Google and the death of privacy

Posted by Jeremy L. Knauff

A lot has changed since Google first started gobbling up market share from some of the most established search engines. Today, the tables have turned and Google is the proverbial 800 pound gorilla, doing everything in their power to prevent erosion of their market share.

They do have a unique advantage, though; the massive amounts of data that they collect through the many services that they offer. And much to the dismay of privacy advocates everywhere, they are leveraging this more and more every day.

If you’ve ever used searched for something using Google, they have that search stored away in their massive data centers, along with a history of any sites that you visited as a result. Do you use their handy toolbar or browser? Did you know that allows them to monitor every single thing you do online? But that’s just scratching the surface though, because they are also collecting data from Gmail, Google analytics, Google Docs, and their new mobile phone and operating system, to name just a few.

Eric Schmidt recently told Maria Bartiromo during an interview that “Judgment is important…If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.” Ironically, this statement is coming from the CEO of a company shrouded in secrecy.

So while Google has been enjoying an increasing market share year after year, that may change before long. The early-adopters (people on the cutting edge of technology) who Google has always focused on, are rapidly changing their opinion of the search giant. More significant is the fact that long-time partners, such as Mozilla’s Asa Dotzler, are telling people to steer clear of Google. As Microsft’s Bing steadily gains market share and their partnership with Yahoo! gives them even more traction, they will become a greater threat to Google, forcing them to either change their practices or be knocked from their lofty throne.

If there is anything to be learned from Microsoft’s history, it’s that while people love to see a passionate company grow from a tiny start-up to become an industry leader, they are just as eager to watch them fall when they become greedy, hypocritical and arrogant. Time will tell whether Google payed attention in class.

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