The internet is a vast and never ending database that contains almost all of the globe's knowledge. You can go to the web to find literally anything: funny cat videos, scholarly research, shopping, directions, how-to guides, and anything else you could possibly ever imagine will be there. What makes the internet even better though, is that it is indexed in such a way that if I want to find a recipe for homemade pizza I can find almost a million different sites in only 0.4 seconds that will give me one. The internet didn't always work like this though, it wasn't always this quick and simple to retrieve information and ultimately we have one company to thank for this commodity: Google. Google has revolutionized the way in which we browse the depths of the web. On Google's way to the top, however, the tech giant has began to record and track information about us that people find is an invasion of privacy. Google claims that they do it in order to improve their search, but has it gone too far?
Most people know that google tracks literally everything you do. They also slowly are acquiring more and more companies and even hosting their ad spots on millions of websites so that now no matter where you are on the web, Google can follow you and target ads at you based on your search history. But what else does google do with all this information? Well for one thing, did you know corporations can legally request that Google collects about you? Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself.
Ok so the government can request my user data and use it against me, but it's not like corporations are requesting my data everyday, right? Wrong. Since Google knows all of our interests, it would be really beneficial for maybe, online shopping websites, to request this information when we go to their websites and then use it to charge different prices. So really, Google could be the reason you can't find those sweet internet deals you're always hearing about!
Is it really that bad though? A lot of people will say that they don't even care and honestly, I used to be one of those people because aside from all these negative things I've been talking about, Google really does do a lot of good for the world. They build their own research facilities for public research, they install optic fiber in communities to increase internet speeds, they host free education tools for students and teacher, and a slew of many other things that are improving our society as a whole.
So does all this bad really outweigh the good Google does? I would argue no, not even close. I would say, however, that Google is definitely dipping their fingers too far into my personal life. Some people enjoy the convenience that Google offers by having all their content linked and just ignore the fact that they know everything Google does because as they say: Ignorance is bliss. I used to be one of these people! Having everything linked via one account is great and who doesn't love the convenience of Google Docs? But it has finally come to my attention that maybe it isn't a good thing that they know so much about me. Maybe we as a society, myself included, has become addicted to Google and as a result we have let them in too far.
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