Justice Department and Google spar over public access to antitrust trial files

The Justice Department has removed access to publicly posted trial documents on United States against Google amid dispute over how files should be available online, according to journalist Leah Nylen Bloomberg. Nylen, reporting from the courtroom, said Judge Amit Mehta will make a decision in the morning on future online access to evidence.

He Great technology tested Newsletter reported more details of the exchange, which apparently occurred during an exchange between the Department of Justice and Google over whether a test could be presented as evidence. Google’s lawyers apparently raised the fact that the Justice Department had been posting documents online, a fact Mehta said he was unaware of. (The edge has linked to the now-deleted page in previous test coverage). Great technology tested reports that Mehta said he doesn’t necessarily object to the documents being released and that the Justice Department offered to notify Google of what it planned to release in advance, which could avoid future conflicts.

Google declined to comment on the dispute and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The page that previously hosted exhibits from the test is currently offline, although a snapshot from last week remains available. via internet archive. As Nylen pointed out, Google also has a page for information about the trialpresenting slides of his own opening arguments to the court.

As public records, court documents are frequently posted online during trials, and in some cases, that leads to unintended disclosures. The FTC’s recent court battle with Microsoft, for example, resulted in details being leaked due to incomplete redactions, as well as a trove of documents uploaded apparently in error that revealed internal plans for a new Xbox console earlier this week. .

AND United States against Google There has been a constant tug-of-war over public access to what could be one of the most important antitrust trials of the decade. Google, Apple and others have argued that the lawsuit threatens to expose sensitive financial information as the Justice Department makes its case that Google established an illegal monopoly in the search engine business. Unlike several similar high-profile cases, it is not broadcast remotely, except for an audio broadcast covering part of the first day, granted as a request at the last minute. Now, we’re waiting to see how much of this information will continue to be released as the 10-week trial progresses.