Google WatchA look at how Google's monopoly, algorithms, and privacy policies are undermining the Web.PageRank: Google's Original Sin- (Found June 19, 2008 ) This was the first essay that was posted on Google Watch, in August 2002. So much has happened since then that it is no longer a good description of how Google works. But it is still valid as a critique of the philosophy behind PageRank.http://www.google-watch.org/outdated/pagerank.html It's high time for opt-in- (Found June 19, 2008 ) Webmasters and surfers are at the mercy of big corporations. More regulation, centered around a philosophy of opt-in, is needed to restore balance to the Internet.http://www.google-watch.org/optin.html Google buries noncommercial links- (Found June 19, 2008 ) Cheryl Woodard, the executive director of AskQuestions.org and a cofounder of PC Magazine, PC World, Macworld and the Macworld Expos, studies Google's commercialized, spammy results for the phrase "troubled teen." Parents will not find what they need if they depend on Google alone.http://www.google-watch.org/woodard.html A zipped copy of Google's S-1 (as amended on August 18)- (Found June 19, 2008 ) No wonder some of us are choking on the SEC's copy of Google's S-1 -- it's a 3 meg HTML file! Even if everyone's bandwidth is perfect, some browsers have difficulty digesting this. You can download a zip file from our link and it's only 305K -- one-tenth the size. Unzip it yourself (you need your own unzipper) and load it into your browser from your local desktop. That way you don't have to wonder who's stopping the show -- the SEC's server, the screwy Internet backbone, or your browser. This...http://www.google-watch.org/goo-s1.zip Google offers more shares (August 18, 2005)- (Found June 19, 2008 ) More billions are created out of thin air, and more risk factors are described in this new S-3 filing (639K HTML file).http://www.google-watch.org/goog-s3.html And then there were four: Why we target Google- (Found June 19, 2008 ) There are four search engines that matter, and Google has a 75 percent monopoly. In 2003 we nominated Google for a Big Brother award. Here are nine reasons for our nomination.http://www.google-watch.org/bigbro.html Should Google index telephone numbers- (Found June 19, 2008 ) Valerie the spy is the talk of Washington. Google coughed up two maps to her house and information about her community activities -- all by entering her telephone number. Spooky. (2003-10-08)http://www.google-watch.org/valerie.html Is Google God, or is Thomas Friedman an idiot- (Found June 19, 2008 ) A 2003 column by that Pulitzer-winning NYT columnist, in which he seriously wonders whether Google is God. A few years earlier Friedman was telling us that you can sell books on the Internet from your bedroom, and put Amazon out of business. Friedman is good for laughs, and he's not even trying to be funny.http://www.google-watch.org/friedman.html We asked Google about privacy- (Found June 19, 2008 ) Serious questions about privacy issues are ignored. We're still waiting for a non-dismissive reply to our email of March 21, 2002. But wait, here's a clue: CEO Eric Schmidt announced in February 2005 that "we are moving to a Google that knows more about you."http://www.google-watch.org/krane.html Playboy printed our letter, sort of- (Found June 19, 2008 ) Google put the Playboy interview into the public domain by copying it into a public document. We downloaded the document from the SEC and extracted the interview. Here's the whole interview. Then Playboy asked us for a letter to the editor about this interview. We sent them a brilliant 2096-word analysis. They printed less than four percent of it, so here's the whole letter. Too many boobs at Playboy leave too little space for important social issues.http://www.google-watch.org/playboy.html |