Google has accused Microsoft of plagiarising its search results, and is challenging the software giant to reveal how it is using data collected from users to determine results for its own Bing service.
When similarities in search results raised suspicions at Google, it set out to expose the issue in what had been reported as the “Bing Sting”.
Google spokesman Amit Singhal said: “We just want everyone to know the truth about how Microsoft operates as a search engine, which is by taking the hard work of others and presenting it as their own.”
In response, Microsoft has denied the accusations saying Google’s claims were based on a “few outlier examples”, adding using Google data to help refine its Bing service reflected general internet practice.
But Harry Shum, a corporate vice president at Bing which is the web search engine operated by Microsoft, said: “It’s not like we actually copy anything. We learn from customers who are willing to share data with us, just like Google does.”
He said that data includes searches people type into Bing and Google, and what links they click on, adding that the information can be used to fine-tune Bing’s own search results as this sort of “collective intelligence” is how the web is supposed to work.
However, Mr Singhal argued it is unfair for Bing to piggyback on Google’s technology, saying: “It’s like a student cheating on his test and saying, ‘Yeah, I could see my classmates’ test, so I wrote it down’. If that’s not cheating, what is?”
Microsoft’s practices have even wider implications now that its technology powers Yahoo! searches in the US, Canada, Mexico, Australia and Brazil as part of a 10-year partnership that grew out of the companies’ inability to mount a serious challenge to Google on their own.
