Antitrust+?

parislemon:

Given my post last night, this will probably sound like piling on. But I’m sorry, it’s the first thing that comes to mind. I don’t see how it can’t.

How on Earth is Google going to avoid antitrust inquiries with their new Search+ features announced today? If Facebook, Twitter, etc, have any decent presence in DC, the ball began rolling a few hours ago.

This is the type of case that Senators die for. Google wrapped it in a bow and placed it in one of their laps.

Most of the broader antitrust concerns against Google are bullshit in my opinion. You can argue that they have a monopoly on search, but it’s a natural one. They’ve earned it. They’re simply better at search than their competitors. This has always been true. It remains true.

But when they use that natural monopoly to start pushing into other verticals, things get gray. Travel, restaurant reviews, etc, etc. We see more of it each year. 

Read More

Our mission is to make the law easier with technology

We can find or share an amazing amount of information on the web theses days. We can complain about politicians, read the news, share pictures, choose restaurants, organize protests and all sorts of amazing things. 

But what about when we’re frustrated, confused, threatened, or hurt and need legal help? The truth is, you’ll usually get an answering machine or a complex web survey to fill out before you can talk with an attorney. Most people get so fed up trying to connect with an attorney that they try to self-diagnose their legal ailments with Google, which makes about as much sense as trying to diagnose one’s medical ailments reliably with WebMD. 

It’s 2011. How can that be? 

You can order a pizza from Domino’s and get a topping-by-topping breakdown of your pizza made by Sam, who updates you during the pizza’s production and tells you exactly when it will be at your door—ordered from your cell phone and updated via email.

But if you try to talk with a lawyer, you get a bunch of terrible lead-gen sites that look like they were designed in 1997. At best, you can find a bunch of information that’s not specific to you or your case and likely not event relevant to your jurisdiction. 

That’s unacceptable, and we’re going to fix it. 

There is no substitute for an experienced attorney when you have a legal issue. None. But as technology has become more powerful in nearly every other industry, technology has made the practice of law more complex and time consuming in most regards. Legal technology is old, slow and not even as secure as its made out to be.

Technology should be able to make the law easier for lawyers and clients alike.

That’s what we’re working on here at LexSpot.

Email us at founders@LexSpot.com if you’re interested in joining our mission.