Originally published on August 15, 2002
By Michael J. Bevilacqua and Kenneth H. Slade with contributions from summer associate Margaret Parker-Yavuz
In a June 27 letter to Alta Vista, AOL Time Warner, Direct Hit Technologies, iWon, LookSmart, Microsoft and Terra Lycos, the Federal Trade Commission recommended that the companies provide clearer disclosure to consumers of their pay-for-placement search engines. Prompted by a complaint filed by consumer advocacy group Commercial Alert in July 2001, the FTC's letter states that current disclosures by pay-for-placement search engines regarding the fee-based ranking of their search results may not be sufficiently clear. Spokespersons from Alta Vista, Terra Lycos and AOL publicly responded to the letter, stating that they believe that their search engines adequately disclose paid results. Alta Vista and Terra Lycos representatives also added that they would take the FTC's recommendations seriously nevertheless.
