With Google I/O currently going on, there is a ton of Google-related news coming out. We provided a round-up of announcements here (and here’s today’s Chrome announcements), but there is also a lot of non-I/O Google news circulating today.
Google had a $500 million charge“in connection with a potential resolution of an investigation by the United States Department of Justice into the use of Google advertising by certain advertisers.” This was revealed in a newly public SEC filing, and was not reported in Google’s recent earnings report.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Google told regulators in India that proposed Internet content restrictions in that country could hamper the company and others by making them liable for content published by others.
According to the WSJ, the rules require sites to remove objectional content and ISPs and social networking sites to “bar certain types of content under terms-of-service agreements with users. Sites would be responsible for removing such content within 36 hours of being notified by authorities.
Meanwhile, in Belgium, an appeals court reportedly upheld ruling against Google, finding that Google infringes upon the copyrights of newspapers by displaying and linking to content form newspaper sites. Google apparently can’t link to material in Belgian papers in French.
Here in the U.S. representatives from Google (along with reps from Apple) told a Senate committee that their policies protect user privacy in a conversation. This is in relation to the location privacy issues discussed here.
PaidContent quotes Google’s head of public policy Alan Davidson as saying, “It’s not just about convenience. Location-based services can let you know where to fill a prescription at one in the morning for a sick child.”
In Nevada, Google is lobbying for self-driving cars to be legal.