The Australian competition watchdog has accidentally revealed Google as the anonymous source of a submission that is highly critical of eBay's proposal to force its users onto the PayPal payments system.
The submission in question is a 38-page critique of the eBay plan which it calls "anti-competitive", arguing that there would be no net public benefit if eBay were given the green light to proceed.
The digital "fingerprint" that links Google to the submission posted on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) website was discovered by David Bromage, a disgruntled eBay user and model train enthusiast from Canberra.
He examined the hidden so-called meta data in the downloaded submission which was posted as a PDF document and found this nugget: "Microsoft Word - 204481916_1_ACCC Submission by Google re eBay Public _2_.DOC".
Translated it means that the PDF was created from a Microsoft Word document with the filename "204481916_1_ACCC Submission by Google re eBay Public _2_.DOC".
A few hours after Bromage's discovery was posted on the AuctionBytes website yesterday, the PDF submission on the ACC site was taken down. It returned later on Thursday afternoon, this time without the incriminating meta data.
The submission was made in response to a call last month by the ACCC for interested parties to comment on eBay's application to grant it immunity from prosecution under the Trade Practices Act ahead of the PayPal changes.
The US-headquartered auction company argues that the public benefits of the move - including enhanced transaction security - would outweigh any detriment to the public caused by a reduction in competition in the online payments market.
PayPal - which is owned by eBay - allows online sellers to accept credit card payments and money transfers without having their own merchant credit card accounts.
Currently, merchants can also accept credit cards, direct debit, money orders and cheques, but from June 17 eBay wants to allow only PayPal or cash on delivery.
The ACCC's response to eBay's request is being closely watch around the world. eBay is using Australia as the guinea pig and a green light by the Australian regulator would lead to the change being rolled out across eBay's global network of auction sites.
The plan is also not popular with many eBay users because the auction company extracts a fee for use of the PayPal system, in addition to auction fees.
More at SMH.
