Feds Step Up Antitrust Probe of Google Books Deal

Justice Department investigators have intensified their probe into a deal Google made with publishers last year to put millions of books online, the Wall Street Journal reports. Publishers have been formally asked to provide information relating to the deal, which critics charge violates antitrust laws by giving Google an effective monopoly over "orphan text," for which the copyright holders are unknown or cannot be found.

"The Justice Department is clearly focused on Google," said one publishing executive. "It's a wide-ranging request for documentation." Insiders say Google considers the probe of the book deal, along with other probes of the company's business by antitrust regulators, to be part of an effort by the new administration to increase scrutiny of the technology industry after the relatively hands-off approach of the Bush years.
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