Search Neutrality

A recent article by New York Times about the anti-trust against Google mentioned a lawsuit launched by a UK couple and owner of one of the top UK-based shopbot, Foundem.co.uk. According to them:

"in 2006, Google’s supposedly objective algorithms suddenly dropped Foundem into the netherworld of Google search results. They say Google also raised the rates Foundem had to pay to advertise alongside search results. These moves, the couple say, pushed their comparison shopping site out of view, and Google later put the spotlight on its own shopping listings."

Thiscouple raised an interesting issue of search neutrality. How to define search neutrality. According to them, search neutrality is

"the principle that Internet users should be in control of what content they view and what applications they use on the Internet."

 Specifically,

"search neutrality is about equal access to the Internet. In our view, search engines should not be permitted to use their market power to discriminate against competing applications or content. Just as telephone companies are not permitted to tell consumers who they can call or what they can say, search engines should not be allowed to use their market power to control activity online." 

The idea of regulation on search control has important implications to the Web. Shall Google have impartial attitude to all Web sites it listed on its search outcome? How to define impartial here? It seems we use Google is not because Google give us impartial results, it is because Google help us find things we want to find easier compared with other search engine. As to whether this result is being manipulated by Google, most users probably do not care about. To certain extent, all search outcome are manipulated by certain algorithms. In the case of Google, it is PageRank plus some proprietary tweaks we don't know.

On the other side, US government does have regulations on search outcome in the case of American Airline. When SABRE system was found to display American Airline's flight information on top of the search outcome compared with the same route offered by other airline companies, the Congress forced it to eliminate such bias.

So the case probably will be determined by whether there is a strong evidence that Google did manipulate the search outcome to benefit its own business interests.