From ‘Jedi Blue’ to ‘Banksy’: What Google’s code names reveal in the DOJ’s landmark antitrust case
By Marty Swant
From Banksy and Bernanke to Bell and Jedi Blue, the coterie of internal Google code words that will likely pop up during the Department of Justice’s antitrust trial against Google shed a curious light on various aspects of the case — and many of the giant’s past and present ad tech operations.
The biggest ad-tech antitrust trial, which begins Sept. 9, has nothing to do with mysterious artists, Fed chairmen or Star Wars sages. But court documents are rife with almost two dozen colorful code names for projects related to what the DOJ alleges Google did in dealings with advertisers, publishers and ad-tech rivals.
Google’s choice of names also reflect some unique metaphors that could help the U.S. government illustrate its case. During the search antitrust trial in May, one lawyer for the DOJ brought up Google’s project called Polyjuice. Mentioned during closing arguments, Polyjuice was a name for Google’s Randomized Generalized Second-Price (RGSP) program that allowed it to randomly swap bids in search auctions.
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Source:: Digiday
