PK Joins Others in Slamming Amazon/Google 'Feud' as Amazon Says Google Sets 'Disappointing Precedent'

Public Knowledge joined others in slamming Google for blocking access to YouTube on Amazon’s Echo Show and Fire TV (see 1712060058, 1712050057 and 1712060013) while Amazon said the other company is potentially setting a bad precedent. A spokeswoman for that company noted its Echo Show and Fire TV now display a standard web view of YouTube.com and point to YouTube’s website, and the company hopes to resolve the spat as soon as possible: "Google is setting a disappointing precedent by selectively blocking customer access to an open website." Amazon and Google "are putting consumers in the middle of a corporate battle between the two technology giants," PK said Wednesday. "Both companies should live up to their stated values and end this standoff," Senior Counsel John Bergmayer said of Google's mission to "organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful," and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos calling Amazon "the everything store." Though "responsibilities of platform companies" "are (and should be) different than those of telecommunications carriers like broadband providers, they are still very real," Bergmayer said. Google again said Thursday it's trying to reach a pact and hopes to get one soon, but "Amazon doesn't carry Google products like Chromecast and Google Home, doesn't make Prime Video available for Google Cast users, and last month stopped selling some of Nest's latest products." It didn't comment further, and the Internet Association continued not commenting.