Google - Good or Evil?

[deecree]

Google controls your search, manages your mail, records who visits your websites, organises your photos, lets you search your computer, hosts your documents, it will soon run your mobile device, trials are under way to manage your hospital records. It will provide wireless net access to the aforementioned.

Googles documents and mail service encourage you to never delete a thing.
Google plans to document all the worlds information.
It promises to do this while doing "no evil".

What do you think about all of this? Is Google good or evil? Is it likely to be good when its controls yet more of our lives?

[deecree]

Googlewatch (http://www.google-watch.org/) is run by people who are worried by Google, and might be of interest to someone.

[omeyas]

Nobody of course, is forcing anyone to use any of their services, I'm sure there are alternatives to most things they offer. I use their search engine, and I also have a secondary mail account with them, but they don't organise my photos, host any documents etc, Sure, they are becoming huge, and ever entering new territory, but "at the moment", there is no compulsion to use them! :)
Could be worse, some here would be happy for Apple to rule our lives!!:computer:

[greytop]

What they may turn into who knows! At least they are driving some of the existing mega-companies to reconsider their strategy and, in the medium term at least, that has to benefit us as consumers.
Our movements and spending habits are already tracked by credit card etc. If my life is that interesting to anybody then they're welcome to it ;)

[deecree]

Nobody of course, is forcing anyone to use any of their services, I'm sure there are alternatives to most things they offer. I use their search engine, and I also have a secondary mail account with them, but they don't organise my photos, host any documents etc, Sure, they are becoming huge, and ever entering new territory, but "at the moment", there is no compulsion to use them! :)
Could be worse, some here would be happy for Apple to rule our lives!!:computer:

But how long until you don't have an option? As one example, if you want to advertise your business online, who do you have to turn to?

And what about things you don't know happen? Like Google Desktop making remote copies of your documents on Google's servers "for better indexing" and the records Google keeps on what you do from what you search for, what ads you click on, then via Google Analytics, everything you do on the remote website you visit...

I don't dislike Google, yet. But they used to be warm and cosy. They are heading into dangerous territory.

[ValenciaSon]

I doubt they will be delving into health records. In the US and Europe, Google will have to negotiate quite an amount of red tape in order to be the repository of health records, not to mention the competition they would face from existing healthcare IT vendors who protect their turf like a mother bear.

[tad]

If I could just be a goddam pinko commy for a moment, what google are doing is what every highly successful business does -it starts eating up everything else around.
That is the nature of capitalism. We see the same thing with supermarkets here that are eating each other up whilst digging their claws into all types of other areas like banking and insurance.

Taking it to the logical conclusion in 100 years time there will just be THE SHOP, the final winner, that will have everything -and be everything.

[deecree]

Google are now laying network infrastructure that allows them to by-pass traditional telecoms system.

Is the future of Google to grow it's online monopoly, and eventually control the underlying networks too? :o Will we eventually be using the Googlenet?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/28/google_announces_unity_cable/

Google already track most of us via their search results, ads and visitor analysis software but promise not to use this information for evil-doing, which is seen as 100% acceptable by most people because "it's Google" and "Google are a good company who put our needs first and profit margins a distant second". But is controlling the underlying infrastructure going too far for anyone? Probably no. :)

[ValenciaSon]

If not Google, it would be someone else to fill that void.

[deecree]

If not Google, it would be someone else to fill that void.

I don't dislike Google, nor do I particularly distrust them, but if they were any other company people would be scared and angry that they see absolutely everywhere you go on the internet, if you have an AdWords account they can also match everything you see online to you and your home address.

Now they, as well as seeing everywhere you go.. they will have access to everything do there, what you download, what you write... everything. We are in the age of the Cult of Google, who of course do no evil and put making money a distant distant priority to your happiness and privacy.

[richardksa]

While I would like to keep my personal life to myself, I realise that if I travel or buy something by card, somewhere there will be a record of my movements. Ditto when using the net. I find it strange that people who would happily give their credit card number over the phone, distrust the much encrypted internet.
We have to trust those who act as intermederies for us, be they banks, creditcard companies or on line search engines. Governments and companies keep thousands of files on us and we have to hope that data is secure. And there must be ways or reacting rapidly when, by mistake or on purpose, that data is either lost or illicitly published.
What would worry me is when governments require private data holders to release their files or some bright spark decides we should all be on one, easily accessible database, for "anti terrorism" or "security" purposes. Then the age of Big Brother will truly have arrived and there will be no escape.
For now, Google is one of the good guys, but how trustworthy will they be if they become headed by someone less scrupulous than at present?

[ValenciaSon]

It did concern me when Google ratted out a Chinese citizen to the Chinese government so as benevolent as Google may propose to be, their bottom line is the bottom line.

[gary]

While I would like to keep my personal life to myself, I realise that if I travel or buy something by card, somewhere there will be a record of my movements. Ditto when using the net. I find it strange that people who would happily give their credit card number over the phone, distrust the much encrypted internet.
We have to trust those who act as intermederies for us, be they banks, creditcard companies or on line search engines. Governments and companies keep thousands of files on us and we have to hope that data is secure. And there must be ways or reacting rapidly when, by mistake or on purpose, that data is either lost or illicitly published.
What would worry me is when governments require private data holders to release their files or some bright spark decides we should all be on one, easily accessible database, for "anti terrorism" or "security" purposes. Then the age of Big Brother will truly have arrived and there will be no escape.
For now, Google is one of the good guys, but how trustworthy will they be if they become headed by someone less scrupulous than at present?


Yeah, I agree - I have a mobile phone and a credit card so, pretty much, if they want me they can find me. the only thing I would really object to with regard to an ID card would be if I had to pay for the bloody thing

As for DNA info - I can see the crimefighting potential, but what if the data was lost (has been known!) - if it fell to the hands of the insurance companies they would certainly use the info to hike premiums or refuse insurance to some individuald based on their susceptibility to certain conditions

[eldeano]

As for DNA info - I can see the crimefighting potential, but what if the data was lost (has been known!) - if it fell to the hands of the insurance companies they would certainly use the info to hike premiums or refuse insurance to some individuald based on their susceptibility to certain conditions

:eek: :eek:

Can they identify your drinking habits through your DNA??

[ValenciaSon]

:eek: :eek:

Can they identify your drinking habits through your DNA??Catman, your best bet is to stay off the grid.

[six gun]

Google brought me to this website.

Without the search engines, website would sit in cyberspace alone and friendless. They are essential to the efficient function of the internet. Google is my homepage - it is the most discriminating of the big search engines. A whole industry exists to take sites to the top of the Google search ratings - and Google fights to knock out the dross sites from those offering quality content.

Anyone developing websites lives and dies by the big search engine ratings. I have developed a community website http://www.polarisworld.uk.net for Polaris World La Torre golf resort in Murcia. We have struggled out of the 'sand pit' and reconfigured the url's to be SEF -(search engine friendly) - all to make it easy for our members to find us.

Google keeps the industry on its toes - sites where the content is static and unchanging, those that do not link up because they have nothing useful to link to, these sites die. SEO (search engine optimisation) is a science and an art.

The search engines, with Google at its summit have ordered and organised the internet from a ramble of sites on disparate server computers into the internet we enjoy today. Google is not my homepage for nothing. ;D

[saiguanas]

Taking it to the logical conclusion in 100 years time there will just be THE SHOP, the final winner, that will have everything -and be everything.

"Now all restaurants are Taco Bell"

-Lenina Huxley (Sandra Bullock)
Demolition Man

[gary]

:eek: :eek:

Can they identify your drinking habits through your DNA??

Its not a habit its a lifestyle choice...

[tehfincheh]

It can be quite worrying that so much of online business, these days, depends on Google Adwords and Google Adsense.

I know of a large national company in the past which went bust after having its Google Adwords account suspended.

You can't blame Google though. The people who rely too heavily on it, without a backup plan, only have themselves to blame.

I love the simplicity of the brand. Their email package and analytics tools are great, and they're nice and easy to maintain with minimal clutter. Individual services may provide greater features, but Google bundles them together excellently.

[tad]

Taking it to the logical conclusion in 100 years time there will just be THE SHOP, the final winner, that will have everything -and be everything.
"Now all restaurants are Taco Bell"

-Lenina Huxley (Sandra Bullock)
Demolition Man
Further down the line it could be Amazon -they'll probably have figured out a way to send out meals in self heating boxes along with holographic restuarant environments for the full eating out experience.:p

[Pepino]

Further down the line it could be Amazon -they'll probably have figured out a way to send out meals in self heating boxes along with holographic restuarant environments for the full eating out experience.:p

I´d probably still get stuck next to a holographic screaming child on the next holographic table from mine with the holographic wonky leg, while being ignored by the holographic waitress ;D

[matthew26]

I´d probably still get stuck next to a holographic screaming child on the next holographic table from mine with the holographic wonky leg, while being ignored by the holographic waitress ;D

I LOLed. For some reason, I was able to imagine that whole scene.

On topic: As long as Google can only monitor my online activities and personal records (like the hospital thing), I'm perfectly fine with that. I kinda saw the whole thing coming anyway. Besides, at least I'll know where to look for any information I lost if that happens. And we still have a choice whether to use their services or not. It's all good.