Don't Be Evil

(This is not a tirade against Google, nor is it a paranoid Unabomber-esque treatise against technology. Just some thoughts. Also, yes, I know, much of this is not an original idea; I've read 1984 and The Minority Report as well. :P)

A nice sentiment indeed, and it's a great PR bite. But is it really Google's philosophy? How can we be sure? Google is worth a hell of a lot of money. Now that it's publicly traded, there is the expectation of stockholders that it continue to make more and more money. Raking in money and not being evil often seem like incompatible goals; will those at the helm be able to resist the greed and corruption made so tempting by wealth and power? Will they bend their definition of "evil" to justify questionable deeds or remain relevant?

These are serious questions, because Google has amassed a huge amount of power and influence in its short life. www.google.com is the home page for an awful lot of people, myself included. Google software is becoming ubiquitous, to the point where people type in www.google.com to make sure they have an internet connection. "Google" is a colloquially accepted English verb. Consider also Google Maps. Google News. Google Desktop.

Google Earth.

Power indeed. History has warned us time and again to be wary of placing too much trust, too much authority in any one entity. Google's server farms are some of the most concentrated stores of processing power in the world. Search is an incredibly useful application of that power, and it has undoubtedly sparked a radical shift in the way we remember and recall information. But many of us tend to limit our conception of search technology to civilian and scientific use. With more and more personal data being digitized and stored on networks, could such technology be put to more nefarious ends?

Imagine an instantly-searchable database of personal dossiers on each of a country's citizens: Who they are, where they live, bank accounts, jobs, hobbies. Search by the name of a "person of interest." Search for keywords in the annotations on a citizen's file (collaboratively edited by law enforcement officials using Google Docs, perhaps?). Find all men aged 18-40 of racial minority with prior convictions for assault in Los Angeles County. Compile a list of citizens with a history of political activism known to reside near the planned site for a leader's public address.

Sure, money talks, but information is the real gold in future economies. If Google were to travel the truly evil path, it may have the best chance of any corporation at not just manipulating a government, but becoming one. Forget the police state. Prepare for the Google state.