When it comes to google, there is nothing that they can do wrong. Gmail is my savior, from the labels to the labs everything makes my life easier. Google docs, google reader, chrome...I use and love it all. If I had the money I would get the google android and use it all the time.
It doesn't surprise me that such amazing services have come from a very relaxed environment. "Google's other founder, Sergey Brin, who was then twenty-nine years old, arrived late and roller bladed into the room." (Auletta 1) Google doesn't invade your computer to find out what you are doing, instead they just see what people on their site are doing and make it better. I love google image labeler...Google has made a game out of making their website more accessible.
The only thing that worries me about Google is the amount of information they save about a person. In a New York Times article this summer, Google's iPhone application was denied because apple wanted to know why google wanted to save all that information. Google does offer everything you need, and I enjoy all the free programs google provides me, but I have to wonder at what cost? In the article it mentions that "You become distant from the users. When you get bigger". (4) I think google (as much as I promise you I love it and use it daily) is far away from the ideals it was based on and isn't as focused on the user as they want to seem.
~Sheetal Kotha
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yes actually it's scary to know how much information that google could be getting about a person. let's face it, we are using gmail, browsing the net by chrome, reading books, and do all other things using google product. so yaah I think they could have a large amount of information about each user.
ReplyDeleteThe growing popularity of the Google's search engine and some other services the company provides has raised serious concerns. Sociologists consider the company as today's largest "detective" agency because it possesses the most powerful tools for collecting information about users. Even if this information is not used today, nobody knows what can happen with it in several years.
ReplyDeleteThe collection of information does seem to be what makes Google so wonderful and so terrible. Having searches and applications tailored to the user based on their personal information is a good thing but it has prompted a strong negative response from many would be users.
ReplyDeleteThe movement away from this has been strong enough that there are search engines out there (like Scroogle) that have been designed to strip the personal info out of what is otherwise a plain google search.
This personal information tracking, however, is PERFECT for advertisers. Companies who advertise on Google can specify exactly who they want their target to be and almost completely eliminate waste.
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