Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

Re:Google are removing URLs entirely from search results? by journalctl on Saturday November 02, 2019 @10:47AM (#21427975)

I meant Google in general. It’s yet another tiny step in a terrible direction. At this point I would love to legislate most of Google out of existence, personally.

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Re:Google are removing URLs entirely from search results? by jumbopapa on Saturday November 02, 2019 @11:59AM (#21428355)

I don't really buy using legislation. Alternatives exist and people don't seem to care to use them. That's the market at work.

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Re:Google are removing URLs entirely from search results? by dessant on Saturday November 02, 2019 @12:16PM (#21428455)

> I don't really buy using legislation. Alternatives exist and people don't seem to care to use them.

Google is engaged in using its market dominance in one segment to gain or maintain dominance in others, while suppressing the competition. This is illegal behavior for which Google has been fined several times over the past few years.

Just consider that in past Android versions there was a hard-coded Google search bar on the default home screen that you could not remove. Google has been forced to ask users and offer a set of alternative search engines on devices with recent Android versions. Same goes for Chrome and competing browsers [1].

Right now Google Search detects the Firefox for Android user agent and serves a second-tier search experience for Firefox users on Android. They have been doing this for the past 6 years [2].

[1] https://mashable.com/article/google-browser-search-engine-ch...

[2] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=975444

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Re:Google are removing URLs entirely from search results? by scarface74 on Saturday November 02, 2019 @12:24PM (#21428503)

How is Google stopping users from using another search engine?

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Re:Google are removing URLs entirely from search results? by ConceptJunkie on Saturday November 02, 2019 @07:56PM (#21430983)

Once you have monopoly power, the market can do little. Google has that power now.

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Re:Google are removing URLs entirely from search results? by hodgesrm on Saturday November 02, 2019 @11:26PM (#21431931)

You mean like the power of yahoo/altavista back in the day?

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Re:Google are removing URLs entirely from search results? by ric2b on Sunday November 03, 2019 @02:01PM (#21435828)

You mean like when the internet was small and being on top of yahoo/altavista search results was mostly irrelevant to your bottom line?

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Re:Google are removing URLs entirely from search results? by xiphias2 on Saturday November 02, 2019 @11:45AM (#21428280)

Google does lots of great things for people, so it looks to me like you're overreacting. Finding the right balance is important in regulation.

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Re:Google are removing URLs entirely from search results? by ConceptJunkie on Saturday November 02, 2019 @07:59PM (#21430993)

Google is unequivocally evil. It doesn't matter how much good they do when they are being evil.

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Re:Google are removing URLs entirely from search results? by journalctl on Saturday November 02, 2019 @02:15PM (#21429129)

It’s important to keep in mind that imbalance goes both ways.

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