Serious question: Is Google a US govt entity?Follow

I have been watching the Muzzie unrest across the Middle East and Iran with interest since it began in Tunisia last month and a common thread appears to Google's participation as a vehicle or vector in those events. There have been a number of other incidents or circumstances of late which seem to tie Google to the government as a direct or indirect agent for the furtherment of its' goals or policies.

At the risk of sounding tin foil hatted, it would be an extremely efficient and effective method for monitoring individuals' and group's electronic conversations, communications, and data storage. I daresay that avoiding Google is nigh to impossible now barring a complete disconnect from the internet.

Has this occured to anyone else as of late?

Totem

No it's not. I really doubt that the Goverment has any control over it.
Pulled from Wikipedia:

Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program. The company was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, often dubbed the "Google Guys", while the two were attending Stanford University as Ph.D. candidates. It was first incorporated as a privately held company on September 4, 1998, and its initial public offering followed on August 19, 2004. At that time Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt agreed to work together at Google for twenty years, until the year 2024. The company's stated mission from the outset was "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful", and the company's unofficial slogan – coined by Google engineer Paul Buchheit – is "Don't be evil". In 2006, the company moved to their current headquarters in Mountain View, California.

Google runs over one million servers in data centers around the world,and processes over one billion search requests and about twenty-four petabytes of user-generated data every day. Google's rapid growth since its incorporation has triggered a chain of products, acquisitions, and partnerships beyond the company's core web search engine. The company offers online productivity software, such as its Gmail email software, and social networking tools, including Orkut and, more recently, Google Buzz. Google's products extend to the desktop as well, with applications such as the web browser Google Chrome, the Picasa photo organization and editing software, and the Google Talk instant messaging application. Notably, Google leads the development of the Android mobile phone operating system, used on a number of phones such as the Nexus One and Motorola Droid. Alexa lists the main U.S.-focused google.com site as the Internet's most visited website, and numerous international Google sites (google.co.in, google.co.uk etc.) are in the top hundred, as are several other Google-owned sites such as YouTube, Blogger, and Orkut. Google is also BrandZ's most powerful brand in the world. The dominant market position of Google's services has led to criticism of the company over issues including privacy, copyright, and censorship.

It could be the proto-Skynet too. Just sayin.

Totem

I knew a girl at Cisco once that was very fun to put fingers in.

I mean point a finger at.

Such as?

I thought all the unrest in the ME was fueled by Twitter and Facebook, not Google.

I find it interesting that people assign human wants to what would be a machine intelligence. Why, for example, would a true AI have any interest whatsoever in taking over the world.

A lesser AI than Watson would assume you were talking about a baby bird.

...maybe you are??

I'm too lazy to ummm, Google the various connections and circumstances surrounding a hand-in-glove relationship between them, but just for quick anecdotal evidence, the head Google dude in Egypt was instrumental in fomenting unrest. There have been other stories of Google collecting information about individuals and groups which, if shared, would give the recipient of such information a great deal of leverage or advantage over them.

More interestingly-- at least in terms of the "meh" reaction I am seeing here --is why many of you are rather blase about a private company collecting such information about you and yet are very uncomfortable about government doing so.

While I obviously have no direct evidence of it, I would find it quite remarkable that our government would not utilize the capabilities of companies like Google in some fashion or form. The clear advantage of doing so is far too enticing for an entity whose unstated goal is complete and unfettered power.

Totem

Yahoo?

Psh...





Altavista.