If Google is a monopoly, should we be doing anything about it?
elidourado: Normally when we talk about monopolies being inefficient or "shaft[ing] the end user" we are concerned with the monopoly raising price and restricting quantity.  Search engines do not (generally) charge a direct price, but they do implicitly charge a price in the form of ads on the page.  If Google decides to blanket their search results with many more ads than they currently do, I have no problem switching to a competitor.  Lots of other people will switch too.There are conceivably other ways that Google could indirectly raise prices on consumers, but realistically it is a huge waste of money to prosecute a company that gives stuff out for free.  Furthermore, threatening such action poisons the business environment by making investment more risky.  It is a terrible idea.