Turnabout fair play as Big Bro Google gets Big Sib ‘Inside Google’

By Kay B. Day

Google has received a lot of attention because of privacy issues, with public interest group Consumer Watchdog vowing to “hold Google accountable for its actions.” To do that, CW has founded a new website, ‘Inside Google.” A CW statement said the new site aims “to educate the public and opinion leaders about Google’s dangerous dominance over the Internet, computing and consumers’ online lives.” Thus Big Bro Google has a new sibling.

The CW statement described a very focused mission: “Inside Google’s blog is authored by experienced consumer advocates and journalists working to expose the ‘black box’ at Google with an eye towards holding Google engineers accountable to social mores, ethical customs and the rule of law.”

Google’s latest transgression came to light after the company apologized for acquiring bits of information from public Wi-Fi networks. That transgression was discovered only because of Germany, not the U.S. Apparently the criticism over this and over questions about Google’s mapping program ‘Street View’ caused enough concern the Internet giant felt obligated to up its lobbying efforts.

Red State said National Journal pointed out figures obtained from Consumer Watchdog: “Google increased the money it spends on lobbying in the first quarter by 57 percent over the previous year, paying $1.4 million to influence lawmakers and regulators.”

Google has deep ties to Democrat powerhouses in the US. Green baron Al Gore and President Barack Obama are two high profile allies.

Even the Associated Press turned attention to the company computer users once viewed as a white hat. AP recounted the WiFi incident and Google’s apology: “Google characterized its collection of snippets from e-mails and Web surfing done on public Wi-Fi networks as a mistake, and said it has taken steps to avoid a recurrence. About 600 gigabytes of data was taken off of the Wi-Fi networks in more than 30 countries, including the U.S. Google plans to delete it all as soon as it gains clearance from government authorities.” [May 27, 2010]

Among the first features at the new ‘Inside Google’ site is a call for state attorneys general to “probe Google’s Wi-Spy snooping.”  The new site also gives a nod to those famous Google algorithms for searching, a source of confusion to indie website owners like The US Report in particular.

Often I’ve wondered how a particular site, especially if most of the content is ad-based, gains a higher page rank than our own. I once obtained comments from Google corporate for an article for a freelance client. Basically I learned little from the comments although it was refreshing the search engine baron did respond. I did however learn that writing ability counts for little in determining a website’s rank.

On what Inside Google calls the Wi-Spy scandal, Google has been encouraged to come clean about privacy transgressions. John M. Simpson writing for Inside Google said, “[T]he firestorm won’t go away.”

No word yet on how Big Bro Google views its new Big Sib, Inside Google.

Update on Friday, May 28, 2010 at 1:32PM by Kay B. Day, Editor

Well, this is getting more interesting. Google has now missed the deadline to turn over to German regulators personal data collected from Wi-Fi networks as part of the search titan's 'Street View' efforts. Ironically if Google gives the info to German regulators, said Financial Times, Google could break German law. Google gobbled up more than 600 GB of personal info!