The downfall of Google
Google is riding high. Its stock price soars. It releases new products, tosses out press releases, basks in the warm light of praise from bamboozled techies Web-wide.
But Google’s fall is coming. Google will be slain, and it will be slain by the law.
A few scant years ago, in Microsoft’s heyday, most folks couldn’t imagine Bill Gates’ failure. They looked at the market share, looked at the lock-in, and saw a no-brainer grand slam. Like Barry Bonds against a Little League pitcher. But then the long arm of the law—criminal law—stepped in and brought down the antitrust hammer. Today, Microsoft is not so feared. Still strong, of course, but not a unconquerable monolith.
And today, Google is the tech darling. Has been for years. What could bring them down? They’ve got money, LOTS of money. They’re bringing out products, LOTS of new products. They seem to have their tentacles in every little niche of online stuff these days. What’s gonna bring them down?
In a word, the law. But not criminal law. It will be civil law that does in Google.
I am not a conspiracy theorist. I challenge you to look back through the 4+ years of this blog and find any kind of paranoid ranting that would indicate as much. I’m an anti-conspiracy theorist. But this I believe with 100% of my being: Google is the single biggest privacy invader of our time. Bigger than the government, bigger than any media company. And Google is a secret empire. They love secrecy. They love to sign e-mails “The Google Team.” The supposed Google enginneer who posts on WMW is known only as “GoogleGuy.” Google is nothing if not an all-consuming, individuality-stripping BRAND.
Go interview for a job tomorrow at Google. Do it. If you get very far, you’re going to be confronted with the nastiest fucking NDA you’ve ever seen. It’d make George Orwell proud.
Why the secrecy? Because Google got to be that rich, that successful, because of INFORMATION. Google is an information BLACK HOLE. They are the best at processing and using it. Every new product comes with a caveat: use the “advanced features” of this Google tool, and they’ll collect information about you. They’ll spy on you. They’ll build you into the system.
And now, to close the loop. Google is an American company, just run by another bunch of schmoes. Despite having the starry-eyed dropout Slashdot crowd totally enamored, Google’s just a bunch of people. (Hate to break it to ya, guys.) And I’m waiting for the fuck-up. I’m waiting for the disgruntled employee, the Richard Clarke, the one who exposes the true depth of what Google does with our information. It’s going to a class action lawsuit, the scale of which you ain’t never seen before, baby. You slip up, Google, and you’re toast. You fuck up with privacy controls, and you match that with a disgruntled employee…hoooooolllllllllld on, Google stockholders! Or, probably more likely, the info gets leaked to the press first, THEN the tort lawyers come a-callin’. Either way, they’re screwed.
I’m dead serious. It’s a huge company, and it hasn’t gotten sued for real yet. Time to break your legal cherry, google.com. It’s not gonna be a pleasant experience!
December 27th, 2005 at 9:51 am
I think Google collects more personal information about you than any media company or the government. I don’t believe collecting is by definition invasive. Someone tapping your phone is invasive. A call center recording your phone call for “quality assurance purposes” is not. Hang up when you hear the message. The obvious/cliche response: uninstall Google toolbar/desktop/earth/wtf.
I’m also anti-conspiracy. I think RFID is a neat idea with a lot of potential uses (we have one in the dog). This is easy for me to say since I’m not doing anything illegal (and would like my dog returned to me when picked up by animal control).
I’m not sure I understand what the inherent harm in collecting information is.
Sure, you will probably have a defection that gives a tell-all interview. At worst you have a PR problem. Most likely you have a bitter employee that will do no more than galvanize the people who agreed with her already (i.e., Richard Clarke).
December 27th, 2005 at 2:38 pm
That Google collects your personal info with your consent is an important one. For example, I would NEVER (ack!) use Web Accelerator (the idea seems retarded anyhow).
But despite that fact, and despite the fact that everyone is “responsible” for the info they send to Google (perhaps even in a very technical, legalistic, EULA sense, I still think Google is on the brink of falling from grace. They’ve been given a free pass by the tech community—and therefore by the press and by the non-technical community, and why? Because they’re good at using your private information (to which you technically consented).
So, to summarize this long-winded comment: no, they may not be in TRUE legal error with what they’re doing, but I see a TRUE PR problem ahead for them. And PR’s been fueling their success (think of how many non-investors bought stock in their IPO, e.g.). For an example of a “PR” problem that hasn’t really panned out to be a LEGAL problem, just look at the Valerie Plame case…!
December 28th, 2005 at 11:49 pm
Amen. Google is spreading itself too thin and a seam will crack eventually. I’ve been bitter with them ever since I was stuck in the Google Sandbox and I’ve never really let them off the hook. They dominate the search engine market and comprise more than 85% of all the searches that hit my site. That kind of lopsided lack of competition is un-American. I’ll feel better when someone can successfully chip away at the Google internet hegemony. (I wonder if this post with lower your Page Rank?)
I forsee several more years before we detect any sort of wobble in Google’s course. It looks like Google and “HoldCo” ;) is going to butt heads with Microsoft (finally some real competition), which is why I think the tech community will be reluctant to turn on them anytime soon. However, if there is a wobble it will likely be with the privacy issue.
Lastly, is this an about-face for you? Didn’t you tell me that you weren’t really troubled by the domestic spying story?
December 29th, 2005 at 12:24 am
Evan,
You’re right: I’m pretty inconsistent on the privacy stuff. I am somewhere in the murky, gray waters between the EFF and the Pentagon. I don’t like the fact that I don’t have a strong, clearly stated position … but well, that’s life.
I guess when it comes right down to it, any big organization — whether it’s a big company (Google) or the government (CIA, NSA, etc.) — is going to bungle the handling of private, personal info, usually through ineptitude rather than true malice. Bungling is pretty much a fact of life when it comes to government, so if we’re entrusting our safety to the government, we’re also asking them to bungle things up a certain amount, too.
I’m hoping we’re not formally entrusting anything to Google (well, beyond EULAs), so I’m really trying to keep the ramifications of their bungling to a minimum.
January 12th, 2006 at 4:57 am
2006 will be a key year for Google. If you look around you can see mainstream media starting to question their business model with repetitive questions arising about PPC click fraud.
ZDnet UK actually just posted about Google Pack and how useless it is. Why would Google want to package up these programs and? Probably because it will help them gather information.
The light at the end of my tunnel is Yahoo / MSN. Although Yahoo results can be crappy at times (oh, and MSN’s too), they are better targetted traffic than Google by far. AND when Microsoft release Vista with desktop search defaulting to MSN, those who are already ranking high in MSN Search will see a nice pickup in traffic / revenue.
January 12th, 2006 at 7:41 am
I have a much easier time targeting for Yahoo and MSN, too, so that’s welcome news for me. Still, I’m not sure that I see Google’s growth checked until they take a serious PR hit, rather than a technological hit.
March 1st, 2007 at 9:51 am
Yes indeed, Google will go down like David slaying Goliath.
February 9th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
I am drooling at the thought of these criminals going down. They have screwed around with people for too long and it is going to be a joy to watch them crumble to the ground in a pile of cyber dust. Let’s make sure the world knows their names. They scammed me and many others with their AdSense BS. They have messed up every account I have ever had with them. They’ve destroyed Youtube.
Good riddance Google douchebags!