Tech Policy Press – What To Watch For in the First Monopoly Trial of U.S. vs Google

Senior Reporter Karina Montoya provides insight on points to be aware of as the DOJ kicks off its first ever antitrust litigation against Google.

The trial for the first antitrust case the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has brought against Google will kick off in D.C. today, but the public won’t be able to access any online feeds or recordings of it. Last Friday Judge Amit Mehta denied a request by several non-profit organizations– including my employer, Open Markets Institute– that sought to make public an audio feed of the unsealed portions of the case.

The case, in short, is about whether Google’s quest to dominate the search engine market broke U.S. antitrust laws. But unlike the last big tech monopoly trial in the nation’s courts, U.S. vs Microsoft in 1998, from which we have recordings of Bill Gates’ deposition, this time Google argued that because these proceedings may force it to reveal trade secrets, the public should be denied a live feed of the trial. 

This is bad news not only for the public’s right to access public-interest information, but also for journalists trying to cover the trial from their own corners of the world. Only a limited number of reporters will attend the court in person, and we should expect them to access the courtroom only on the trial days that aren’t “sensitive” to Google’s business, as David Dayen writes in the American Prospect. The only remote access available is limited to the opening statements, by connecting to the court’s toll-free number (free only if you call from the U.S.). 

To make matters worse, what this really means is that Google, armed with a massive public relations apparatus, will find it easier to spin whatever transpires in the trial to its favor. Thus, as the trial unfolds, the public and journalists should closely scrutinize anything Google says about what happens behind the court’s closed doors. 

Here’s an attempt at listing four of such talking points to scrutinize.

Read full article here.