Google should be regulated: survey

Nearly two-thirds of Australians believe Internet search engine Google should be subject to government regulation on issues such as personal privacy.

While people overwhelmingly (84 percent) have a positive view of Google, and most (58 percent) say it does not have too much power, polling by opinion research company UMR also has found significant concerns. Just under one-third (32 percent) of Australians believe Google manipulates search results for its own benefit, while fewer than half (45 percent) in the poll of 1000, taken March 11-16, say it does a good job respecting people's privacy, with 13 percent saying it does a bad job and 42 per cent unsure. Nearly seven in 10 would oppose Google, which gets requests for data, passing on Australian information to US intelligence or law enforcement agencies. Overall 63 percent believe Google should be regulated; Labor voters are marginally more likely than Coalition supporters to believe that Google should be subject to government regulation (69-64 percent). Those under 30 are least likely to favour regulation (50 percent).