Thursday, February 23, 2012

FairSearch.org is proud to announce its expansion to Europe and the addition of several new members from the travel, e-commerce and advertising sectors. See below for the latest news from FairSearch.org. FairSearch.org Expands to Europe Since our launch in October 2010, FairSearch.org has worked to highlight the important role that fair competition in online search plays in promoting economic growth, innovation and choice across the Internet ecosystem. As our membership has grown, we’ve realized these concerns aren’t limited to the U.S. That’s why we’ve launched FairSearchEurope.org – an expansion that will allow us to better tell our story, and those of our members, on a global scale. Thomas Vinje will join the coalition as its European Counsel. Vinje is based in Brussels, where he has represented a number of high tech and Internet companies. “We believe consumers are entitled to choose the best specialized search engine in an informed manner on a level playing field. We do not want one dominant company surreptitiously to steer users to its own offering, which is sometimes inferior,” Vinje said. “Consumers deserve to understand what is going on, so they can decide for themselves.” For more information, please visit www.FairSearchEurope.org FairSearch.org Adds New Members to Coalition FairSearch.org announced several new member companies over the last few weeks. These include: • New York City-based adMarketplace, which delivers pay-per-click advertising inventory to marketers from non-search engine sources; • The Interactive Travel Services Association (ITSA), an online travel industry trade group devoted to eliminating barriers to growth and protecting consumers; • Paris, France-based Twenga, an online shopping site listing more than 500 million offers from 220,000 online retailers in a searchable platform; • Mountain View, Calif.-headquartered ShopCity.com, which provides marketing and sales tools for independent businesses to connect with customers online; and • BuscapĂ©, one of Brazil’s fastest-growing tech companies and Latin America’s leading online shopping search engine. The “Good to Know” Campaign In response to Google’s new “Good to Know” advertising campaign, FairSearch.org decided to tackle some of the questions Google has avoided answering – questions that make clear why Google is under investigation by antitrust authorities around the world. And apparently, our campaign got Google’s attention! Check out all the ads at FairSearch’s Good to Know campaign headquarters. Checking in on Google Flight Search During the lengthy antitrust review of Google’s acquisition of ITA Software, Google promised that “the acquisition will benefit passengers, airlines and online travel agents by making it easier for users to comparison shop for flights and airfares and by driving more potential customers to airlines and online travel agencies’ websites.” Needless to say, when Google announced the launch of its Google Flight Search product last September, we were eager to see if Google kept its word. Despite its promises, Google excludes lower-priced fares that come from online travel agents or metasearch engines. Google claims that the airlines don’t want online travel agents included, but we know the truth, that “the goals of the advertising business model do not always correspond to providing quality search to users.” Google Flight Search threatens competition, innovation and consumer choice. See for yourself. FairSearch.org is a group of businesses and organizations united to promote economic growth, innovation and choice across the Internet ecosystem by fostering and defending competition in online and mobile search.

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