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Title: Google Faces Off With US Government in Attempt To Break Up Company in
Search Monopoly Case

Link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/04/21/1736...

Google is confronting an existential threat as the U.S. government tries to
break up the company as punishment for turning its revolutionary search
engine into an illegal monopoly. From a report: The drama began to unfold
Monday in a Washington courtroom as three weeks of hearings kicked off to
determine how the company should be penalized for operating a monopoly in
search. In its opening arguments, federal antitrust enforcers also urged the
court to impose forward-looking remedies to prevent Google from using
artificial intelligence to further its dominance. "This is a moment in time,
we're at an inflection point, will we abandon the search market and surrender
them to control of the monopolists or will we let competition prevail and
give choice to future generations," said Justice Department attorney David
Dahlquist. The proceedings, known in legal parlance as a "remedy hearing,"
are set to feature a parade of witnesses that includes Google CEO Sundar
Pichai. The U.S. Department of Justice is asking a federal judge to order a
radical shake-up that would ban Google from striking the multibillion dollar
deals with Apple and other tech companies that shield its search engine from
competition, share its repository of valuable user data with rivals and force
a sale of its popular Chrome browser. Google's attorney, John Schmidtlein,
said in his opening statement that the court should take a much lighter
touch. He said the government's heavy-handed proposed remedies wouldn't boost
competition but instead unfairly reward lesser rivals with inferior
technology. "Google won its place in the market fair and square," Schmidtlein
said.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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