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DOJ poised to sue Google over digital ad market dominance

According to Bloomberg News, the US Justice Department is preparing to file a lawsuit against Alphabet Inc’s Google as shortly as Tuesday above its dominant position in the market for digital advertising referencing individuals with knowledge of the situation.

The dispute would be Google’s second federal antitrust complaint, accusing antitrust infringements in the way the technology giant obtains or retains its dominant position. The Justice Department’s 2020 civil suit against Google emphasizes its browse monopolization and is set to proceed to a sentencing hearing in September.

The Justice Department didn’t respond instantly to a request for information from Reuters, and Google turned down to address the report.

“The lawsuit we have filed today seeks to hold Google to account for what we allege is its longstanding monopolies in digital advertising technologies that content creators use to sell ads and advertisers use to buy ads on the open Internet,” said the Justice Department’s antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter in a news conference Tuesday announcing the suit.
Source: bloomberglaw.com

Also Read: Netflix founder Reed Hastings stepping down as co-CEO

The lawsuit is predicted to target Google’s ad business, which accounts for roughly 80 percent of its earnings. Google generates revenue from its interrelated ad technology firms, which link up advertisers to publications, websites, as well as other businesses looking to broadcast them, furthermore adding its well-known free search.

Advertising agencies as well as website publishers have voiced concerns that Google has not been forthcoming about where advertising dollars are spent, particularly how much ends up going to publishing companies and what is the amount that goes to Google.

Also Read: Google Parent Alphabet cuts 12000 Jobs

The tech behemoth made several takeovers, such as DoubleClick in 2008 as well as AdMob in 2009, to help position itself as a dominant player in online ads.

The search engine giant previously claimed that the advertising tech ecosystem battled with Facebook Inc, Comcast, AT&T, and others.

When Google stays by far the industry leader, its proportion of digital ad revenue in the United States has already been diminishing, dropping from 36.7 percent in 2016 to 28.8 percent last year, as per Insider Intelligence.

Google said in a blog post that the lawsuit “attempts to pick winners and losers in the highly competitive advertising technology sector. The case largely duplicates an unfounded lawsuit by the Texas Attorney General, much of which was recently dismissed by a federal court. DOJ is doubling down on a flawed argument that would slow innovation, raise advertising fees, and make it harder for thousands of small businesses and publishers to grow.”
Source: bloomberglaw.com

Suhani Jain

I am a student pursuing my bachelor’s in information technology. I have a interest in writing so, I am working a freelance content writer because I enjoy writing. I also write poetries. I believe in the quote by anne frank “paper has more patience than person

Google Parent Alphabet cuts 12000 Jobs

The parent company of google announced a 6 percent reduction in staff in its biggest round of job cuts, prolonging a recession among tech firms following record pandemic recruitment.

Alphabet Inc. stated that the job cuts would affect approximately 12,000 jobs all over various units and areas, though some areas, such as recruiting and projects beyond the firm’s core businesses, will have a greater impact.

According to individuals with knowledge of the situation, the job cuts attained the vice president level and impacted divisions such as cloud computing as well as Area 120, a company’s internal incubator that had previously faced cuts last year.

As per the report by Layoffs.fyi, which monitors media reports and company updates, the Google layoffs make January probably the worst month yet in a flood of technical layoffs that started last year. Microsoft Corp. announced this week that it would lay off 10,000 employees, the most in over eight years.

Wayfair Inc., a leading online furniture retailer, announced the layoff of about 10 percent of its working population, and Unity Software Inc., a provider of tools for developing videogames as well as other applications, also reduced its workforce.

Amazon.com Inc. announced layoffs of over 18,000 employees this past month, and Salesforce Inc. announced layoffs of 10 percent of its workforce. Meta Platforms Inc. announced a 13 percent staff reduction last year.

During the global epidemic, tech firms such as Google grew greatly as online life gained in popularity. Recent cuts are part of a broader shift toward profit protection and the end of a growth-at-all-costs period in tech.

Officials have recently stated that the company will be strengthening its belt, signaling the start of a new era of much more structured and cost-effective spending. However, the firm had not revealed as big cuts as its Silicon Valley peers.

Also Read: Netflix founder Reed Hastings stepping down as co-CEO

Google recruited vigorously as consumption for its services increased during the epidemic, resulting in a more than 50 percent increase in total Alphabet employee strength since the end of the year 2019.

The layoffs announced this week seemed to fall short of the nearly 12,800 employees Alphabet hired in the third quarter of last year.

“Over the past two years, we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth. To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today,” Alphabet Chief Executive Sundar Pichai wrote in a message to employees sent out Friday and posted on the company’s website.

“I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here,” Mr. Pichai wrote.
Source: wsj.com

Overhiring has emerged as a repeating message at technology firms in recent months, as executives realized that some of the hirings they did early in the disease outbreak to keep up with increasing demands for all things digital left them overstaffed as the business climate got ruined.

Salesforce Co-CEO Marc Benioff, Twitter Inc. co-founder Jack Dorsey and Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg are among the officials who have apologised.

Suhani Jain

Is Google bringing its own ‘AirTags’?

Leave a Comment / Story, Tech Story / By Sandhya Gupta

Rumors suggest that Google is developing its own location-tracking tag to compete with Apple AirTags and Tile trackers. Based on recent revelations from Android leaker Mishaal Rahman, Google is purportedly developing a rival to Apple’s AirTag trackers.

There is speculation that Google’s Fast Pair is getting ready to add support for a new category of locator tag products, and the company is developing something like the distributed monitoring network Apple utilizes for AirTags. Finder Network branding could be present on this new product.

Codenamed “grogu,” “groguaudio,” or “GR10,” this new tracking gadget will handle both BLE and UWB. It will come in a range of colours and have a tiny built-in speaker. The device’s functions and design, however, are not disclosed.

The device has been developed by Google’s Nest team, although it’s not obvious what the corporation intends to use it for. According to some reports, the device will be released in the first half of this year, albeit it might happen at the same time as the Pixel 8 launch.

Also Read: Will the metaverse be good for society?

Google’s Pixel 6 Pro and Pixel 7 Pro devices both support Ultra Wideband, just like AirTags and iPhone 11 and subsequent versions, and according to Wojciechowski, the trackers might support the wireless protocol in combination with Bluetooth LE to provide customers accurate directions to a lost tag. At its I/O Developer Conference in May, Google may also introduce new Pixel phones along with the tracking tags.

Apple’s AirTags has been a big success, but the corporation has encountered privacy concerns with the product. Google may require more time to think through potential outcomes and create safeguards for their edition of the tracker.

On the basis of this, it is plausible to predict that Google will develop security measures to prevent problems of a similar nature. In conclusion, it has not yet been proven that Google is developing a tracker that is comparable to Apple’s AirTags. The gadget, with the codename “grogu,” will enable BLE and UWB. Before releasing a product, Google might want to take privacy issues into account.

Users have found Apple’s AirTag feature to be a lifesaver, especially those who frequently have trouble locating their gadgets. The “Find My Feature” app enables users to easily track the location of their equipment and makes it easier for it to find them if they go missing.

Also Read: Is 2023 the year for Apple to launch its mixed-reality headset?

On Android, Google’s tags would probably be considerably more functional than Apple’s AirTags are able to be. While Apple does offer a “Tracker Detect” application in the Google Play Store that enables Android users to scan for AirTags as well as other Find My-enabled products that have been separated from one‘s owner, the app was primarily created to allay concerns that AirTags can be utilized maliciously to track the whereabouts of people

Dunzo, a Google-backed delivery company, was recently in the spotlight for its decision to terminate 3% of its workers. The Bangaluru-based startup competes in the same market as Blinkit, Swiggy, and WeFast. It is a platform for on-demand delivery that enables customers to order anything from the convenience of their homes.

As part of its cost-cutting initiatives, Dunzo has decided to lay off workers. In an interview with CNBC-TV 18, the firm’s CEO and co-founder Kabeer Biswas stated that the company is providing “the best support available” to assist employees during this trying period.

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

Google Cloud’s top U.S. sales executive departs

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Suhani Jain

Alphabet Inc’s Google appointed Adaire Fox-Martin who was the head of its global cloud industries to a top sales position as part of an operating model shakeup, a representative stated on Thursday.

Kirsten Kliphouse, the lead of Google Cloud in the United States, has left the firm, according to a spokesperson.

Fox-Martin’s appointment aims at “unifying global go-to-market organization,” the company said and the role will focus on all global sales as well as service and support.
Source: finance.yahoo.com

Kliphouse’s resignation had already been reported previously by The Information.

The upheaval comes as the cloud services and software industry’s growth has slowed down as clients seek to cut costs and optimize their spending on cloud services.

Over the last decade, software on the cloud has flown off servers, with Indian companies such as Zoho, Browserstack, Freshworks, and many others, as well as pandemic-born high-fliers such as Rocketlane, Spendflo, and Everstage, posting high growth numbers.

Google Working To Block Insecure HTTP Downloads In Chrome

Nonetheless, the expected slowdown may be the first-ever test for most Indian SaaS inventors in 2023 who are accustomed to controlling their organizations through 30-40 percent topline growth.

“There is going to be some impact on business growth. For example, already, the marketing and sales spends are lower; we see companies like Google and Facebook adjusting to that [layoffs in Big Tech]. Retail buying is going to be slower, and we see Amazon making changes,” said Manav Garg, a SaaS company CEO who founded SaaSBOOMi, a community of over 800 cloud software companies.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com

The firm is also under stress due to unsatisfactory ad sales, which have resulted from advertising companies cutting back on expenses in the name of an economic downturn.

Alphabet’s health science division known as Verily Life Sciences, publicly stated the layoff of above 200 employees, or approximately 15 percent of its workforce earlier on Wednesday, making this the first time in about six years that Alphabet or an affiliate has declared job cuts.

Since the beginning of the covid-19 global epidemic, the cloud computing tech sector has seen tremendous growth as individuals and companies embraced digital.

However, the industry which includes infrastructure, platforms, as well as software companies providing it as a service over the internet, has displayed signs of slowing in the last two quarters. This is causing concern, particularly in India.

Its slowdown means that businesses across all industries are cutting funding and searching for ways to save in the face of near-record rising prices, increasing interest rates, as well as economic downturn fears. Those reductions are attacking Big Tech hard.

Suhani Jain

Google to pay $9.5 million to resolve DC location tracking lawsuit

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Suhani Jain

Google has agreed to compensate 9.5 million USD as a settlement of a lawsuit filed previously this year by Washington DC Attorney General Karl Racine who alleged Google of misleading users and violating their privacy. Google has also consented to modify some of its methods, majorly how well it notifies users about the collection, storage, and use of their location data.

“Google leads consumers to believe that consumers are in control of whether Google collects and retains information about their location and how that information is used,” the complaint, which Racine filed in January, read. “In reality, consumers who use Google products cannot prevent Google from collecting, storing and profiting from their location.”
Source: engadget.com

Racine’s office also alleged Google of using “dark patterns,” which seem to be design choices that aim to deceive users into performing actions that do not benefit them. The AG’s office stated that the company repetitively prompted users to enable location tracking options in some specific apps and notified people that such features would not operate normally unless location tracking was enabled.

Racine and his team discovered that location information was not even required for the app in discussion. They claimed that Google made it unlikely for customers to opt out of getting their location tracked.

Google Working To Block Insecure HTTP Downloads In Chrome

Google received a pittance of 9.5 million USD. Last quarter, it ended up taking the firm Alphabet less than 20 minutes to generate that much earnings. Modifications to the firm’s practices as a result of the agreement may have a greater impact.

Individuals who have specific location settings enabled will receive messages explaining how to disable each setting, remove the associated data, and restrict the time Google could indeed keep that details. Users who create a new Google account will be informed as to which location-related account options are enabled by default and given the option to disable them.

It will have to keep a webpage up to date with information about its location data practices and policies. This will include methods for users to see their location settings as well as information on how each setting affects Google’s collection, preservation, or use of location information.

Furthermore, without the user’s full permission, Google will be prohibited from spreading a user’s exact location details with a third-party marketer. Within 30 days of receiving the information, the company must remove location information “which came from a device or from an IP address in both web and app activity.”

“Given the vast level of tracking and surveillance that technology companies can embed into their widely used products, it is only fair that consumers be informed of how important user data, including information about their every move, is gathered, tracked, and utilized by these companies,” Racine said in a statement. “Significantly, this resolution also provides users with the ability and choice to opt of being tracked, as well as restrict the manner in which user information may be shared with third parties.”
Source: engadget.com

Suhani Jain

Google announced end-to-end encryption for Gmail web

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Sandhya Gupta

To render its emails more difficult to hack, Google is deploying a new update. According to a Google announcement, Gmail will soon support end-to-end encryption in web browsers. The capability, which is presently in beta, enables customers to send and get encrypted emails both inside and outside of their domain, according to a blog post from the company.

The new technology, which Google describes as client-side encryption, will make sure that important information in the body of the email and attachments is unreadable by Google servers. Additionally, it will provide customers access to the encryption keys while allowing the identity service to access them.

Google noted, “Google Workspace already uses the latest cryptographic standards to encrypt all data at rest and in transit between our facilities Client-side encryption helps strengthen the confidentiality of your data while helping to address a broad range of data sovereignty and compliance needs.”

Client-side encryption (CSE) in Google Workspace enables the processing of data encryption in the client’s browser prior to data transmission or cloud-based storage in Drive. The company emphasized will not be able to access users’ encryption keys. It noted, “You can use your own encryption keys to encrypt your organization’s data, in addition to using the default encryption that Google Workspace provides.

With Google Workspace Client-side encryption (CSE), content encryption is handled in the client’s browser before any data is transmitted or stored in Drive’s cloud-based storage. That way, Google servers can’t access your encryption keys and decrypt your data. After you set up CSE, you can choose which users can create client-side encrypted content and share it internally or externally.”

Gmail’s end-to-end encryption will make sure that all email communications sent by users are encrypted by the sender and can only be decoded on the device of the intended receiver.

The emails and attachments transmitted with them cannot be decrypted or read by any organization or third party, including Google’s own email server. The fact that Google already offers client-side encryption on Google Drive, Sheets, Docs, Google Meet, Slides, Google Calendar and Google is noteworthy.

According to Google, customers with Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, or Education Standard are eligible to sign up for the Gmail client-side encryption (CSE) beta program. The beta program is accepting applications through January 2023. Users must submit a Gmail CSE Beta Test Application, which must include details like their email id, test group domain, and Project ID.

Users of Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as older G Suite Basic and Business customers, will not be able to use the new feature as of now. According to Google, the public release will be made available at a later time in 2023.

Google has made it clear that the new functionality would encrypt both the email content and all attachments, including embedded photos. Google, however, will not encrypt the email’s header, which contains the topic, timestamps, and recipient lists.

Additionally, Google has stated that “in an upcoming release” it will add client-side encryption to its Gmail application for iOS and Android devices.

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

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