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Daily Archives: February 25, 2010

European Commission preliminary inquiry into Google competition complaints

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Google European Public Policy Blog: Yesterday’s news that the European Commission has opened a preliminary inquiry into competition complaints from three companies has generated a lot of questions about how Google’s ranking works. Here, Amit Singhal, a Google Fellow responsible for ranking, who has worked in search for almost 20 years, explains the principles behind our algorithm.”

  • “Google ranking is a collection of algorithms used to seek out relevant and useful results for a user’s query. There’s a ton that goes into building a state-of-the-art ranking system like ours. Our algorithms use hundreds of different signals to pick the top results for any given query. Signals are indicators of relevance, and they include items as simple as the words on a webpage or more complex calculations such as the authoritativeness of other sites linking to any given page. Those signals and our algorithms are in constant flux, and are constantly being improved. On average, we make one or two changes to them every day. Lately, I’ve been reading about whether regulators should look into dictating how search engines like Google conduct their ranking. While the debate unfolds about government-regulated search, let me provide some general thinking behind our approach to ranking. Future ranking experts (inside or outside government) might find it helpful…”

    • FTC Issues Report of 2009 Top Consumer Complaints

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    News release: “The Federal Trade Commission today released a report listing top complaints consumers filed with the agency in 2009. It shows that while identity theft remains the top complaint category, identity theft complaints declined 5 percentage points from 2008. A complete list of complaints can be found here. The FTC is releasing a new… Continue Reading

    Commerce OIG – 2010 Census: Quarterly Report to Congress, February 2010

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    Testimony of Todd J. Zinser, Inspector General, Department of Commerce, before the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, United States Senate Tuesday, February 23, 2010: The 2010 Census: Update of Schedule, Cost, Risk Management, and Communications Activities 2010 Census: Quarterly Report to… Continue Reading