Federal regulators are poised to hit Google Inc. with subpoenas, launching a broad, formal investigation into whether the Internet giant has abused its dominance in Web-search advertising, people familiar with the matter said.
On today's digits: the FTC is poised to serve Google with subpoenas as the Commission looks to explore the company's dominance on the Web; Walt Mossberg gives us his review of the Google entirely cloud-based laptop, the Chromebook; and, tips for creating protective passwords (first step: stop using "QWERTY", maybe?)
The civil probe, which has the potential to reshape how companies compete on the Internet, is the most serious legal threat yet to the 12-year-old company, though it wouldn't necessarily lead to any federal allegations of wrongdoing against Google.
While Google has faced several antitrust probes in recent years, the U.S. has limited its investigations largely to reviews of the company's mergers and acquisitions. The new inquiry, by contrast, will examine fundamental issues relating to Google's core search-advertising business, its biggest money maker, said the people familiar with the matter.
Feds to Launch Probe of Google - WSJ.com
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