ABSTRACT
While Google may be a company that many of us feel we know and trust, its business model, like Facebook, is firmly rooted in advertising. The chapter explores how Google stores vast amounts of data on users, which connects with a lightly regulated consumer data ecosphere. It then profiles Acxiom, which is a leading consumer data refinery. In this context, it briefly explores the high profile 2017 data breach of Equifax, a major consumer credit reporting agency, whose real customers are Wall Street investors, financial institutions, and employers. The chapter then explores how Google jealously guards (monopolizes) its territory in order to protect and grow its primary source of revenue: advertising. It highlights cases where companies have tried to compete with Google on search and have subsequently been demoted in Google search results. Next, it explores the multiple interrelated markets in which Google operates, known as the mobile industry stack, and examines the company’s efforts to dominate them. It then explores lessons learned from the Microsoft antitrust cases during the 1990s. The chapter concludes by highlighting how European Union nations have been more willing to engage in antitrust enforcement and protect consumer privacy than has the US government.
