For years we have all heard that Microsoft is considered a company that is evil and to fear the power of Mr. Gates. Personally, I never bought it, but that’s another discussion all together. Recently it occurred to me that if any company could in future become “evil” it would be Google.
If your scratching your head wondering why,  maybe reading this excerpt from the Google CEO will help explain it…
“We are very early in the total information we have within Google… The goal is to enable Google users to be able to ask the question such as ‘What shall I do tomorrow?.”
For Google to realistically answer that question, they’d need a massive amount of personal information stored about me. They are spinning it to sound like that information would be used for your benefit in the article above, but how likely is it that the information they store could be used in a bad way?
I believe that no company or organisation should have that much information on you. It also concerns me that Google does not give you the option to view what information it has compiled. I do believe there is room for that information to be used in a harmful way if not regulated.
Many visionaries have written books and movies about the coming of an evil ‘Big Brother‘ type corporation. Will Google be that company?
I feel that Google should stick to it’s core competency of being a good search engine for finding information on the web. What do you think?
Matt
May 27, 2007 12:35 pm
No, I don’t think that Google is evil (and that’s not because there moto is “don’t be evil” :P ). With all that information, I think they’re just trying the make the Internet a better place, and give the user more usability. Some of that usability requires more information than the average website.
Sure, all that information could be used for bad perposes, but why would Google want to do that? To ruin their reputation? To become the most powerful company? No, they have no reason to use all that information for the bad.
All of Google’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policies are just to protect their asses just incase someone tries to sue them or something.
blogadmin
May 27, 2007 12:55 pm
Let’s give a couple of plausible scenario’s.
1. They are a public company so they need to show profits year after year so investors don’t dump them. Who’s to say one year it is not a big year and they decided to sell that information?
2. The way the Patriot Act is it could be very easy for the government to use this information against you in a witch hunt.
3. Disgruntled employees could sell the information for money.
If they could let us as an end user review the information I would have less of a problem with it.
Matt
May 27, 2007 1:03 pm
1. Google’s got tons of money, and I doubt there profits are going to down. As long as Adsense is still widely used, they’ll be fine.
2. Remember when the government tried to get millions of search data from them, and they refused and took it to court, and then Google won? Well, I doubt it’s going to be any different the next time.
3. I think Google’s employees are pretty happy about working at Google. I mean, look at all the perks they get for working there. I mean, they get to spend something like 20% of there day being paid to work on their own projects. Who wouldn’t want to work there?
Linus
May 28, 2007 9:39 am
Google does make me nervous. Their current attempts to have you login so they can remember your searches and personalize your results are something I find a little bit iffy. This kind of recorded search could reveal your religion, your political affiliation, your sexual preferences, your income, and all kinds of other personal details. While the present management of Google seem like a great bunch of guys, that may change and I’m not sure I want all my personal data in the hands of a search company who needs it to make money.
Matt
May 28, 2007 5:22 pm
You don’t have to login. You don’t even ever have to give them any information, unless you want more services.
Sure, they record your searchs, and your IP with those searchs. But, your ISP is the only one who can trace that IP to you. All Google can do with that IP is look up who owns it, and where. It’s more for geographical data than anything.
Sonia
May 28, 2007 9:11 pm
“What shall I do tomorrow?”
Getting the search engine to answer this question negates a free will, so I believe Google put a media trick on the readers. They do not envision a future where everyone will be told what to do by the machine with a lot of your personal data, but rather raise awareness of what would happen if the information is not managed properly.
Every big corporation has a scenario where it can potentially turn into “Big Brother”. And I think it is important that corporations keep this scenario in mind when they grow.