Google TV Documentry On Air Last Night

Google Behind The Screen

[kidder]

Last night in Australia I saw an interesting TV documentry on Google, they went inside and spoke to some of the "Big Wigs" and asked them about issues such as future direction of Google and regulation of serach and the almost monopoly status that Google now has. It was interesting to hear them openly state on TV that part of the google search alog is based on inbound links, I wonder how much spam email that will trigger. Also to hear them say that they are still the very best in the world at search... Well I just sat there thinking about my supplimental pages and recent drop in traffic. Anyway it was interesting to hear a voice form Google for a change.

If your interested - "Google- Behind the Screen" This documentary provides an in-depth look into the world of Google and how it is achieving its goals. However, it also investigates whether Google is aware of the responsibility it has, being the guardian to the entire world’s information, including personal information about its users.

The program also visits the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, California and its London offices and Vint Cerf, named ‘the father’ of the Internet, explains the inner workings of Google as a company. Since 2004, Cerf has been working for Google, helping them to develop new applications for the Internet. This documentary reveals Cerf’s view on the development of the Internet and on the role Google plays in today’s world.

With its motto ‘Don't be evil’, Google seems to have the best intentions, but this program reveals that there are also claims that Google is slowly turning into Big Brother, keeping track of its users and continuously making decisions about the information it provides to an ever faster growing number of users.

The program poses the question: Will Google continue to serve as a middleman that brings all useful information to the people? Or will it turn into a monopolistic Big Brother that challenges the freedom of information?

Do a Google Search you should find some information on it if your interested.

[M3Guy]

>>>Also to hear them say that they are still the very best in the world at search...

Recorded prior to the recent algo edits then....

[peter andreas]

It was very interesting. Overall I have always been a fan of Google and do think they genuinely believe in the do no evil motto. However, I did find it slightly alarming when they were interviewing the guy about Google earth and the interviewer asked him about security implications and he acknowledged it was an issue but they seemed to be doing it because the technology allowed them to do it (and there is no denying it is incredible) and didn't seem to be thinking too much about the potential security implications.

[kidder]

Yes and you probably would not want Marissa Mayer up front answering tough questions either. She looked a little silly squirming around when pressed on a couple of key areas.

[google.com...] Does anyone know if any of these people are accessible to answer our calls? I know these guys are not big on webmaster PR but things are quite a mess right now.

[balam]

> Yes and you probably would not want Marissa Mayer up front answering tough questions either.

<Chuckle>

And why is that? Because she is so good at what I call Mayerisms. A couple of examples:

On the topic of the search default for IE7:

The market favors open choice for search, and companies should compete for users based on the quality of their search services.

On the topic of SE index size:

Mayer said that since apples-to-apples comparison are no longer possible [between Google's & Yahoo's index], Google decided to stop listing the size of its index and instead invite Web surfers to conduct the equivalent of a "taste test" to see which engine consistently delivers the most results, Mayer said.

<aside>"Mayer said <blah, blah, blah>, Mayer said." Hmm, excellent journalistic prose.</aside>

From food portions to government to the bedroom, bigger does not necessarily mean better - and has no correlation to quality - despite what Google may want you to believe.

[kidder]

Well I'm not about to conduct a witch hunt but it would be nice if there was a "go too" person to keep us posted when things go south. Google has huge influence and with that influence comes responsibility. They need a better PR machine, they don't do PR well as far as webmasters are concerned it would seem. They have over 6000 employees so you can imagine the finger pointing that goes on when someone is asked to step up and be held accountable...