Search Engine Giants to Link Up to Avoid Malpractice Via Monopoly

A business connection between major search engine companies to avoid malpractice caused by the existence of a monopoly

It has come to be that the grand coalition between the two great rival powers of the Internet will be realized in Japan. This business linkup will be between Yahoo, a major web portal, and the major American search engine Google.

Due to the extensive amount of information on the Internet, search services (engines) allow users to find the content they want using a keyword. In Japan, Yahoo has just under 60 percent of the market, and Google has 40 percent, but with the cooperation between these two companies, the Yahoo search technology is completely changing so that it uses Google’s technology instead and realistically speaking, will come to monopolize the Japanese market.

Both companies say that the services will go on being independent of one another and will not share information on advertising sponsors and search-users. The Fair Trade Commission has pointed out that this business linkup does not violate the antitrust laws.

Be that as it may, is there really no risk that it will obstruct the exchange of free and varied information? It is essential that the effects of this union are carefully monitored.

As search engines have become a portal to the Internet — and how often they are used has a direct connection to the advertising revenue of the website — many companies have begun competing for this technology.

Yahoo’s method of categorizing information on one’s registered home page is a good feature; however, Google has the advantage in that it can update content speedily because it automatically searches and classifies sentences and words. Google holds 70 percent of the world’s search engine market.

Yahoo Japan’s sources of earnings also come from things like web auctions. Instead of trying to compete with Google when it comes to search engines, they should probably work on strategies of strengthening themselves in other areas.

The American Yahoo currently uses Microsoft search technology but now is planning to go after Google’s. The business linkage between Japan and America has resulted in a “twist.” Microsoft is showing signs of backing up its statement that this linkup was an obstruction to the competitive market, and it is displeasing to related industries.

Even after the linkup, Yahoo Japan will still use technology it developed and is vying for different search results than Google. If by some chance their results are not the same, there are worries that not only will this affect the impartialness of the search services, but also the accuracy of information on the Internet.

So that the users can actually feel that there would be an advantage to having varied information on the Internet, both companies should strive to create fair competition between themselves, even though they are also cooperating with each other.

In keeping up with this sudden evolution of technology, research — dependant on large amounts of capital — is indispensable. Therefore, it is possible that from now on, major companies will continue to cooperate with each other.

The world of the Internet has expanded through ideas and technology that have been created by individuals. Even the global enterprise that is Google originally grew from research started by two graduate students. Regardless of the scale of the operation, the Internet cyberspace is making way for a new world which innovative technology must preserve.