From: <crcmail@atg.wa.gov>
Date: Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 9:12 AM
Subject: AGO Complaint
To: mrfsys@gmail.com


Paul,

Thank you for submitting a complaint to the Office of the Attorney General on 2/11/2010. Your complaint is very important to us and we have assigned it to a consumer resource center specialist.  Due to the volume and complexity of complaints made to our office, normal complaint processing time is approximately 4 weeks.  We are currently experiencing an increase of incoming complaints which may result in a longer processing time.  We apologize for the delay and thank you very much for your patience.

Please do not respond to this email address.  The mailbox is not monitored.  If you have questions, please contact our Consumer Resource Center at 1-800-551-4636.

Information Submitted:

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Paul A. Mitchell
c/o 117 East Louisa Street
Seattle, WA 98102-3203

Day Phone: 206-473-2530
Eve Phone: 206-473-2530
Email: mrfsys@gmail.com
Age Range: 59+

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Business Name: Google, Inc. (data obtained from WHOIS at www.netsol.com)
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043

Bus Phone: 650-623-4000
Bus Fax: 650-618-8571
Toll-Free:
Email: dns-admin@google.com
Website: http://www.google.com

Name of Owner / Manager: Sergey Brin and Larry Page
Salesperson's Name: Minnie Ingersoll and James Kelly

Names and addresses of any other businesses involved in your complaint:
not known at this time (other idea submitters are similarly damaged by Google's false advertising)

Item or service purchased: n/a (see explanation above)
Payment method: Csh
Signed contract: No
Sale date:
Cost of item or service:
Advertisement involved: Yes
Source of advertisement: Offer published on the Internet
Ad date: September 2008

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Complained to business: Yes

Filed a complaint about this business with the Attorney General's Office before: No

If yes, what was the complaint number: n/a

Contacted an attorney: Yes
Attorney's name and address:
Edwin J. Vieira, Jr., J.D., Ph.D., 52 Stonegate Court, Front Royal, VA 22630

Court or other legal proceeding pending: No

Explanation of complaint:

On or about September 25, 2008, Google, Inc. published on the Internet an evidently bona fide offer of $10 Million, which "will be distributed evenly among the winners" of the best ideas submitted to Google's Project 10^100:  http://www.project10tothe100.com/index.html  From Spokane I submitted this idea:  "worldwide adoption of the goal and committing all resources necessary to realize 1 Gigabit Internet access everywhere on planet Earth."  In reply to the question:  "What initial steps are required to get this idea off the ground?" I replied:  "A Policy Proposal circulated widely to IT and government sectors, with a strong PR budget to commence aggressive advocacy of this idea."  Yesterday, Google announced plans that implement this idea almost to the letter:  http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/think-big-with-gig-our-experimental.html  However, Google staff are now saying that "winners" will not receive ANY money, only "good karma", and that the funds offered will be distributed ONLY to organizations, NOT to individuals who submitted winning ideas.  This change strongly suggests false advertising, bad faith and also fraud by Google's management, for having widely distributed this exact language in their original Offer:  "... [T]he $10 million will be distributed evenly among the winners."

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Expected resolution details: pay the award to submitter of a "winning idea" now being implemented by Google

What do you think the business should do to resolve your complaint:
ORT

E-mail Notifications: Yes
Disclosure Notices: Yes

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If you have any questions about the complaint submittal process, you may contact our Consumer Resource Center at 1-800-551-4636 between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Sincerely,

Rob McKenna and the AGO staff



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