A Senate panel will open an antitrust inquiry into the business practices of Google today. The search giant’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt is expected to testify. Federal authorities are accusing the company of playing favorites with its own businesses in search results. Microsoft endured a similar antitrust case, which took nearly a year to resolve. Siva Vaidhyanathan, Robertson professor of media studies and chair of the department of media studies at the University of Virginia, and author of “The Googlization of Everything: (And Why We Should Worry),” looks at the parallels between this case and the government’s suit against Microsoft. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn), a member of the antitrust subcommittee and was former attorney general of Connecticut, which played a leading role among the states that sued Microsoft back in 1998, gives his perspective on the hearings.
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