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<h1><nyt_headline version="1.0" type=" ">The Emperor of All
Identities</nyt_headline></h1>
<nyt_byline>
<h6 class="byline">By <span itemprop="author" itemscope=""
itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name">PAMELA
JONES HARBOUR</span></span></h6>
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<div id="articleBody"> <nyt_correction_top> </nyt_correction_top>
<p itemprop="articleBody"> Washington </p>
<p itemprop="articleBody"> A FEW years after it was founded,
Google adopted a list of guiding principles it titled, “Ten
things we know to be true.” No. 4 was “Democracy on the Web
works.” </p>
<p itemprop="articleBody"> That’s a worthy sentiment — though
a bit surprising coming from the Web’s emperor. </p>
<p itemprop="articleBody"> For that, arguably, is what Google
has become. Its search engine accounts for <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.fairsearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Draft-Core-FairSearch-Fact-Sheet-051812.pdf">nearly
80 percent</a> of all Web searches in the United States —
and a remarkable 98 percent of searches from mobile devices.
In that role, Google is not just an eponymous verb but
perhaps the most central conduit of information in the
nation — and, indeed, on the planet. No other search engine
comes close. </p>
<p itemprop="articleBody"> News accounts suggest that the
Federal Trade Commission will delay any decision on whether
to file an antitrust lawsuit against Google until perhaps
next year. That decision had been expected to come this
week. </p>
<p itemprop="articleBody"> The F.T.C. has spent nearly two
years investigating whether Google’s search engine favors
the company’s own commercial endeavors over rival offerings,
thereby stifling competition. And even now, some analysts
believe that the commission might forgo any legal action
against the company in exchange for Google’s willingness to
make some modest changes in the way it uses certain consumer
information. </p>
<p itemprop="articleBody"> This would be a severe setback for
Internet users. It will allow Google to continue to amass
unbridled control over data gathering, with grave
consequences for privacy and for consumer choice. (European
regulators are conducting their own antitrust inquiry into
Google.) </p>
<p itemprop="articleBody"> Google has been modest about its
dominance in the modern information society, asserting that
competing search engines, like Yahoo or Microsoft’s Bing,
are just “one click away” if people wish to use them. The
Internet is an extraordinarily complex domain with equally
powerful challengers, the company points out. Facebook makes
Google’s own social media platform look like a joke. Far
more shoppers begin their online product searches through
Amazon than Google. In short, there’s enough competition out
there, Google says, that consumers ought not to fear the
company’s mighty role in the information economy. </p>
<p itemprop="articleBody"> But we need to look at Google’s
market role — and behavior — through a different prism.
Google is not just a “search engine company,” or an “online
services company,” or a publisher, or an advertising
platform. At its core, it’s a data collection company. </p>
<p itemprop="articleBody"> Its “market” is data by, from and
about consumers — you, that is. And in that realm, its role
is so dominant as to be overwhelming, and scary. Data is the
engine of online markets and has become, indeed, a new asset
class. </p>
<p itemprop="articleBody"> In March, when Google replaced the
more than 60 privacy guidelines that governed its products
and services with a single policy, it also moved to
consolidate the personal data it collects. The company
creates as much data in two days — roughly 5 exabytes — as
the world produced from the dawn of humanity until 2003,
according to <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/04/schmidt-data/">a
2010 statement</a> by Eric Schmidt, the company’s
chairman, who later declared that he didn’t “believe society
understands what happens when everything is available,
knowable, and recorded by everyone all the time.” </p>
<p itemprop="articleBody"> For now, Google uses the data to
sell targeted ads, but who says the company’s use of the
data will be restricted to that purpose? Opt out of Google’s
data collection? Sure, you can do that — but you’ll also
have to delete your Gmail account and leave Google’s
ecosystem. With Google’s Android operating system — which is
activated in <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-09-12/after-500-million-android-activations-wheres-the-profit">1.3
million new mobile devices</a> every day, and is used by
more people than use Apple’s iPhone — that ecosystem is
growing. </p>
<p itemprop="articleBody"> I’ve been concerned about Google’s
dominant role in data collection — and the profound privacy
concerns it raises — since my time at the F.T.C. When the
commission approved Google’s 2007 acquisition of
DoubleClick, I dissented — because I was concerned that
combining the two companies’ vast troves of consumer
information would allow Google, which was largely unchecked
by competition, to develop invasive profiles of individuals’
Internet habits. </p>
<p itemprop="articleBody"> Now, the F.T.C. has another chance
to protect consumers, promote innovation and ensure fair
competition online. In making its decision, it must
understand that while Google may be the runaway leader in
Web search and online advertising, its most troubling
dominance is in the marketplace of private consumer data. If
real competition in this area can be restored, I am
confident that market forces will provide the incentives
necessary for companies to offer attractive services and
relevant, engaging ads without violating consumer privacy. </p>
<p itemprop="articleBody"> I am no longer an F.T.C.
commissioner, but a lawyer representing companies —
including Microsoft — that are concerned about Google’s
power as a data collector. Yes, there’s some irony in that —
it wasn’t long ago that Microsoft faced its own major
antitrust lawsuit and had to change its anticompetitive
practices. </p>
<p itemprop="articleBody"> But then, an emperor is an emperor.
And when it comes to the Web, as Google’s wise founders
said, democracy works best. </p>
<nyt_author_id>
<div class="authorIdentification">
<p> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.fulbright.com/pharbour">Pamela Jones
Harbour</a>, a member of the Federal Trade Commission
from 2003 to 2010, is a lawyer at Fulbright &
Jaworski, where she represents technology companies,
including Microsoft. </p>
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