6A • MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2018 OMAHA WORLD-HERALDMONEY

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)— Twenty years after Lar-ry Page and Sergey Brinset out to organize all of theInternet’s information, thesearch engine they namedGoogle has morphed into adominating force in smart-phones, online video, email,maps and much more.

That resounding successnow has regulators and law-makers around the worldquestioning whether thecompany has become toopowerful as its ubiquitousservices vacuum up sensi-tive information about bil-lions of people hooked on itsproducts.

Google’s search engineremains entrenched as theInternet’s main gateway,and its digital advertisingbusiness is on pace to gener-ate about $110 billion in rev-enue this year. Much of thatrevenue now flows throughGoogle’s Android operat-ing system, which powers80 percent of the world’ssmartphones. Google alsoruns the biggest video site inYouTube, the most popularweb browser in Chrome, the

top email service in Gmailand the maps that most peo-ple use to get around.

Not bad for a companythat started 20 years agowith an initial investmentof $100,000. Google and itssibling companies operat-ing under the umbrella ofAlphabet Inc. are now worth$800 billion.

Although Google wouldn’t

comment, the company hasrepeatedly pointed out thatits mostly free products areso widely used because peo-ple like them.

Google’s success oftendraws comparisons with Mi-crosoft.

By 1998, the year Googlestarted, U.S. regulators hadbecome so concerned aboutMicrosoft’s power through

its Windows operating sys-tem that they had begun toexplore a forced breakup.Although Microsoft re-mained intact, the multiyearbattle with the U.S. govern-ment and other disputeswith European regulatorshobbled and distracted Mic-rosoft, helping to propel therise of Google and Apple.

Google is now confronting

the same potential fate.“Google is in the govern-

ment’s crosshairs,” saidKen Auletta, who was giveninside access to the compa-ny while writing his 2009book, “Googled: The End ofthe World As We Know It.”“This company once had acertain glow to it, but it islosing its halo.”

Just last week, Google

raised hackles in Congressby refusing to send Pageor its current CEO, Sund-ar Pichai, to a hearing onRussian manipulation ofInternet services to swayU.S. elections. Congressio-nal officials left an emptychair while top executivesfrom Facebook and Twitterappeared. Offended law-makers derided Google as“arrogant.”

The European Commis-sion already has imposedfines totaling $7.8 billion af-ter concluding the companyhad unfairly used its searchengine to highlight its ownservices and illegally bun-dled together its products inAndroid.

Google has denied anywrongdoing, but that hasn’tdiscouraged European reg-ulators from looking intoother possible abuses. Pres-ident Donald Trump andsome U.S. regulators areraising the possibility ofopening new investigationsinto Google’s business andprivacy practices five yearsafter the Federal TradeCommission decided thecompany was mostly com-plying with the laws.

It all paints a picture ofa company that may spendthe next decade fighting toprotect the empire it builtduring its first two decades.

Google at 20: Has company become too powerful?With its success hascome scrutiny fromgovernments andregulators worldwide

T H E A S S O C I A T E D P R E S S

Google co-founders Larry Page, bottom, and Sergey Brin in 2004. Twenty years after Page and Brin set out to organize all of theInternet’s information, their search engine has morphed into a dominating force in smartphones, online video, email, maps and more.

BloomBerg News

Data breach? What databreach?

One year after EquifaxInc. disclosed a hack of itscomputers that shook thefinancial world, sparkingan FBI review and slashinga third off the company’sshare price in one week, in-vestors and the public seemto have largely moved on.

The company, whoseshares have recovered al-most 90 percent of the lossessuffered in the plunge, willprobably post a record an-nual profit next year. Equi-fax said there was no massdefection of clients after thebreach put half the U.S. pop-ulation’s sensitive personalinformation at risk, and con-gressional hearings have sofar yielded no major chang-es to federal laws protectingdata. The credit-reportingcompany’s revenue lastquarter reached a record$877 million.

“It was certainly a bumpin the road, but it doesn’tlook like anything else is go-ing to dramatically changethe future,” Brett Horn, ananalyst at Morningstar, saidin an interview.

Between May and Julylast year, criminals exploit-ed a vulnerability in the soft-ware Equifax used to buildits website and abscondedwith data on credit cards,Social Security numbersand drivers’ licenses. Thecompany faced witheringcriticism after disclosingthe hack in September 2017,and more than 90 percent ofconsumers have taken someaction to protect themselvesfrom identity theft in the af-termath.

A Government Account-ability Office report re-leased Friday details stepsthat have been taken sincethe incident, noting thatEquifax’s primary regula-tors are still investigating.

“One year after they pub-licly revealed the massive2017 breach, Equifax andother big credit reportingagencies keep profiting offa business model that re-wards their failure to pro-tect personal information,”Sen. Elizabeth Warren, aMassachusetts Democratwho requested the report,said in a statement.

An Equifax spokeswomandeclined to make companyexecutives available for aninterview, but the companysaid in an emailed statementthat it’s made a number ofimprovements since thebreach, including a morethan $200 million boost tothis year’s budget for secu-rity and technology.

“We have enhanced ourleadership team to includesome of the most experi-enced cybersecurity andtechnology professionals inthe industry, notably newChief Information Securi-ty Officer Jamil Farshchiand Chief Technology Of-ficer Bryson Koehler,” thespokeswoman said.

Following the breach, leg-islators held hearings andproposed policies to guardconsumers’ data. The Con-sumer Financial ProtectionBureau and the FBI lookedinto the hack, and the Feder-al Trade Commission start-ed an investigation.

Vermont passed a lawregulating data brokers, andCalifornia enacted sweepingdata-privacy rules. Eightstate banking commission-ers including New York’ssigned a consent order withEquifax requiring the com-pany to bolster oversight.

“There’s now momen-tum building among stategovernments in the U.S.,regulators, and regulatorsabroad to adopt stricter cy-bersecurity regimes to giveconsumers more controlof their data,” said JosephFacciponti, an attorney withexpertise in cybersecurity.“It’s a tipping point in thepublic’s consciousnesses.”

Free credit freezes willnow be required as part oflegislation rolling back theDodd-Frank financial reg-ulations, but some arguemore action is needed.

“One year later, Equifaxstill hasn’t paid a price forputting 150 million U.S. con-sumers in harm’s way,” saidMike Litt, consumer cam-paign director at U.S. PIRG,which works for tougherconsumer-protection laws.“There hasn’t really beenconsequences, at least notfinancial consequences,and that’s ultimately what’sneeded.”

A class-action lawsuitpending in an Atlanta fed-eral court might eventuallybring some of that financialpain to Equifax. The suit isa consolidation of variouscases representing a nation-wide class.

Year after data breach:Equifax revenue soars

DETROIT (AP) — Sales of newAmerican muscle cars are falling,raising questions in Detroit andelsewhere about whether a nostal-gic, high-horsepower cruising cul-ture that dates to before the 1950sis in peril.

Part of the drop can be blamedon the shift from cars to SUVs thatbegan more than a decade ago, butthere are demographic factorsthat signal a decline. Baby boom-ers, who buy many of the musclecars, are getting older.

Muscle car fans consider theFord Mustang, Chevrolet Cama-ro and Corvette, and the DodgeChallenger and Charger to be themainstays of Detroit performancecars. But their combined sales fell7 percent in 2016, 11 percent lastyear, and are down almost 10 per-cent for the first half of 2018, ac-cording to numbers provided byKelley Blue Book.

“They just don’t have the sameappeal that they did previously,”he said. “Big, loud engines andnoisy V8s, it just doesn’t draw thesame attention and I think interestwith the younger crowd,” said JeffSchuster, a senior vice president atthe forecasting firm LMC Automo-tive.

To be sure, people still buy a lotof the cars. The automakers soldnearly 328,000 combined last year.

Yet U.S. sales of the iconic Mus-

tang, which leads the segmentin 2018, fell 13 percent in 2016,almost 23 percent last year and5 percent during the first half ofthis year. Sports car sales, includ-ing those from foreign brands, alsohave dropped during the past twoyears.

Most muscle cars are owned bybaby boomers, roughly 74 millionpeople who were born from 1946through 1964. But the youngest ofthe boomers are in their mid-50snow, and many are past their peakearning years and don’t have themoney for a third car to go cruis-ing. As the generation ages andenters retirement years, they’llbuy fewer new vehicles and fewermuscle cars will be sold.

“I can see that, but it takes time,”says Bryan Hamilton, car showchairman for Shoals Mustangs, apony car club in the Muscle Shoalsand Florence, Alabama, area. Al-though membership in the club isstable at around 40, most membersare boomers, he says. As they age,interest in the cars could wane, hesays. While many have restoredMustangs from the 1960s, othermembers have newer versions.

There’s also the point of viewthat Detroit iron will rise againas automakers roll out new ver-sions of the cars, most of whichare several years past their intro-ductory dates. Experts say newly

redesigned cars are important in asegment that values looks and per-formance.

The big question is whether mil-lennials, now 22 to 37, will be inter-ested in a rumbling performancecar.

Steve Beahm, head of Dodge andother passenger car brands forFiat Chrysler, says that by creat-ing new versions of the Challengerand Charger such as the 800-plushorsepower Demon, the companyhas been able to keep older mod-els fresh and gain interest amongyounger people.

Schuster said the risk is lowthat the muscle car segment couldbe dying, but it’s still possible. Itwon’t happen within the next fiveyears, but after that, he said, therisk rises. “You’re losing a mar-ket unless you do something withthe vehicle that appeals more to ayounger buyer,” he said.

Kay Rhame, car show directorfor the Red River Classic MustangClub in Bossier City, Louisiana,said the popularity of the Mustangis proved by the fact that Ford isshedding all passenger cars exceptthe Mustang. She doesn’t see a de-cline because she and her husbandare spotting more new Mustangsin their area every day.

“This is a culture, not just a car,”she said. “I really don’t see themgoing away.”

Cruising culture could be in peril

T H E A S S O C I A T E D P R E S S

A Corvette Z06 is seen parked next to an Oldsmobile Cutlass. Muscle car fans consider the Ford Mustang, ChevroletCamaro and Corvette and the Dodge Challenger and Charger to be the mainstays of Detroit performance cars.

BloomBerg News

WASHINGTON — It’sbeen 10 years since the U.S.government took control ofmortgage giants Fannie Maeand Freddie Mac during thedepths of the financial cri-sis — an anniversary somelawmakers used to promotetheir plans for overhaulingthe nation’s housing-financesystem.

House Financial ServicesChairman Jeb Hensarling,a Republican from Texas,unveiled a proposal lastweek that would effectively

shutter Fannie and Freddie.Their roles would be re-placed by enabling privatecompanies and Ginnie Maeto backstop the trillions ofdollars of mortgage-securi-ties that underpin the U.S.housing market. Ginnie isa government corporationthat guarantees mortgagebonds.

The bill is one of the fewFannie-Freddie proposalsthat can be called biparti-san, as Maryland DemocratJohn Delaney is co-sponsor-ing the legislation.

While Congress has longstruggled to figure out whatto do with Fannie and Fred-die, the legislation still hasslim prospects of advancingduring an election year, es-pecially in the Senate wherelawmakers are bogged downby more high-profile issues.But Hensarling said he’shopeful the plan will serveas a road map lawmakerscan use to push for changesin the next Congress.

Fannie and Freddie don’tissue mortgages. Instead,they buy loans from lend-

ers, wrap them into securi-ties and make guarantees toinvestors in case borrowersdefault. The process freesup cash for lenders to un-derwrite more mortgages.

The bill would replace therole of Fannie and Freddiewith private guarantors,who would take on some ofthe credit risk from mort-gage securities. Ginnie Maewould be granted authori-ty to guarantee mortgagebonds. Taxpayers would beon the hook only if losseswere catastrophic.

Fannie-Freddie plan unveiled as House eyes changes

Credit-reportingcompany ‘still hasn’tpaid a price’ despitecriticism and scrutiny

MUSCLE CAR SLOWDOWN

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