Google (company)
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Google Inc. is an internet search engine company that was co-founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. It is currently one of the most popular search engines on the internet. Among the services offered by Google are Google Mail, Google Video, and Google Maps. Google Inc. is also the owner of several other websites and companies, for example Blogger, YouTube, and DoubleClick. The history of Google has been detailed.[1]
Criticism
Google's unofficial motto is "Don't be evil"[2], which is contradicted by the facts listed below.
- Google has agreed to censor results for queries made from China. Google has decided to do so to stop China from hindering Chinese user searches (blocking Google or substantially slowing down the result display). Google has agreed to block content that the Chinese government deems unacceptable, which displeased Reporters Without Borders[3]. This story happened after Google refused to help the U.S. Department of Justice with its efforts to fight against child pornography and started to be seen as a privacy proponent for this reason[4]. Sergey Brin admitted that by censoring results he compromised Google's mantra (Don't be evil)[5].
- Google Reader now automatically allows any contacts you have at in your Gmail account see to what feeds you are subscribed. Now, if somebody write to somebody else once, both can see all the other's feeds from their Google Reader account[6].
- Google cookies are criticized by the World Privacy Forum and others. They to expire automatically after two years, but Google has become so prevalent that this basically mean that the cookies will not be erased unless you don't visit any Google sites for two years. Those cookies contain unique IDs that make it possible to create a dossier about a specific user (for advertisement, for instance). It is possible to delete the cookies by oneself (and even block them entirely), but many users are not even aware of the existence of cookies[7].
References
- ↑ John Battelle. The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture. Portfolio Trade. ISBN 1-59184-141-0.
- ↑ San Francisco Chronicle, "Don't be Google", Debra J. Saunders, January 26, 2006.
- ↑ Fox News.com, "China's Google Search Engine to Be Censored", [Associated Press], January 25, 2006.
- ↑ San Francisco Chronicle, "Don't be Google", Debra J. Saunders, January 26, 2006.
- ↑ Cnet Asia, "Google... 'Don't be evil'", Jeff Ooi, June 12, 2006.
- ↑ Profy, "Don't Be... What Was That Again? We Seem to Have Forgotten", Cyndy Aleo-Carreira, December 27th, 2007.
- ↑ USA Today, "Google's cookie policy good for privacy?", Anick Jesdanun, July 19, 2007.