now commands? Google.com is a worldwide monolith whose corporate reach and operating budget may outdistance that of many governments. Are the antitrust allegations part of the monster that Google has become, or are these shadowy business practices that helped Google get where they are today?

Google is not without its own flaws. The WSJ announced today that the search engine monolith paid a $8.5 million judgement in a privacy matter where the Buzz social network violated user privacy. In related recent online policing activities FaceBook was also involved in marketing user details in an unethical manner.  Privacy violations have become somewhat of  a marketing gray area in recent business cycles where marketing targets are big money.

Is this a sign that Google intends a no-holds-barred spear into Microsoft business-practice monopoly waters, or that Microsoft feels threatened enough to risk its offshoot ventures to bring charges against them?

Stay tuned.

.CO domains are coming, imagine Business.co , Money.co , Domains.co

There was a news regarding the .CO domain launch schedule. CO domain extension represents Columbian and the domain launch would start in April, 2010.

Imagine domains like Business.co, Domains.co, Money.co, Website.co, Hosting.co, Celebrities.co, News.co . They look nice and very much similar to .com domains.

“Local Sunrise” would start from April 1, 2010 until April 20, 2010.

Then “Global Sunrise” would begin at April 26, 2010 and it would end on June 10, 2010.

“Landrush” would be from June 21, 2010 until July 13, 2010.

“General Availability” would start on July 20, 2010 from when people would be able to register at normal rate on first come, first served basis.

1. Local Sunrise (April 1 – April 20):

This phase is for Columbian trademark holders with exact match domain names registered prior to July 30, 2008. This allows companies with Columbian trademarks to apply for their desired domain or domains and secure their trademarks. Matching domains will go to auction.

2. Global Sunrise (April 26 – June 10):

This phase is for trademark holders with exact match domain names registered prior to July 30, 2008. This allows companies to apply for their desired domain or domains and secure their trademarks. Matching domains will go to auction.

3. Landrush (June 21 – July 13):

Landrush takes place from the end of June through mid-July, and will be open to anyone interested in registering domain names of high commercial value. Any interest in matching domains will go to auction.

4. General Availability (July 20):

Once the Global Sunrise and Landrush processes are complete, .CO domains will become available to anyone in the world through participating registrars. Except where otherwise reserved by the .CO Registry or earmarked for premium auctions, .CO domains will be available to the public based on the chronological order of registrations on a first come, first served basis.

Above is from OpenSRS .com page.