<IT WORLD> The Googlenet has you
By Martin J Young
HUA HIN, Thailand - Search giant Google continues to expand its monopoly on
data control by introducing more new services. Real Time Search, announced this
week, merges frequently updated content from social networking websites such as
Twitter, Facebook and MySpace with Google's traditional search results pages.
Those searching for information on events unfolding quickly such as sporting
events or natural disasters can scan through messages posted in the last few
minutes. Google touts it as the way forward in search technology which will
"bring search results to life".
The success of such a service will depend on the relevance of the results; a
large percentage of user comments posted on forums, blogs and social networking
sites are pure dross, so it will be down to Google to sort the wheat from the
chaff. For an instant insight into what is possible, type in "tiger woods" as a
standard Google search. The use of slang and colloquialisms could further
pollute the results unless Google can efficiently filter the relevant
information.
The company will also need to develop a system to rank bloggers and tweeters in
terms of perceived importance, as it does with web pages using its PageRank
system. This has already been abused by link spammers who consistently fool the
search company and get their websites into top positions. The next Internet
scourge then is likely to be tweet-spam as people attempt to beat the Google
algorithm to get their name at the top.
Similar partnerships have been made by Microsoft and Yahoo with social sites
such as Twitter to enable them also to provide live search results on their
respective search engines. It seems that searching for good old traditional
information websites could soon be replaced by lists of tweets and blog posts
from the millions of wannabe couch commentators and journalists who are taking
the web by storm.
Not content with launching just one service this week, Google announced an
experimental search-by-sight feature for mobile users, called Google Goggles.
Android users will be able to take a photo of an object and get instant
information on it via Google search.
Company vice president of engineering, Vic Gundotra, stated "It is our goal to
be able to identify any image. It represents our earliest efforts in the field
of computer vision. You can take a picture of an item, use that picture of
whatever you take as the query."
The technology is still in its beta testing phase and available only to mobile
phones running Android. The company does plan to make the service available to
other platforms such as Blackberry and iPhone at a later date.
The Goggles database has billions of images for reference but it at present
only works with inanimate objects, such as landmarks, books, album covers and
art work. The future of the technology will be interesting as the search giant
plans to expand their image libraries to include cars, food, plants and animals
for instant recognition via Google search.
The implications are quite worrisome as the technology is already capable of
facial recognition even though Google insists that it will not be implemented.
Imagine the power the company will have if it combines its satellite and Street
View imagery with its maps and GPS technology - and then allow people to go
around snapping strangers and getting information on them from Google servers.
It all sounds rather Orwellian, but the truth is that Google is slowly killing
any form of privacy people have on the Internet. The US-based company may claim
that the technology is optional for personal use but that doesn't stop Google
doing what it likes with its ever-expanding archives of human electronic data
behind closed doors.
Chrome OS, the operating system based on Google's web browser, has been making
ripples in tech circles following a demonstration of the software by
Google last month.
In an effort to quash its adversaries at Microsoft, Google has launched its own
lightweight operating system which will not run on your computer in the
traditional sense, but over the Internet on Google's servers. Users of Chrome
OS will also run programs and store all of their documents and data in the
cloud on Google computers. So essentially users can't work off-line and must
rely on Google for all of their computing, security and management of their
personal data.
The Chrome browser that forms the platform and interface of the new operating
system was launched for Mac and Linux platforms this week also.
Chrome OS may be a useful alternative to Microsoft's dominant Windows platform,
which seems to be the target of every hacker and scammer on the planet, but how
many users would really be comfortable using Google Docs to give all of their
personal documents and files to a company that derives 97% of its revenue from
advertising.
A DNS resolving service was also recently announced by the search goliath in
its efforts to expand its grasp on the Internet. The domain name system (DNS)
is used to translate Internet addresses (IP) into names when the user types in
a URL. The request is usually handled by local Internet service providers
(ISPs), which occasionally can be unreliable, especially in countries with
little investment in communications infrastructure, many of which are in Asia.
Google wants to offer its own DNS services, which it claims will be faster and
more secure; companies such as OpenDNS already offer similar services. This
appears on the surface to be another attempt by Google to track what people are
looking at, though the company did state that it would not be running display
ads to users of the service at the present time.
Millions love Google and see it as the benevolent uncle of the Internet because
it gives stuff away for no cost, and "free" is becoming an increasingly popular
word in today's tough times. The danger, however, lies beneath the surface of
the digital pond as there will soon be a time, if it hasn't already happened,
that Google will have access to more information on the global population and
be more influential than the major governments of the world.
In addition to this premise are the billions of dollars the company already
makes from a fraction of this information. The scenario would result in an
extremely powerful and almost unstoppable entity controlling the Internet and
planetary information flow. Wake up Neo, the Googlenet has you ...
Martin J Young is an Asia Times Online correspondent based in Thailand.
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