The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Money

September 6, 2008

Google turns 10 today

Local Business column

By Fred Pace

It didn’t take long for Google to become the world’s biggest online search engine. Today, Google hits its 10th birthday.

As it draws to the end of its first decade of existence, the company is facing some unprecedented challenges on a number of fronts. Civil liberties groups around the globe have expressed concern about the big brother style invasion the Google Street Map is imposing upon members of the public where it takes photographs of ordinary members of the public and posts them on the World Wide Web.

Martin Warner, technology expert and CEO of Talkbiznow.com, a business networking and productivity site for professionals, says Google will need to focus on the content issues that surround the very nature in which the Web will grow such as privacy, piracy and personal security.

“If Web 3.0, albeit a marketing term, is about enabling the web to continue to grow and be profitable, then the new battle ground is all about content,” he said in a recent press release. “Google is facing issues on all three fronts, from privacy, piracy and personal security. They should call it ‘Web 3P’; all Internet companies have to deal with this pragmatically.”

Warner adds that Google recently came under fire with the launch of Street View in the UK because of the privacy and security issues of showing public faces taken by roving camera’s capturing views of streets. “Similarly, YouTube faces the threat of deleting all proprietary content if Viacom, who recently won a ruling to demand to see all of YouTube’s content, find’s its content on the YouTube site,” he said. “This could change the very nature of what YouTube provides and is about.”

Warner added, “We all like what Google provides, but perhaps its greatest asset is its cultural icon status, people believe in the good Google provides. However, it could become a victim of its own success.”

Warner believes if Google cannot adequately manage privacy, piracy and personal security issues that arise on their platforms, the public opinion could turn against the super brand, turning it into a Microsoft story.

“The difference here is that Microsoft had a monopoly through proprietary software (its operating system), and despite some public outcry against its monopolistic approaches, Google just relies on people to use its Search function, this underpins its whole revenue model, which is online advertising,” Warner said. “They have to protect the public’s view of its platform, otherwise, it is the one thing that could destroy this great company.”

My belief is that pictures taken for maps in public places, like public streets, is not an invasion of privacy. However those taken of people in their yards on their own private property could create some invasion of privacy issues when posted on the Web.

It will be interesting to see how the world deals with these issues as the World Wide Web continues to connect us all.

— Pace is a reporter for The Register-Herald. E-mail: fpace@register-herald.com

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