Google likely to escape with tap on knuckles from FTC: reports

The Federal Trade Commission is not likely to conclude its investigation into whether Google abused its power in the search market, the New York Times reported yesterday, citing people briefed on the investigation.

The chairman of the agency, Jon Leibowitz, has all along been saying, the commission was looking to finish its inquiry by the end of 2012, and there were also signs of an imminent settlement. There were also reports of a Google proposal to avoid formal punishment by promising to change some of its practices.

According to two people who had been briefed on the investigation, the paper said, some commissioners had asked for more time to consider possible penalties following recent reports suggesting Google had persuaded the FTC to give the company a little more than a slap on the wrist.

For almost two years, the FTC had been studying whether Google's dominant search engine was designed to return search results that favoured its own commerce and other services.

Companies with competing search engines as also commercial sites that specialised in airline ticket information or shopping had complained that Google had throttled competition by its actions.

The FTC giving Google the velvet glove treatment would come as a severe setback for internet users, according to Pamela Jones Harbour, a member of the Federal Trade Commission from 2003 to 2010. Harbourwrote in the New York Times that it would allow Google to continue to gain control over data gathering, with grave consequences for privacy and for consumer choice. Google is also facing an antitrust inquiry by European regulators.