Tech

Google Better Be Ready For A Nasty Fight With Uncle Sam

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Google Eric Schmdit Senate Testimony
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee last fall. 

It looks like the feds are gearing up to take on Google.

The Federal Trade Commission, which is investigating the company for possible antitrust violations, hired an outside lead attorney today, reports Reuters.

Not just any lawyer, either. It's Beth Wilkinson, who helped convict Oklahoma City bomber Tim McVeigh.

The New York Times reports that her record is 40-0 in major cases.

The FTC is looking into whether Google changes search results to favor its own sites. The agency hasn't decided whether to bring a formal case against Google yet, but hiring an outside lawyer is a big step. The FTC has only done it twice in the last decade, according to the Times.

The last time something like this happened in the tech industry is when the Department of Justice brought in David Boies to oversee the Microsoft trial.

And we all know how that went -- emails were exposed, executives deposed, and the company was eventually split in two.

In the end, Microsoft stayed intact, but it paid billions in fines from related cases, and the antitrust case contributed to its fall from the top of the tech heap.

Google better hunker down and get ready.

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Matt was an executive editor at Business Insider who ran the San Francisco bureau and oversaw technology coverage for Business Insider.  Previously, he was an analyst for Directions on Microsoft and blogged about music tech for CBS Interactive. From 1995 to 2000, he was a founding editor at CNET.com.