I recently read a rumor that Google is attempting to track people and link all their search queries along with other information, which they supposedly retain forever (or at least until some time in the future). The site http://www.google-watch.org/gcook.html) has many different thoughts about Google and their practices along with other entities. While I do not agree with the notion implied that the Internet was degraded by commercialism (as I see it, the commercialism of the Internet is what pays for interesting things to be online), I am concerned about the possible Google tracking, if it is true.
Google is unlike other large companies such as Microsoft, Sun, Oracle, etc, in that they have a public image as being one of the good guys, looking out for the public's best interests and not just another large corporation trying to suck every dollar they can to give to stock holders. Many people I know have blindly taken anything Google has to offer without even thinking about it, if it is from Google, it must be good. This to me is scary, people need to remember that Google exists to make money and that is the bottom line.
Many years ago, Google started out as a simple search engine. While all the major search engines, at that time, had very little space on their pages not covered with graphic advertisements, Google did not have any. Maybe this is where the perception of Google as the Good Guys began. Of course, most people did not know that Google made its income from providing the search results for other search engines such as Yahoo. They had plenty coming in from that and did not need other revenue.
Google was not content however, they started placing text advertisements on their site and began generating revenue directly. The advertisements targeted based on the keywords the user used in the query. This may have also added to the Good Guy image as they provided advertising that sometimes fit what people were searching to find.
Google still desired to grow bigger, needed more content to place expose more advertisements, so they purchased the DejaNews archive of the UseNet groups. Their first step was to completely destroy the current DejaNews user interface that worked so well and replaced it with one that showed the results much more like the results of a web search. Okay, so I hated the change but so did many others.
Now Google had more content and more paid advertisements. How could they get even more content and get more advertisements to make even more money? They started AdSense, which allowed web owners to place code on their sites that Google would use to display their advertisements. In just a short time, it appears a large number of web sites use Google AdSense. This was another market crusher for all those affiliate programs that many web site owners depended on for advertisements.
Not long ago, Google began to provide applications. Their first major application is the Google desktop search program. It will allow you to search your own files or those on the Internet. Many people blindly downloaded and installed this application within minutes of release. Since then there have been two security alerts, one of which could allow hackers to take control of your files.
Google also released GMail to provide even more content to serve advertisements based on keywords in your email. Again, millions of people jumped in the water and ignored possible privacy problems with Google scanning every one of your email messages to serve up advertisements. Recently, a security issue appeared that would have allowed hackers into your email.
Currently, Google is working out deals to scan entire print libraries to provide even more content to serve up even more advertisements. Why in the world would Google need even more revenue? It is a corporation and will always want more!
While many can overlook these issues, what happens if it is true that Google is building a form of profile on people and keeping every search term you use? Ten years from now, there would be a list of every search you ever made.
It always gets me on alert when a company becomes as big as Google and they (a profit-oriented business) have so much power in their hands. All Google has to do is blacklist a site and their traffic will probably drop by 90%. Think about legal matters and how possibly, the government would request and obtain every search term you ever queried or more information…
Just keep your eyes open and realize that Google is like other large corporation, they will do what is profitable for them to do!