Do You Trust Google?
I was visiting recently with a former colleague at Auburn University Libraries and when the discussion turned to my Google book, this person said something to the effect of, "So what about Google now? They want to take over the world, don't they?" I had a similar conversation with another person when the topic of Google's open source program came up. This other person floated the idea that Google's open source efforts are little more than a veiled recruiting effort. This seems to be a recurring theme for me lately, and since I spend a lot of timing working with Google APIs and code, working on my book, and thinking about Google generally, I wanted to get down some questions I had here.
Certainly, Google is growing rapidly these days, that's true. I'm also sure Google has hired open source developers it found through the Summer of Code or it's code hosting service. But is that cause for alarm? And do those two things alone offer enough now to make Google -- once the poster child for corporate good citizens -- the next great, greedy tech company?
In defense of my friends' comments, I don't think anyone really argues that Google is doing evil things with their power these days. But there does seem to be this growing concern, a concern that too much influence over our daily lives will ultimately lead a company to do bad things. So my question: is that true? Does power corrupt? Or can Google ultimately do good things with all it's services, acquisitions, growing user base, etc? When is too much finally too much? And is it Google we fear, or is this really just a fear of technology's encroachment on our lives?
My gut feeling is that even those of us who live on the Internet are getting a little scared of what all this tech might add up to one day. But I'd love to hear what someone else thinks about this.
Posted by deryck on November 27, 2007
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