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Is Google getting too powerful?
It used to be Microsoft that some pointed to as dangerously powerful - having control of the personal computing market through their monopoly on operating systems. Now people are talking about Google's growing influence on the Web. Google is much more than a simple search engine. Through a number of acquisitions as well as significant internal growth, the company has become an integrated media empire. Check out this list of services.
There are many issues here all heightened by Google's central role and growing importance on the Web. Privacy, and Cultural Hegemony seem to be at the top of the list.
Privacy
Google has the means to know quite a bit about us. Some say, because their ultimate goal is to pursue profit they may have the inclination to use this information against us. Or they may turn it over to authoriities to use against us.
Is Gmail creepy?
Cultural Hegemony
"The risk, of a crushing American domination, of the idea of the world to be held by future generations...
For now, the news has attracted the attention of only librarians and computer scientists. But I would measure the significance of this in cultural terms, and so in political terms: this is enormous..."
-France's National Library president Jean-Noel Jeanneney
What do you think???
See also Google Watch, and Google Watch-Watch
Posted by Mark Hemphill on October 5, 2005 | Permalink
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Comments
I agree that Google is getting too powerful. But not quite sure whether it is a good or bad thing yet. They almost seem to be cornering the market in a subtle way. Most services that come from google you don't hear about, just the odd one that comes about that is doing something nothing else does. But as you can see on this site google has pretty much spent most of their time offering services that someone else has created and just puts google's name on it. After talking about it in class it makes even more sense when I think about it that one of the only things google has left to do is create an Operating System. Could it be on Google's agenda?
Posted by: Chad M. | Oct 9, 2005 6:51:01 PM
I kinda like how convenient Google is. Whatever it is you're looking for, you're bound to find it on google. However, I do wonder if it's getting too powerful?! I mean, it's a central site used by so many people, that can be quite powerful.
Posted by: Suzanne | Oct 10, 2005 2:45:19 PM
I don't know if I agree with google becoming too powerful. I use google all the time to search for things on the web. This is only because I can easily remember 'google'. I haven't been infected by the whole gmail thing but until google starts using my personal information or anything along those lines, I'm not personally affected.
Posted by: Liz | Oct 12, 2005 9:17:46 PM
