Google and the US Justice Department are beginning what might be the most decisive tech trial in a generation. The lawsuit could have substantial consequences – not only for the search giant, but for its rivals such as Apple and Meta, and the technology industry more broadly. The antitrust trial will examine claims from critics that Google has unfairly used its power to become dominant in a variety of parts of technology, in particular its search engine. The United States will argue Google didn’t play by the rules in its efforts to dominate online search in a trial seen as a battle for the soul of the Internet. The US Justice Department is expected to detail how Google paid billions of dollars annually to device makers like Apple, wireless companies like AT&T and browser makers like Mozilla to keep Google‘s search engine atop the leader board. DuckDuckGo has also complained, for example, that removing Google as the default search engine on a device and replacing it with DuckDuckGo takes too many steps, helping keep them to a measly 2.3% market share. DuckDuckGo, Microsoft and Yahoo are among a long list of Google competitors who will be watching the trial closely. “Google makes it unduly difficult to use DuckDuckGo by default. We’re glad this issue is finally going to have its day in court,” said DuckDuckGo spokesman Kamyl Bazbaz who said thatGoogle had a “stranglehold on major distribution points for more than a decade.” Google has denied wrongdoing and is prepared to vigorously defend itself. The legal fight has huge implications for Big Tech, which has been accused of buying or strangling small competitors but has insulated itself against many accusations of breaking antitrust law because the services the companies provide to users are free, as in the case of Alphabet’s Google and Facebook, or low price, as in the case of Amazon.com. “It would be difficult to overstate the importance of this case, particularly for monopolies and companies with significant market share,” antitrust lawyer Luke Hasskamp told Reuters. “This will be a major case, particularly for the major tech companies of the world (Google, Apple, Twitter, and others), which have grown to have an outsized role in nearly all our lives,” he added. Previous antitrust trials of similar importance include Microsoft, filed in 1998, and AT&T, filed in 1974. The AT&T breakup in 1982 is credited with paving the way for the modern cell phone industry while the fight with Microsoft is credited with opening space for Google and others on the internet. Congress tried to rein in Big Tech last year but largely missed. It considered bills to check the market power of the companies, like legislation to prevent them from preferencing their own products, but failed to pass the most aggressive of them. Big Tech’s rivals now pin their hope on Judge Amit Mehta, who was nominated by former President Barack Obama to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The lawsuit that goes to trial was brought by former President Donald Trump’s Justice Department. In a rare show of bipartisan agreement, President Joe Biden’s Justice Department has pressed on with the lawsuit and filed a second one against Google in January focused on advertising technology. Judge Mehta will decide if Google has broken antitrust law in this first trial, and, if so, what should be done. The government has asked the judge to order Google to stop any illegal activity but also urged “structural relief as needed,” raising the possibility that the tech giant could be ordered broken up. The government’s strongest arguments are those against Google‘s revenue sharing agreements with Android makers, which requires Google to be the only search on the smartphone in exchange for a percentage of search advertising revenue, said Daniel McCuaig, a partner at Cohen Milstein who was formerly with the U.S. Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. Additional reporting by Reuters Read More AI can help generate synthetic viruses and spark pandemics, warns ex-Google executive Google boss says he wants to make people ‘shrug’ How Google reshaped the world – and is about to do it all over again AI is using vast amounts of water Elon Musk says monkeys implanted with Neuralink brain chips were ‘close to death’ Volcano discovery could power electric cars for decades, scientists say

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Ukraine has fired at least 19 “lethal” drones over the Black Sea and the Crimean peninsula, and three more over other bordering regions of Russia, the Russian defence ministry said on Thursday. The Russian anti-aircraft units intercepted and destroyed over a dozen drones in the region, the ministry said on its Telegram channel. “In the night from 20 to 21 September, an attempt by the Kyiv regime to commit a terrorist attack with lethal drones on sites in the Russian Federation was intercepted,” the ministry said. Russian and Crimea-related Telegram channels reported loud explosions overnight. “In Sevastopol, in the area of ​​​​Kazachya and Kamyshovaya bays, it has been very loud for the last hour,” read a post on Telegram channel Crimean Wind, adding that the explosions set off car alarms. “The Ukrainian Armed Forces are massively trying to attack Crimea using drones. According to military officials, at least seven drones have been shot down in just the last 20 minutes. Residents of Evpatoria, Dzhankoy, Balaklava, Sevastopol, Saki, Novofedorovka and other cities report the sounds of air defence,” said Baza, a prominent Telegram account related to Russia’s security services. It added that the locals have termed the overnight attack as the “largest” drone strike of all time. Three drones were downed over Kursk, Belgorod and Orlov in central and southern Russia. Belgorod, just 40km (25 miles) from Ukraine’s war frontline, has been under continued air assault every day this month. The illegally annexed Crimea is also now heavily targeted in the continuing warfare, with sensitive military infrastructure and sites in the region on Kyiv’s radar. The ministry did not mention if there are any immediate casualties or damage. While Ukraine rarely takes responsibility for these attacks on Russia and Russian-controlled territories, it has recounted the strikes with a sense of achievement as it maintains that targeting these regions aids its military counteroffensive. On Wednesday, Ukraine’s defence ministry made a rare triumphant video and confirmed its forces struck a Russian Black Sea fleet command post near Sevastopol in Crimea, a week after the major naval port was set ablaze in a cruise missile attack. Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Zelensky says UN ‘incapable’ of stopping Putin’s ‘criminal aggression’ Two-thirds say nuclear weapons make UK safer as support rises to Cold War levels South Korean leader warns Russia against weapons collaboration with the North UN incapable of stopping aggressors like Putin invading other countries, says Zelensky Zelensky tells UN to not make deals with ‘evil’ Russia: ‘Ask Prigozhin whether Putin can be trusted’