Google eq. Evil
2005/09/23 filed under /random_thoughtsBefore I have blogged about my bad feelings on Google and today, I feel the need to stress the point again. Google is Evil!
Of course I could just list all the complaints http://www.google-watch.org/ lists, but let's look what Google has done up till now in a bigger frame. It is however good to read about the infamous Google cookie.
The beginning
Google started nice. A website without bells and whistles and a heck of a good search engine. Wonderful. Nerds all over the world loved it and not too long after, the non-geeky people followed. Google grew to become a "verb".
USENET
So far so good. Then Google slowly started taking over tricks of yet another evil: Microsoft. The started to take over companies and care about shareholders. But, even worse, they started collecting. And what they couldn't collect anymore they bought.
Where are we now? Google knows:
- what you search for online
- what you post(ed) on USENET
News
Google News, yet another invention. By collecting news from various sources, you can quickly scan all the news you'd like to see. They even allow you to add alerts so you can get an email when breaking news comes in, matching your keywords.
Where are we now? Google knows:
- what you search for online
- what you post(ed) on USENET
- what news events you're interested in
Blog
In 2003, Google acquired Pyra Labs and became the home for Blogger. Like other Google services, they didn't really invent some complete new concept, they just offered a lot of megabytes for doing a something a lot of people already did: blogging. Most blogs are about personal events in people's life so:
Where are we now? Google knows:
- what you search for online
- what you post(ed) on USENET
- what news events you're interested in
- what happens in your life
In this year, Google also came up with the personalized search. A great way to know who even more about your personal preferences.
Gmail followed not long after. The motto was (and still is) "Don't throw anything away". It fits the Google collecting spirit perfectly.
Where are we now? Google knows:
- what you search for online
- what you post(ed) on USENET
- what news events you're interested in
- what happens in your life
- what you send and receive by e-mail
Pictures
Picasa, Inc was the next victim of Google's need to expand. Picasa would make it easier to share pictures (through hello.com).
Where are we now? Google knows:
- what you search for online
- what you post(ed) on USENET
- what news events you're interested in
- what happens in your life
- what you send and receive by e-mail
- what you take pictures of
Telephone
What other means do people use to communicate? Phones! And before you knew it Google SMS was launched.
Where are we now? Google knows:
- what you search for online
- what you post(ed) on USENET
- what news events you're interested in
- what happens in your life
- what you send and receive by e-mail
- what you take pictures of
- your phone number
Proxy
To know even more about your web-surfing behavior, Google offers Google Web Accelerator. It's mainly just a proxy.
Where are we now? Google knows:
- what you search for online
- what you post(ed) on USENET
- what news events you're interested in
- what happens in your life
- what you send and receive by e-mail
- what you take pictures of
- your phone number
- what websites you visit
Instant Messaging
But, what about the other popular method of communication, instant messaging? Sure: Google Talk. Many IM services exist already (Jabber, MSN, AIM, ICQ, Y!M), yet we seem to need just-another-Jabber-client.
Where are we now? Google knows:
- what you search for online
- what you post(ed) on USENET
- what news events you're interested in
- what happens in your life
- what you send and receive by e-mail
- what you take pictures of
- your phone number
- what websites you visit
- what you chat about and with whom
Wi-Fi
The latest plans as of yet are to provide the city of San Francisco with Wi-Fi. The whole city will have to become on big Google hotspot.
Where are we now? Google knows:
- what you search for online
- what you post(ed) on USENET
- what news events you're interested in
- what happens in your life
- what you send and receive by e-mail
- what you take pictures of
- your phone number
- what websites you visit
- what you chat about and with whom
- everything you do over unencrypted lines
Other services
There are other dubious Google services out there. Think about the Google Toolbar, the Google Deskbar, Froogle, Google Desktop Search, Google Ride Finder, and many, many more. It's just too much to comment on all of them, and you'll get the basic idea. They most likely all collect data.
Where does this go?
Why would Google want to capture everything the can about you? This world knows very few to no people who do things just out of being nice, so what is going on exactly? Who could benefit from all this information?
I am absolutely not saying this is true, but what comes to my mind is: governments, and spammers. Yes, very conspiracy theory'ish, but until I have seen a better explanation, I'll stick with this.
Regardless of who will benefit from all the information, do you really want anyone to know all of this about you?
Time to drop Google and look for alternatives. Clusty seems as a nice search engine alternative. Email shouldn't be a problem for anyone nowadays, but if it is, have a look at hushmail.com for free webmail with PGP encryption. Instead of Google Talk, you can just use any Jabber server out there. Need a blog? Try livejournal or install some software on your own webspace (most ISPs give you some for free).
The only thing we all are stuck with is groups.google.com. If Google was really about sharing information, they'd open up the old DejaNews archives for anyone to download. Until then, we have to get used to the new, crappy interface.
'Google is Evil' -rw-rw-rw- 1 satan demons 0 Jun 06 06:06 google
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