Google's flare for serving up fast, relevant results to search queries has thrust it into the spotlight with Web surfers, Internet partners and investors awaiting its initial public offering. In an illustration of Google's power, the company was recently named brand of the year, beating out household names like Apple and Coke -- all without having ever advertised its service. Increasingly, however, some people see a dark side to its fame. Stephen Keating, managing director of the Privacy Foundation, a non-profit research organisation, says that aside from concerns specific to the company, Google provides a sobering example of the changing nature of how we access information. With court documents newly available online, for example, searchable databases like Google can reveal in-depth information on people. "It's such a powerful search tool, it's hard to state what privacy on the Internet means anymore," said Keating. "It's like pulling a thread on a sweater: You can unravel all this information." Others worry the company could pose a more calculated danger. Google's worldwide popularity has already led many who oversee Web sites to worry, given that they're beholden to Google's editorial search results for much of their Internet traffic. This relationship has led to one pending lawsuit over Google's search algorithms. In addition, questions have been raised about Google's data-collection practices, which some critics say may pose a privacy threat. With Google's latest move to sell links on non-search related Web pages of Blogger and of partner sites, the company is looking more like an advertising network such as 24/7 Media and one-time ad seller DoubleClick. These companies have long sought to use tracking technology such as cookies to monitor Web surfers and send them ads relevant to their interests. But their practices are carefully watched. DoubleClick, once the largest ad network of the dot-com heyday, came under heated scrutiny because of its ability to track Web surfers wherever they went online, in order to serve them targeted ads. The company faced a maelstrom of privacy complaints that were kicked off after it bought offline direct marketer Abacus and announced that it would merge personal customer data with what, till then, had been data on the surfing habits of anonymous individuals. Following outcry from federal regulators and privacy advocates, the company quashed its plans. After the Internet bust, it sold off its ad network because of declining ad sales. Google's data-collection capabilities have similarly raised red flags with some, including a Web site that nominated Google for an annual privacy contest that seeks to pinpoint the Web's worst privacy offender. The nomination for the Big Brother prize came from Google-watch.org, which claims Google collects data on visitors unchecked. The criticism focused largely on data Google collects through a commonly used Web-tracking technology known as the "cookie." Many sites drop cookies on visitors' hard drives and then check them on return visits to see what sites the people have gone to in the interim. Although most such cookies expire within a relatively short time, Google's -- which plants a unique ID on a visitor's hard drive that can be linked with the user's search queries -- is set to continue functioning until the year 2038. Google also notes the user's browser type and Internet protocol address. That information could theoretically be used to track information about Web usage on a particular computer, although Google's privacy policy states that the company "aggregates" the data, or gathers it into anonymous groupings. "It's Google's size that matters," said Google-watch.org founder Daniel Brandt, who said he created his site to help monitor the search giant. "The easiest way for the federal government to get a foot in the door on terrorism would be to arrange a back-door tracking system with Google to locate the searcher and see what search terms are being used. They would have a finger on the pulse on the global mind share done with an antiterrorist justification in mind." Google declined to answer specific questions, sent to the company in an email, about its data-collection practices. In its reply, Google offered general assurances that its privacy practices do not violate the trust of its users. "As part of Google's ongoing effort to increase the quality of our search results, we do analyse information about how users interact with our site," wrote David Drummond, Google's vice president of corporate development. "Already, the use of this information has resulted in significant improvements to the overall quality of Google search results and has helped millions of people find the information they need. Google does not share non-aggregate user information with third parties and we treat the integrity and security of user information seriously." Drummond added that users can set their browser preferences to disable Google's cookies without affecting its search tool. Regarding the Pyra purchase, Drummond said Google remains committed "to delivering unbiased and objective search results, and to maintaining the highest level of integrity and respect for both Google and Blogger users." Although Google has done nothing to seriously undermine its reputation for integrity so far, it's almost certain the company will face further scrutiny as its influence continues to rise. Cluetrain Manifesto author Weinberger said that Google's trusted position within the Internet community may have, paradoxically, prompted many of the recent concerns about the company. "The Internet is an agreement, literally -- it's a protocol. And with that has come a bunch of social agreements as well, how we want to treat each other," Weinberger said. "Google, as far as we can see, has honoured those agreements well past the point that any other business would. But now it finds itself in the position that its own success has bred distrust because it's large and we depend on it."
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