Google World – Search, Adwords, Adsense, Privacy & more
We know countless web surfers use Google every day, the nature of the it’s products and services causes some people to wonder whether it shouldn’t simply be part of something else, as its main function, can be added on to a web browser or any other software. Nope, it’s not so simple.
Google want to know where you are surfing, what you are reading in your email, what you are buying, and even what brand of toilet shop you use, just by looking at your use of Google’s services. So, the more offerings Google provide, the more of your information they can harvest. The more of your information Google can harvest, the better Google is going to be able to target you with pertinent ads (yes, Adsense!) – this is how Google make it’s money via Adwords. Google is not only a search company or an ISP. They are a new media advertising company that sells targeted ads to its customers. Google collects every piece of information about you that you let it. It is not necessarily a bad thing, as the risk of privacy invasion is pretty minimal – who can sell you anything if you are an adamant!
It does not stop there, it is also gaining huge share in areas like Document Processing, News Delivery, Maps and GIS, Business Apps, Video Content, Buzz, and more. I am not a die-hard Microsoft fan, but, the question is, if Microsoft can repeat with Google what it did with Netscape i.e. with its marketing and technology power. Not an easy task, with Microsoft facing it’s own battle everywhere. Earlier Google had issues in China and more recently officials in Spain, France & Czech Republic announced plans to investigate Google’s collection of data from wireless networks, raising the likelihood that it could face sanctions in Europe. These may very well be covert PR stunts of a unique kind or may not. Well, this is a risk an investor is always taking in the Google World, isn’t it? It’s paying well also! What do you think?
- Author is the Chief SEM Architect with Solution Point
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Tracking It’s Users: Google probably knew when you last thought you were pregnant, what diseases your children have had, your next holiday plans, and who is your favorite actor. It has a policy of collecting as much information as possible about everyone who uses its search tool.
It will store your computer’s IP address, the time/date, your browser details and the item you search for. It sets a tracking cookie on your computer that does not expire until 2038. Anyway, you can change your browser preferences to override it.
This means that Google builds up a detailed profile of your search terms over many years. It refuses to say why it wants this information or to admit whether it makes it available to the US Government for tracking purposes. And the much-loved Google toolbar tells Google about every web page you look at. Yet it so dominates the search engine market that no website can afford to ignore it, and it indexes so much of the web that few users think of using another.
The way it ranks pages is a commercial secret, outside any external supervision or control. If Google decides it does not like you then you can be dropped from the index. Perhaps the time has come to recognize this dominant search engine for what it is – a public utility that must be regulated in the public interest. Recent we posted on a Google forum regarding a problem with Google’s Affiliate Program called Adsense.
Th message was: THERE IS A PROBLEM OR IT’S BECAUSE THE ADVERTISER IS PAYING MORE..AND SO OUR PREFERENCES TO BLOCK COMPETITORS ADS ARE BEING DELIBERATELY IGNORED WHILE GOOGLE DECIDES TO PUBLISH ADS ON OUR WEBSITES!! – and there were many responses to it from general users. It shows how people world-over think about this issue. Again, there are some other popular sites on the web, fearful of losing their inflated leadership to new and more efficient competitors.
These are the ones who buy such ad tactics to block the innovators to reach the audience. The argument about keeping away from regulating the internet and the web has always been that the technology is not mature enough or important enough to merit government interference. A government serious about ensuring that the net benefits society as a whole could start by investigating Google and considering whether we should create an Office of Search Engines.
The Indian Cyber Standards are in a very nascent stage for even the policy makers to understand the underlying logic to analyze what we are discussing here, forget about doing something about it. Let’s hope they are eager to learn. Nevertheless, it a great a Search Engine and Google is an all-time favorite?
Sometimes you need a balance. Consider the Chinese Official approach, they are NOT completely wrong tussled with Google there. It is even NOT a question of Google only, most of the western world (including some of our own desi-enthusiasts) are yet to FULLY appreciate lifestyles which are non-western, non-capitalist, non-materialistic, non-bad, basically which does not have their ways of living.
May be western lifestyles are more generously documented and digitized in length than some of the oldest and forgotten Civilisations. If 90% of world see you for leadership and you are NOT honest, disastrous results like 911 are not surprising, wonder what kind of safety and for whom you are talking… It applies to all the Googles of the modern world.