We May Not Need Standards But FTC, FCC Want To Gives Us Regulations (Search Engine Watch Blog)

While the standards debate rages on, our industry is fast coming under the influence of government regulations. This week has seen discussions about behavioral marketing at the FTC and the FCC weighing in on ISPs filtering sites.

The behavioral regulations being looked at by the FTC had Google, Yahoo and Microsoft commenting from different angles.

Google wanting to make sure their method of selecting ads was not rolled into the mix stated "our AdWords program allows us to provide ads on Google.com in response to search queries… . We believe this type of advertising should not be considered behavioral advertising, even if such analysis takes into consideration previous search queries." (from Alan Davidson, Senior Policy Counsel and Head of U.S. Policy, Google, Inc.).

Alternatives to Google Desktop Search
(Guardian Unlimited, United Kingdom)

Richard Hartley could try Copernic or Microsoft Windows Search for XP.

Google crawls The Invisible Web
(The Register, United Kingdom)

As part of an ongoing effort to index the so-called Invisible Web, Google's automated crawlers are now toying with HTML forms. But only on certain "high-quality sites."

Microsoft counsel warns against Yahoo-Google deal (ZDNet Asia)

Microsoft's top lawyer on Thursday warned that any deal between Yahoo and Google would hurt competition.

"Any definitive agreement between Yahoo and Google would consolidate over 90 percent of the search-advertising market in Google's hands. This would make the market far less competitive, in contrast to our own proposal to acquire Yahoo," Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith said in a statement.

The statement follows reports that Yahoo is considering a limited test of using Google to deliver some search advertising.

Microsoft proposed on February 1 to buy Yahoo for US$31 a share, but it has thus far been rebuffed by Yahoo, though the two sides have had a couple preliminary meetings. On Saturday, Microsoft set a three-week deadline for Yahoo to come to the negotiating table, or it would nominate its own slate of directors.

"Our proposal remains the only alternative that offers the shareholders full and fair value for their shares, gives every shareholder a vote on the future of the company, and enhances choice for content creators, advertisers, and consumers," Smith said.

Marissa Mayer: Totally Kidding About That 'Don't Be Evil' Stuff (Epicenter from Wired.com)

Marissa Mayer says Google was like, not serious about that 'Don't be evil,' mission statement.

"It really wasn't like an elected, ordained motto," Mayer told the Sydney Morning Herald. "I think that 'Don't Be Evil' is a very easy thing to point at when you see Google doing something that you personally don't like; it's a very easy thing to point out so it does get targeted a lot."

Well, it may not have been ordained, but it sure looks official. The company's "Ten Things" philosophy includes the point "You can make money without doing evil," (thing No. 6); an employee code of conduct is topped off with the famous phrase; and the do no evil mantra also plays a prominent role in the prospectus Google sent to bankers and investors before the company went public.

But then again, when Google first wrote up its corporate philosophy, it said that the company "does not do horoscopes, financial advice or chat."

Study: Google extends search lead over rivals
(Tech news blog - CNET News.com)

Google gained market share in the United States over search rivals in March, rising 0.53 percentage points to an all-time high of 59.8 percent, according to new ComScore results released Tuesday.

"We were somewhat surprised at the March uptick, especially since the company had previously alluded that the unusual Easter timing could impact search activity," said Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney in a report Tuesday that quoted the ComScore numbers.

Yahoo, meanwhile, slipped 0.3 percentage points to 21.3 percent, and Microsoft dropped 0.2 percentage points to 9.4 percent--both figures are record lows for the companies, Mahaney said.

Lower in the rankings, AOL dropped 0.1 percentage points to 4.8 percent, while Ask.com rose 0.1 percentage points to 4.7 percent for March, according to the report.

EU Says Search Engines Threaten Privacy
(Business Week)

A report by the Commission's data protection watchdog calls for stricter rules on user consent and data retention. Google defends its present system…