In recent history, the number of relevant search engines has dwindled to a select few. Of these few engines left, Yahoo, Google, and a new crawler created by Microsoft have taken the lead as the two most popular and powerful search engines on the web. However, Google is definitely king. Google, Inc. has done the most of any search engine to expand the depth of their WebCrawler’s searching ability and it has paid off well for the company. At the time of this article, Google provided about 75% of external references to most websites.
Given its supremacy, Google has also created a formula for advertising that has helped make the company massive profits. By posting ads on the side of the search page based on keywords in the search term, Google and other engines have spread the popularity of “personalized” advertisements that reflect the items that match with what we most commonly search for. On the other hand, Yahoo and Microsoft are happy with their current systems of pay-for-placement to generate revenue.
This new system, (new because when Google was first taking off, it was ad-free), leads people to wonder what interest the company has in the trouble and expense of crawling the World Wide Web’s non-commercial sector. Because the org, edu, and gov domains do not provide direct income to the company, it is curious that nobody has established a search engine specialized for public-sector websites.
Since 9/11, there has been an increase in a desire of gathering information on Internet users themselves. This increase in interest has come directly from our own Federal Government. Google has made no statements about their stance on the rights to privacy of their users or the rights of Washington spies who desire access to that information. Because the information that Google has access to is so far-reaching, the ultimate decision of Google, Inc. on these issues are incredibly important and could be a huge statement on the position of government and Internet. Either decision, whether siding with consumer protection or government surveillance, would be very critical to deciding how the future of the Internet operates.
It is not a statement of fact that Google is evil, it is simply that many people believe that Google is at a major turning point where they could very likely change the lives of all users of the web. In 2003, Google Watch and “500 others” nominated Google for the Big Brother Award, citing a nine points, which included:
1. A cookie that does not expire until 2038. Google was the first engine to make such a long lasting cookie file.
2. Google’s indefinite retention of collected data.
3. Secrecy over why they need this data.
4. Spyware toolbar.
5. This toolbar updates itself without permission.
And more.
This fear that Google is watching our every move and is simply building a database of our deepest darkest secrets in order to sell to the government is an absolutely ridiculous and paranoid vision. By selling information to the government and becoming a tool for the “spies in Washington” who are supposedly chomping at the bit for this information, Google stands to make a lot less money than they are currently making. By simply working with an incredibly successful business plan of providing results to users at no cost than to have to “put up with” advertising on the side of the page, Google will continue to grow and make record profits. Google is already becoming one of the biggest names in business and is generating incredible wealth for the company. Jumping into bed with the government holds no financial benefits for a company this large. Most of the points made to show how Google can possibly use their incredibly in-depth WebCrawler to ruin our lives is nothing more than speculation. Everything that Google takes part in is something that most people with a healthy understanding of the Internet already understand. If there are things that you don’t want anybody to know about you, don’t live those secrets out over the web, even in the privacy of your own home. Google simply accesses information that we have generated on our own. Also, if a person has a mistrust of the Google Toolbar, simply don’t install it. While the implications of what Google may one day be capable of are astounding, the idea that they would partake in action that are damaging to their consumer base is even more astounding in its absurdity.
Posted by mraneo 