Musings from a Not-So-Master Teacher

           It began as a search engine in 1997.  As a small start-up company, google grew because of its accuracy in organizing websites using a complex algorithm.  There was a certain visual appeal to google – crips, clear, simple.  Making millions off of multiple small advertisements, google grew into a large multinational company within a decade. 

            Conspiracy theorists claim that google has a “master plan” of controlling the entire population and stripping away people’s privacy.  They suggest that google’s investment in bioscience will lead to the company’s ability to read people’s genetic code in order to customize their advertisements.  I’m not so sure that google is that malignant.

            What I am concerned about, though, is the centralization of information into google’s umbrella of subsidiary companies.  Google has the number one search engine, which is a powerful responsibility.  Yet, there are many smaller “googlewear” products.  For example, google owns the number one blogging company blogger.com or blogspot.com.  Google is now replacing mapquest as the number one navigational company and their satellite imagery software google earth has a certain apocalyptic feel to it.  Moreover, google’s g-mail allows people to use massive storage space in a simple, user-friendly interface.  One can access google documents, spreadsheets and calendars from any computer and can now synchronize multiple calendars from web events.  Google owns orkut, a myspace-like social networking site which has not been successful in the U.S., but is the top social networking site worldwide.  It’s huge in China and Brazil, for example.  Google has picture editing software as well as a “place” to store photographs.  Google books now allows people to access thousands of scanned books for a particular phrase or passage.  Google’s freeware branch helps develop free and open source software which, often times, they eventually buy out, remaining “free” to the consumer, but ad-based and online.  Recently, google bought out youtube, America’s number one video site. 

            I am concerned with this trend, because of google’s aim at “personalizing” advertising.  For example, google now has a record of every place that I search information, of every video I access on youtube, of every e-mail someone sends me on gmail, of the text of every google document I create.  If I use it, they can access my google calendar, check the directions to every place I visit, see who my “friends” are on orkut and check what books I read.  I doubt that they would ever want to know this information, but all of it is stored and organized in their database.  I’m not sure that losing my privacy is worth it. 

            My second concern is that google is creating a monopoly.  By owning so many companies in so many different categories, it begins to feel like a trust.  If a company wants to create a better documenting program, how will people find out?  Through blogs? Those are owned by google.  Through a search engine?  Google docs will still be number one.  Through posting it on youtube?  By writing a book about it?  See, the concern is that, in twenty years, that won’t be a possibility. I never realized this until I led a discussion about Carnegie and Rockefeller and a student asked me if Microsoft was a monopoly.  We discussed this for awhile and someone mentioned google.   

            Despite my concerns, I am conflicted.  I like using google search engine, documents, calendars, spreadsheets and blogging.  It’s nice to be able to work within the programs efficiently and seamlessly. I have considered allowing students to create a google account and use the document sharing and spreadsheet programs.  I am encouraged by the thought that these are free, yet I know that they aren't really free at all - that the cost is one's privacy.