Daily Debrief: Google's political archenemy? Video

Daily Debrief: Google's political archenemy? Video Transcript

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>>This is Declan McCullagh, CNET News, here with Assemblyman Joel Anderson, he's a Republican in the California State Legislature. He represents a conservative district in the San Diego area. Assemblyman, thank you for joining us today.

>>Joe Anderson: My pleasure.

>>Declan McCullagh: So let's talk about the California economy. This is a state that is, is it technically bankrupt? It has a 15 billion dollars in the hole, it has a problem in terms of raising money. The Governor was talking about borrowing 7 billion dollars, I think it was, last week and we have a situation where there's no silicon left in Silicon Valley. Jobs are fleeing, they're fleeing overseas, manufacturing is moving overseas and to Texas. You're a Republican in the state legislature. What are you gonna do about it?

>>Joe Anderson: Well, I, first of all I have to disagree with you a little bit. We don't have a revenue problem. We've had a 30 percent increase in revenue for the last five years and we still have a 15 billion dollar debt that we created. I would say that we have a spending problem and we're not spending within our means.

>>Declan McCullagh: But this is common to all business in California. Let's talk about tech businesses. How are you gonna bring the silicon back to Silicon Valley or the broader California area? Or is this just a lost cause and the factories are permanently in Texas or Malaysia?

>>Joe Anderson: Well, I think that if we're gonna compete with Malaysia it's gonna be very difficult. Competing with Texas is well within our wheelhouse and we can do that, I mean, we have, we've got great mines here in California. We've got a lot of wonderful resources. The question is, is this state gonna continue this tax and spend tactic that we've been using over the last five years? I believe to actually move forward we've gotta spend within our means and I think that in time we'll continue to bring high tech jobs to California.

>>Declan McCullagh: You are probably Google's most ardent or vocal adversary in the state legislature. You've asked the Attorney General of California to investigate the Google Yahoo ad deal, you've accused Google of using quote legal loopholes in the California privacy law to not put the privacy policy on the home page and you said something to me earlier that you're writing a letter to the US Department of Justice about Google, I presume on the Yahoo ad deal. Why are you, a Conservative Republican, so interested in targeting Google?

>>Joe Anderson: Well, it's not Google. Google just happens to be on the cutting edge of technology. They've done a fantastic job of identifying people and using behavioral marketing. Now, what I'm concerned about is that we're gonna give them over 90 percent of the market share without ever shining a bright light on the deal. And I think that when we're moving forward and we're thinking in terms of privacy and how it impacts privacy, I just want to put that in the public square and debate it. Now it's Google's misfortune that they got there first. If it was any other company I'd be holding them to the same standard. And I know a lot of people say, "Well, we should just let the free market go". Once we open this Pandora's Box it's gonna be very hard to close that box and what we're doing is we're changing the policies of how privacy's gonna be addressed for decades to come.

>>Declan McCullagh: You're saying that California laws, if they're too anti-business, drive businesses elsewhere. But if you're too anti-business on Google and online privacy, you drive businesses to Texas, Washington state or Malaysia?

>>Joe Anderson: No, I'm asking for them to have a standard for the United States. I'm not saying that the standard should just be California. I'm asking the DOJ and I'm asking all the Attorney Generals to figure out a policy where they want to take us as a nation and as the world goes. I mean, you've got Google Health that is contracting with hospitals over medical records and they say and the only firewall they have is their word that their not gonna use that information to target advertising.

>>Declan McCullagh: But nobody is forcing anyone to use Google Health. It's just if you think the benefits outweigh the cost, right?

>>Joe Anderson: Well, that's where we get back to how I aim to send a letter and force Google to disclose on their web page what their privacy law, what their privacy policies were. Prior to that they weren't complying with California law. Yet all their competitors were complying with California law.

>>Declan McCullagh: But if you don't believe that they're gonna protect your privacy then you could use a different service.

>>Joe Anderson: Well, if we give them 93 percent of the market share, we don' t make it competitive. That's just where

>>Declan McCullagh: Well, what, they're not leading the market in terms of email. They're not leading the market in terms of IM. They're not even leading the market in terms of mapping.

>>Joe Anderson: When you're looking at internet advertising, they are leading the market. They have 70 percent of the share. If you add Yahoo on it's another 20 percent. If you look at the AOL ask.com that brings them to roughly 93 percent of the market share. Who can compete, once you narrow this down, once you give them the marketplace and this monopoly, it's gonna be very difficult for anybody to get that kind of background and violate your privacy whether you gave it up intentionally or not intentionally but it will be very hard for any other company to compete.

>>Declan McCullagh: I think we're out of time. You'll have the last word. This is Declan McCullagh of CNET News with California State Assemblyman, Joe Anderson. Thank you for joining us today.

>>Joe Anderson: It's my pleasure. Thank you. [ Music ]