Google is learning the hard way that $704,000 in political donations to Barack Obama doesn’t buy itself much protection from the Justice Department.

The Internet search giant is the subject of no fewer than four federal probes into how the company does business — the most recent of which is an investigation into Google’s settlement with major book publishers that would let the company display millions of titles online for reading or downloading purchases.

The company is also being investigated for its hiring practices amid allegations it coordinated with other tech firms not to poach each other’s employees and whether the company’s behavioral ad practices invade consumers’ privacy. The company has also been questioned by the Federal Trade Commission about two directors who also sit on the board of Apple Inc.

It’s hardly the kind of treatment Google was expecting after employees sank some $704,000 into Obama’s presidential campaign, and given the access that several Googlers — including CEO Eric Schmidt — have to Obama and his inner circle.

Indeed, several key Google executives have taken jobs within the administration, including Andrew McLaughlin, who was Google’s high-powered lobbyist in Washington and head of its global public policy. And Schmidt has appeared publicly at Obama’s side as a star member of the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology.

According to sources close to the company, people within the company are nervous at all the attention Google is getting.

However, publicly the company is downplaying the scrutiny.

“We’re not surprised by the scrutiny — it comes with the turf,” said Adam Kovacevich, senior manager of global public affairs. “We’ve had the good fortune to be successful, and with that success comes scrutiny from policy makers. Google has a good story to tell how it promotes competition.”

To be sure, Google’s reach may beg some looking into: The company controls about two-thirds of this country’s Web searches, and rakes in one-third of the cash spent on Web ads.

In the latest round, some regulators, including several state attorneys general, are looking at the book publishers’ deal for any possible ways it might block competition or use monopoly pressures to muscle other online enterprises out of the online book action.

The probe, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, is focusing on a deal struck nine months ago between Google and authors over the commercial controversies in putting books online. Google paid $125 million to the book industry — namely the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers — to set up a so-called Book Rights Registry for settling their four-year class action struggle.