Friday, February 26, 2010
By Max Votey
Opinion Editor
Google promises to herald in a new digital world. The specific future that Google wants to create, however, is perhaps less clear than a grand design for a brighter world.
Google claims to stand by its motto “don’t be evil,” but it is yet to be seen whether they will become the world’s benevolent overlord or a new-age big brother.
The recent withdrawal of Google from China after a cyber attack orchestrated by the Chinese government would seem to be a powerful protest against the lack of civil rights in China.
Yet, looking at Google’s history with the Chinese government, it appears that Google’s actions were focused solely on protecting its business rather than on championing individual rights.
Since the launch of Google China in 2005 until its departure this year, Google has willingly worked with the Chinese government to censor and block all information the Chinese government has deemed “inappropriate.” Despite continual international condemnation of China’s censorship of the internet, Google continued working with the government to ensure that it could continue its incredibly profitable business there.
Google has not only spied for governments abroad, but for the government here at home and even for private corporations.
The Google search engine contains “cookies” that exist on an individual’s computer for years after searches. They record and store data of Google users and store them, for periods of time that can last years.
Because of this, Google is now rated “hostile to privacy” by Privacy International, a internet privacy watchdog group. By keeping the data of all its users, Google could easily give government agencies private information. Already, several alleged claims that Google has already worked with the FBI and the NSA have surfaced.
The biggest threat to individual privacy is not that Google will work with the government, but that it may sell its users down the river to private organizations.
Google, if willling, could easily give private groups detailed histories of people’s lives with the amount of information it holds on its users.
If it chooses to do so, advertising agencies would target individuals more aggressively and accurately, insurance agencies could change premiums with previously undisclosed information, and people’s identities would become simple commodities to be bought and sold.
If Google actually upholds its motto, it never would have gone into China in the first place, and it would ensure that all user information is thoroughly destroyed in a fairly prompt manner. Google is not a digital messiah, but rather just another technologic Leviathan like Microsoft.
Because it looks out for itself and its investors, Google’s actions only further prove its self-interest. Google’s motto is hypocritical, and in the end it follows the motto of every self-interested group: “the ends justify the means.”
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