Google vs. Evil

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.01/google.html' target='_blank'>http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/....01/google.html</a><br /><br /></div>"The world's biggest, best-loved search engine owes its success to supreme technology and a simple rule: Don't be evil. Now the geek icon is finding that moral compromise is just the cost of doing big business."<br /><br />This is the kind of story that has made Wired such a great magazine - this article about Google was a real eye-opener for me...who knew running the biggest search engine in the world was such a political business? Read the article - it's superb!

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Great story... I never noticed myself how Google runs without pop-up ads and the such. Having read that, I certainly appreciate their approach. I particularly found interesting how they had to deal with the "Church" of Scientology regarding an anti-Scientology site.

Funny how Google really came out of nowhere and became the world's premiere Internet search tool. Seems like yesterday when I was working at Geocities and we were relying on Yahoo, AltaVista, and HotBot.

[Jimmy Dodd]

A really good story - Wired often has well written, in depth stories that you won't see anywhere else.

Of particular interest was the fact that Google can be such an easy target for lawsuits. I can't see them surviving long after an IPO however. The public ownership would cause a great deal of mystery to be revealed about how they rank sites which would allow them to be "played," as pointed out in the article. Hopefully, they will continue as is for some time.

[Kati Compton]

I'm surprised they gave in about the Scientology issue.

[Janak Parekh]

I'm surprised they gave in about the Scientology issue.
Well, that's the thing. They did, and yet they didn't. If you do a search for Scientology now, xenu.net is the 2nd link.

--janak

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

I'm surprised they gave in about the Scientology issue.
Well, that's the thing. They did, and yet they didn't. If you do a search for Scientology now, xenu.net is the 2nd link.
Hey, that's funny. You're right, xenu.net is right there in the 2nd and 3rd positions under Scientology. Makes me wonder exactly what concession Google gave up. I wasn't surprised to read that they gave way to the Scientologists... those guys have quite a legal team...

[st63z]

I'm also tickled about that Chilling Effects type concession work-around, that would add only like one extra clicking for the users but would legally protect them?

Is is because that was so effective that this church backed off and let Google reinstate things like they were?

[nz0eBoy]

A very interesting read indeed. I Google exclusively, they do a great job, but I didn't realise there was so much money to be had from something like this. From reading the article it sounds like going Public might be a bad idea - what plans do they have that they would need extra capital for?

On a related note, I see Jason has a new 'thoughts' website - maybe he is trying to achieve in the 'thoughts' area what Google has done with searching. More power to him, I envy him for having the balls to try and make a living from something like this.

[Sunnyone]

Just for grins I read a bit of the Xenu site. Pretty incredible. Wonder if it's really true!

[Janak Parekh]

Just for grins I read a bit of the Xenu site. Pretty incredible. Wonder if it's really true!
If it wasn't, Scientology wouldn't be suing them for copyright infringement, they'd be suing them for libel.

It's a pretty heart-wrenching read if you go fairly deep into the site.

--janak

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Just for grins I read a bit of the Xenu site. Pretty incredible. Wonder if it's really true!
I remember reading a Time article way back in the 90s about Scientology and it was a big eye-opener. The xenu.net site actually has a link to the article itself. Even the TIME author had some disturbing brushes against the scientologists as he was researching the story.

[Anthony Caruana]

There's no doubt about it, Google is the Search Engine of the moment. However, what that article tells us is that Google is walking a very precarious path. Just like beauty, evil is in the eye of the beholder. The definition of evil, from the Google point of view, may not neccesarily be the same as that of someone else.

However, that said, they have managed thus far to stay in business in some tough circumstances (China, Scientologists).

I have never really thought about how a search engine can manipulate the truth through the results ranking. Hmmm....

[Anthony Caruana]

Just for kicks i just did a Google search for Pocket PC Evil. Guess who ranked top?

LMAO

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Just for kicks i just did a Google search for Pocket PC Evil. Guess who ranked top?

LMAO
That is funny. I guess this site has used the word "Evil" a few too many times.