The FTC is getting ready to serve Google with a subpoena in an emerging antitrust case against the search giant. There had been rumblings about a probe for the past few months, and the committee is now moving ahead with the investigation.
The probe is the most serious antitrust concern Google has faced, but it doesn't seem to pose too much danger. It's not illegal to have a monopoly in the U.S.—only to abuse it. The case for abuse is that Google's "natural" search results alter the marketplace and control whether businesses succeed or fail, and also that Google promotes its own sites in searches, starving competitors of traffic. Which seems pretty slim. [WSJ]