Google's chief executive accused of manipulating Google results

PanARMENIAN.Net - Google's chief executive, Eric Schmidt, tried to use his position to suppress details of an embarrassing political donation he made, ordering that details be removed from the internet giant's search engine results, it was claimed.

The accusation comes in a forthcoming book, In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives, by technology journalist Steven Levy, who has been given unprecedented access to Google's employees over the past three years to research an "authorized biography" of the company.

Details of Mr Schmidt's attempt to manipulate Google results is based on a claim by Denise Griffin, who was employed as the company's first customer-support manager.

The revelations about Mr Schmidt's gaffe caused an internet storm and acquired extra piquancy because of rumors in Washington which suggest the Google boss is being wooed by the White House for the role of Secretary of Commerce. President Barack Obama wants to put a business-friendly face on his administration after its drubbing in last November's elections, and he has repeatedly tapped Mr Schmidt in the past as an adviser on economic policy and technology issues.

Mr Schmidt has often given money to politicians' campaigns, almost always to Democrats, according to published records going back to the mid-Nineties. In 1999, however, he donated $1,000 to George Bush's election campaign, as well as to Al Gore's presidential effort.

A Google spokesman said Mr Schmidt denies that the incident took place. This weekend is Mr Schmidt's last as chief executive of the company. A decade after Google's early investors ordered Mr Page and Mr Brin to hire a more experienced Silicon Valley executive to run the search engine company they founded in 1998, Mr Page is taking back responsibility for day-to-day management. If he does not leave for Washington, Mr Schmidt will stay on with the title of chairman and a role lobbying for Google around the world. Governments are clamoring to impose new privacy restrictions and other anti-monopoly rules on the company, The Independent reports.