Photo Credit: Mobstr through fubiz.net
O Google, I’m so in awe.
O Google, I’m so in awe
That you have several copies of most content produced by Mankind (online, books and videos).
O Google, I’m so in awe
That, on that note, you’ve grown a video business partly on copyright infringement grounds (more here).
O Google, I’m so in awe
That you have managed to get hundreds of millions of people (me included) to entrust you with our email accounts and messages, hence giving you (and at least one government agency) access to many of our plans and confidences.
O Google, I’m so in awe
That in the meantime you block or filter so many companies’ emails while taking their money to promote them in the inbox through “Gmail Ads” (a trick worthy of Houdini)
O Google, I’m so in awe
That you’re able to freely track billions of people’s online behaviors on virtually any site on the web through Google Analytics codes, YouTube embeds, Adsense & Google Display Network banners, Chrome usage and… of course search queries and clics (OK, that one’s fair).
O Google, I’m so in awe
That you benefit from many companies consciously or unconsciously letting you collect and store their website data (including sales and turnover) through Google Analytics.
O Google, I’m so in awe
That you can convince thousands of companies to let you handle their emails, agendas and documents through Google Apps for Work, some of these companies being potential or actual competitors (the case of the Twitter breach comes to mind*).
O Google, I’m so in awe
That you could just “penalize” (screw?) comparison services when launching your own comparison engine. While again taking money from advertisers and not being transparent with your search engine users.
O Google, I’m so in awe
That you did all that while your corporate motto once was “don’t be evil”.
That you did all that and yet have evaded antitrust regulation for so long.
That even when the FTC started a probe, you managed to avoid the tiniest scratch.
So, yes Google, I’m so in awe.
Now, let’s see what happens next.
To discuss this, engage on twitter: @guillaumerigal
Further reading on the topic:
- EU Files Formal Antitrust Charges Against Google Regulators open separate probe related to Google’s Android operating system (The Wall Street Journal)
- EU alleges Google’s abuses hurt consumers, innovation (The AP through Yahoo)
- Internet monopolies. Everybody wants to rule the world (The Economist)
- Why Google Felt Lucky At FTC (Forbes)
- Key Senator to Take Closer Look at FTC-Google Meetings (The Wall Street Journal)
* Note on the Twitter breach. This happened in 2009. From Arrington’s post on TechCrunch:
It’s not our fault that Google has a ridiculously easy way to get access to accounts via their password recovery question. It’s not our fault that Twitter stored all of these documents and sensitive information in the cloud and had easy-to-guess passwords and recovery questions.
And hopefully this situation will encourage Google and Google users to consider more robust data security policies in the future.
From Twitter’s own response:
This attack had nothing to do with any vulnerability in Google Apps which we continue to use.
I say WOW.
