Google

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Google is a company whose primary business is Internet-based services, including an extremely popular search engine. Google is associated with liberal causes and has been criticized for catering to communist China in censoring information from the people as requested by dictators:[1]

Reporters Without Borders joined others in asking how Google could stand up for US users' freedoms while controlling what Chinese users can search for. Its previous search engine for China's fast-growing market was subject to government blocks. The new site - Google.cn - censors itself to satisfy Beijing. While cooperating with China's government, Google refuses to fulfill requests by the U.S. Department of Justice. [2] Google counsel Nicole Wong said "..we intend to resist their motion vigorously."

Google has also been accused of delisting conservative news sites from its search engine. As one of many examples, "In February 2005, Michelle Malkin wrote of the difficulties she was having becoming part of Google News."[3]

In addition, although claiming to generally avoid getting involved in matters outside their field, Google officially supports the liberal and social libertarian cause of so-called "same sex marriage."[4] On June 21, 2009, Google displayed a special multicolored line for searches on the word "gay". More troubling, Google recently announced plans to compensate employees to cover taxes paid on their domestic partner's health benefits, but only offers its 'generosity' to homosexual couples.[5] Google is also big promoter of Charles Darwin and atheistic science, even to the point of giving special recognition to the anniversary of Darwin's birthday ("Darwin Day").

Major competitors of Google include Yahoo! and Microsoft's Bing.

Corporate Information

The CEO of Google since 2001 is Eric Schmidt. He has announced that he is stepping down as CEO in 2011. Google is headquartered in Mountain View, California. Google was founded on September 7th, 1998, by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Since then, it has grown to be the largest internet search engine in the world. According to Alexa Internet, over 25% of all Internet users visit Google monthly.[6]

Google also owns YouTube, the homemade video clip site. Viacom is suing YouTube, and thus Google, for a reported $1 billion, arguing that the economic model of YouTube is based on copyright infringement.[7]

After much debate about their corporate Code of Conduct, Google's founders settled on the all-encompassing "Don't be evil", saying,"It's built around the recognition that everything we do in connection with our work at Google will be, and should be, measured against the highest possible standards". [8] This Code of Conduct has generated much criticism, saying they have missed that mark badly.

History

Google's logo on Earth Day, April 22, 2007.

Founding

Google was originally a research project, started by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1996, when the two attended Stanford University. The two registered the domain name google.stanford.edu, and the small search engine went online for the first time.[9]

Growth

The year Google was created 1998, it had amassed 26 million unique URLs in their database. By 2000, Google had indexed more than 1 billion pages. As of July 2008, Google has indexed over 1 trillion pages. [10]

Competition

Microsoft has been aggressively competing with Google for a larger share of the search market. Their latest effort, Bing.com, is a "next generation" search service which has generated praise for its user interface and criticism for its speed and performance in comparison to Google and Yahoo.

Secular Progressive Culture

Google's West Coast headquarters hires a majority of left-leaning personalities, explicitly in executive decision-making.[11] Google supports causes that are a radical departure from traditional American views, such as their public support of a 'no' vote for California's Proposition 8, which defined marriage as being between a husband and wife. Also in a subtle way, they favor politically-correct global liberalism, championed by secular progressives. They select certain days of importance for tribute, some of which are controversial. As such, Merry Christmas is replaced by Happy Holidays. Even though, poll [12] after poll [13] after poll [14] shows the public prefers 'Merry Christmas'. The problem may be that Google doesn't respect traditional Christian holidays, in favor of a 'culturally-correct' approach. In addition, Google accepts the Theory of Evolution by Charles Darwin as fact, promotes Darwin on their homepage with a Google Doodle logo. [15]

Google often honors Russia with their logo of Sputnik and for composer Igor Stravinsky. Google based their Independence Day logo on ‘This Land Is Your Land’ as an ode to leftism. Woody Guthrie wrote the lyrics and also wrote for The Daily Worker, a Marxist newspaper. [16]

Google versus Conservatives

  • Many instances whereby information is comprised ideologically and displayed for the masses. Watchdog website NewsBusters.org published that Google had in fact labeled conservative American Spectator as "This site may harm your computer." [17]
  • Google continues to block pro-family website MassResistance. Some people complain his organization promotes hatred towards homosexuals. Google gives the standard legal trash as an excuse "'Users may not publish material that promotes hate towards groups based on race, ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, and sexual orientation/gender identity.'" MassResistance replies "Of course we are not promoting hate against anybody." [18]
  • Without any prior explanation or notice, Google had been terminating its News relationships with conservative e-zines and web journals. [20]
  • Curiously, leading up to Restoring Honor 8-28-10 -- on Google Maps -- the Lincoln Memorial was being misplaced in favor of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, which is a good half a mile south of the more famous memorial.[21] This may have been an ongoing, known problem or bug in Google Maps that hadn't been fixed yet; or, Google is censoring search results; or, Google is playing with searches for political power and gain.

Google versus Anti- Obama Blogs

The question immediately raised, "Did Google Silence Barack Obama critics?" It turns out, no they did not. A group of separate blogs were targeted by their spam filter as a result of manipulating the 'flag' feature. This caused a temporary blockage for five days. Sites affected were Hillary supporters and all anti-Obama. They include http://bluelyon.blogspot.com, http://comealongway.blogspot.com, http://hillaryorbust.blogspot.com and http://mccaindemocrats.blogspot.com and their main associate JustSayNoDeal.com [22]

Google sensitive to Islam

In 2010, it was noted that Google's suggestive searches for the world's various religions would bring up many negative results for Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism. Typing a search for "Christianity is..." the results would be "Christianity is a lie," or "Judaism is..." would be "Judaism is a cult." Google removed negative search suggestions when typing "Islam is..." [23], however it seems that Google has reverted this, as the current first suggestion when typing "islam is..." is "Islam is evil".

Google versus Vladmir Putin

On the day of Olympic Winter Games in Russia, Google created a homepage icon, that supports the homosexual agenda. It shows a rainbow-coloured group of athletes. The background is Putin's position on Homosexuality.[24]

Google bombing

Perhaps the most innovative contribution Google has made to internet searching is its PageRank algorithm. This system works by counting the number of sites that link to another site; the more links pointing to a page, the higher that page will be ranked. The engine also takes note of how often the page is updated. Due to this, Wikipedia is consistently ranked very highly by Google, due to its constant updating and heavy linkage. More recently, internet-savvy Googlers have discovered ways to game the system; creating massive numbers of pages with links pointing to one page to form what is known as a "Google Bomb". Some examples can be found below.[25]

  • "Miserable Failure": For nearly two years, typing "miserable failure" (or even just "miserable", or "failure") and then clicking "I'm Feeling Lucky" in the Google search engine would return the White House Biography of George W. Bush.[26] This was orchestrated by Democratic Party supporters in late 2003,[27] as part of the 2004 Presidential election. However, at times, Conservative supporters were able to shift the phrase to Jimmy Carter, Hillary Clinton and Michael Moore.
  • '"Great President": returns the White House Biography of George W. Bush.
  • "Jew": The first result used to be the home page for "Jew Watch", a racist, anti-Semitic hate group. As of September 2012, Jew Watch is the 4th result.
  • "Waffles": Also as part of the 2004 Presidential election, Conservative supporters managed to link the term "waffles" to the official website of John Kerry.
  • "French Military Victories": Hitting "I'm Feeling Lucky" for this term directs you to a fake Google page (in reality, it is an AlbinoBlackSheep.com page, styled to look exactly like a Google page, here) giving no matches, and asking if you meant "French military defeats?".
  • "Weapons of Mass Destruction" would bring up a similar page with the error message 'not found.'
  • "[Rick] Santorum": Homosexual activist Dan Savage created a website with an obscene definition for the word "santorum" because politician Rick Santorum opposes same-sex marriage. This page was number one on Google for several years when people searched for his last name (and at times, his full name as well). Once Santorum began to campaign for President, his campaign website eventually made it up to the top spot, but as of September 2012, the Wikipedia page about Savage's actions is currently the top result, followed by the Wikipedia page for Santorum. Savage's site has fallen to the third spot. Santorum's presidential campaign website has fallen to number four, since Santorum is no longer in the race.

On January 25, 2007, Google claimed to have modified their PageRank algorithm to lessen the likelihood of future Google bombs[28]

Controversy

Tax Dodging

A report by Bloomberg News has Google setting up offshore banks accounts to avoid paying taxes on foreign profits. More than $3.9 billion dollars have made it to Bermuda bank accounts over the last several years. Google has cut its effective tax rate abroad to just 2.4%. The practice is common and George Soros has been known to place his billions of dollars in Cayman Island banks. This costs the U.S. government more than $60 billion dollars in revenue. [29]

Privacy Concerns

Google has been criticized by privacy activists and others. Recently, Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said, "We cannot even answer the most basic questions because we don’t know enough about you. That is the most important aspect of Google’s expansion." [30] Google has attempted to "remedy" this situation by storing search information, in effect, keeping tabs on people for two years after they search. This has led Google critic Daniel Brandt to create "Scroogle.org", which runs Google searches that users conduct through his organization's personal servers to prevent Google from being able to connect any personal information to the searchers. [31]

Hypocrisy on Net neutrality

Neil Stevens of Redstate.com notes that Google says one thing and does another, tarnishing their reputation in the process. He lists where Google emphasizes support then does what they want in regards to shutting down access. [32]

Relationship with the Obama Administration

Consumer Watchdog crafted a 32-page report detailing how Google has inappropriately benefited from its close ties to the Obama Administration. NASA's Moffett Airfield has been turned into a taxpayer-subsidized private airport for Google executives used for corporate junkets. NASA's Moffett Airfield is a short distance from Google's world headquarters. The report details, "A growing fleet of jets and helicopters stand ready to ferry the company's top executives near or far, for business or pleasure, for vacations or schmoozing, including at least three wintertime trips to the Caribbean and a trip by Google chief executive Eric Schmidt to the Cannes Film Festival." [33]

International Agitation

Google's Map service is responsible for escalating tensions between foreign nations by radically misleading versions of current borders.

Google has been labeled "professionally irresponsible" for disseminated Cambodia territory, which is embroiled in a bitter diplomatic row with Thailand over the demarcation of the frontier. [34]

Costa Rica took offense to Google Maps version showing that a specific area of encampment was on Nicaraguan soil. The dispute that had ensued over Google's version of the Nicaragua-Costa Rica border has became rather serious. So much so that the secretary general of the Organization of American States had to intervene. [35] [36]

Google Maps was busy fixing another error in its map program of a port city that reignited border tensions between Germany and The Netherlands. [37]

Egyptian Uprising

Google executive Wael Ghonim helped with protesting Egypt's rule of Hosni Mubarak, calling for him to step down and organizing protests. He was detained by authorities and released after two weeks. Ghonim is credited as being a major factor in sparking Egypt's uprising. Google CEO Eric Schmidt said that Google is "very, very proud" of Wael Ghonim. [38]

Wi-Fi Snooping

Google collected information from Wi-Fi networks as its street-view vans cruised neighborhoods around the globe, raising issues in more than 30 countries. The information Google gathered included e-mail fragments and passwords, alarming politicians and privacy and security advocates in Germany, France, and Spain. [39] It was noted that Google supplies special mapping and search products to the U.S. military and intelligence community, with some Google employees enjoying top secret clearance to work with the government. Google said it was "accidental" data gathering. Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, a senior Republican lawmaker, suggested that Google's data collection wasn't accidental and that it was "something to look at." Under the Democrat leadership, the FCC investigated but dropped further inquiry coincidently, just before a Google Democrat fundraiser was held. Many groups have been calling on Republican Darrell Issa to investigate Google's cozy relationship with the Obama administration. [40]

  • France: Privacy watchdog CNIL awarded its largest fine to date with a judgement of $141,300 against Google in relation to snooping. [41]

See Also




Contrast with:


External Links

References

  1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4647398.stm
  2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4630694.stm , BBC Google defies US over search data, January 20, 2006
  3. http://newsbusters.org/node/5477
  4. http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/our-position-on-californias-no-on-8.html , Our position on California's No on 8 campaign
  5. http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/07/01/google-raises-eyebrows-new-gay-employee-benefit/
  6. Alexa Traffic Results for Google
  7. Viacom will sue YouTube for $1bn
  8. Google Code of Conduct
  9. Corporate Information:Google Milestones
  10. Google reveals scope of Web-crawling task CNET News, July 25, 2008
  11. See [1] for a list of board members and senior staff.
  12. Wish Me A Merry Christmas Campaign Crusades to Change Retail Culture PRWeb, November 26, 2008
  13. 68% Prefer “Merry Christmas” to “Happy Holidays” Rasmussen, November 27, 2008
  14. Poll: More Americans prefer 'Merry Christmas' greeting CNN, December 20, 2005
  15. [Scientists unveil fossil of Darwinius masillae]
  16. Google Chooses Communist-Oriented ‘This Land Is Your Land’ July 4th Theme, Breitbart.com, July 4, 2012
  17. Google Claims Conservative Website ‘May Harm Your Computer’ December 28,2007
  18. Accusation: Google targets, blocks pro-family website again OneNewsNow.com, July 15,2009
  19. YouTube Bans Student Group's Video Showing Abuse at Planned Parenthood Christian News Wire, July 21, 2009
  20. Is Google Purging Conservative News Sites? NewsBusters, May 22, 2006
  21. Sarah Jacobsson Purewal. Google Maps Misplaces Lincoln Memorial, PC World, Aug 28, 2010.
  22. Google and the Anti-Obama Bloggers NYTimes June 30, 2008
  23. Google Blocking Negative Search Recommendations On Islam – Why?, The Next Web, May 1, 2010
  24. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26080047
  25. Dropping 'Google-bombs'
  26. 'Miserable failure' links to Bush
  27. In October, Johnson, a Democrat, added the phrase "miserable failure" to his Web site, Old Fashioned Patriot. He then linked the site to the online White House biography of President Bush and asked others to follow his lead
  28. Bush no longer "miserable failure": Google tackles googlebombs
  29. After news of Google tax dodges, Obama raises money with Google execs, Washington Examiner, October 22, 2010
  30. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/c3e49548-088e-11dc-b11e-000b5df10621,dwp_uuid=e8477cc4-c820-11db-b0dc-000b5df10621.html
  31. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55935
  32. Google undermines the Internet, RedState.com, August 23, 2009
  33. Consumer Watchdog Sends Issa's Oversight Committee Google Report Showing Inappropriate Relationship with Obama Administration, RedOrbit.com, January 24, 2011
  34. Cambodia blasts Google map of disputed Thai border, Reuters, February 5, 2010
  35. [http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20021977-71.html Envoy to solve latest Google Maps border dispute? CNET, November 5, 2010
  36. GOOGLE MAPS BLAMED for BORDER DISPUTE, Spectre Footnotes, November 11, 2010
  37. Google Maps Blunder Reignites Centuries Old Border Dispute, Fox News, February 21, 2011
  38. Google CEO Eric Schmidt says company is 'very proud' of Egypt's Wael Ghonim, LA Times, February 15, 2011
  39. Is National Security Behind Google's Wi-Fi Spying?, Fox News, July 23, 2010
  40. Congress Must Investigate Google-Obama Ties, National Legal and Policy Center, November 10, 2010
  41. France fines Google for Street View privacy breach, Forbes, March 21, 2011
  42. "Help make mass surveillance of entire populations uneconomical! We all have an unalienable right to privacy, which you can exercise today by encrypting your communications and ending your reliance on proprietary products and services."