The Google-Yahoo! agreement and the future of advertising on the Internet was discussed by the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights. After tapping elbows with Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Yahoo! and Google representatives defended an agreement in which Yahoo! would outsource advertising space to Google, an agreement that was met with support and anxiety.

General Counsel for Yahoo! Michael Callahan and David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer, explained the agreement between the two companies. Both stated that Yahoo! will not exit the online search business and that the agreement will allow web-based advertising to become a more competitive business. In response to concerns that consumers will only purchase advertisements through Google in anticipation that they will also appear on Yahoo!, Drummond and Callahan said Yahoo! will determine when Google ads will appear on Yahoo! and that consumers will need to buy advertising space on Google and Yahoo! to guarantee exposure on both websites,

Senior Vice President at Microsoft Brad Smith explained his opposition to the agreement between Google and Yahoo! Smith said that the agreement would result in an unprecedented concentration of control in a market, stating that combined, Google and Yahoo! control 90 percent of the online search market. Smith added that Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang told Microsoft that an agreement between Yahoo! and Google would remove Microsoft as a competitor, a move Smith called a monopoly.

Tim Carter, CEO of askthebuilder.com, told the subcommittee it would be un-American to prevent a company from helping its stockholders. Carter said Google’s ability to provide Americans with reliable results has brought Google a 70 percent share of the online search market and that Congress should not punish a company for performing well.

Eight Senate Republicans gathered this afternoon to hold a forum on “Protecting American Justice: Ensuring Confirmation of Qualified Judicial Nominees.” Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) led the forum and said that it is not fair to the American people for Congress to block certain judicial nominees in an effort to obtain partisan revenge. Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) agreed with Specter and said that U.S. courts are the front lines of contact between the American citizens and Congress. (more…)

The Senate passed the update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that grants immunity to telecom companies from lawsuits with a 69-28 vote.

Before the vote, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said, in his opening statement, that 40 lawsuits are being litigated. Retroactive immunity should be given to phone companies, Specter said. There is a way to protect the phone companies without giving up the details of their programs, Specter said. (more…)

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) says that the Patriot Act is necessary to strengthen the abilities of law enforcement but that a balance of constitutional rights must be sustained, a balance that Congress has not kept. (0:35)

 

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Support for the Patriot Act was expressed by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) at the American Civil Liberties Union conference. Specter said that though he supports the Patriot Act, a clearer separation of law enforcement and constitutional rights is necessary to protect Americans’ civil liberties. Specter said the Department of Justice must work harder to ensure that the right to an attorney and presumption of innocence are not compromised. Specter also said that congressional and judicial oversight of executive decisions has been insufficient and that a checks and balance system is crucial to prevent the government from gaining the immunity it wants when controversial policies are challenged.

James Risen, a New York Times reporter that co-authored a piece revealing government wire-tapping programs, said that American reporters being jailed for refusing to reveal sources is a negative reflection on the United States. According to Risen, these measures justify the actions of leaders in countries like China and Zimbabwe, two states in which New York Times reporters have been arrested previously.

Toni Lacy, a USA Today reporter held in contempt for refusing to reveal the sources of an anthrax report, also spoke at the conference. Lacy emphatically said that the American public has a right to know the details of government action during the anthrax scare. Lacy said if reporters are subpoenaed for unnecessary “fishing expeditions” by law enforcement agencies, media outlets will be “destroyed out of fear,” halting coverage of on-going events. Lacy closed her speech by saying that a confidential source is not synonymous with being a traitor.

During a hearing on the Department of Defense, the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates speaks about leverage when seeking to engage Iran and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) responds saying that the U.S. missed it’s opportunity to engage Iran in 2003. (0:42)

 

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Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) criticizes the negotiation process with Iran saying that it makes no sense to have the principal argument as a precondition to talks. (0:30)

 

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