Even Matt's allegation is softened by "I believe" here: there appears to be nothing that conclusively indicates Bing is solely targeting Google. For example, the observed behaviour could be a side-effect of a generic algorithm to extract and associate search queries with a user's click stream, which is only a minor variant of what Google itself does with its own toolbar.
If the case described above were true, then all Google has done here is to make inconclusive accusations and use the occasion to highlight its own dominance over search.
It seems to me this is just a cheap and slightly seedy PR stunt.
Associating search queries and click stream behaviour is fine if it's your own search engine. Doing it for someone else's search engine isn't (regardless of who's doing it).
In the hypothetical situation above, it has almost nothing to do with the search engine - it is both the user providing the query and selecting the result: this is the data of value, not which intermediary provided the list of results to select from.
Really? Doesn't the intermediary that narrowed the list from several billion possible matches to the best 10, including correcting the inherent spelling errors in the query carry some value?
> Associating search queries and click stream behaviour is fine if it's your own search engine. Doing it for someone else's search engine isn't (regardless of who's doing it).
If the case described above were true, then all Google has done here is to make inconclusive accusations and use the occasion to highlight its own dominance over search.
It seems to me this is just a cheap and slightly seedy PR stunt.