Google (v): to search for information on the Internet, especially using the Google search engine.
– Webster’s New Millennium Dictionary of English
In late 1998, the Google corporation first opened its doors in Menlo Park, Calif., with a staff of three employees.
Eight years, a billion dollar stock I.P.O. and billions of searches later, “Google,” ubiquitous with “search,” has even earned its own entry in Webster’s New Millennium Dictionary of English. But the word has grown to represent much more than just a search engine as the company has taken on several new endeavors by offering users free e-mail, blogs and access to mapping services, among others. Last month, the corporate giant purchased the popular video sharing Web site YouTube for $1.65 billion.
Today, Web users are trusting Google with more and more of their personal information beyond search queries to its Internet services. Through Gmail, Google’s e-mail service, and Blogger, an online journal service, the company holds information on millions of users.
But even if Web users are increasingly wary of putting more of their personal information on the Internet, it seems most of them, college students especially, trust Google enough to do it anyway.
University computer science student Alex McCullough said he uses Gmail as his primary e-mail inbox and organizes his daily schedule through Google Calendar, a free Web-based calendar, but he wasn’t worried about the potential privacy or security issues.
“I think they’re valid concerns,” McCullough said. “But for a personal user, I think the Google ethical standards are trustworthy enough to do it.”
Google does collect and store information about what Web sites its users visit and when, according to the Google Privacy Policy. It also keeps tabs on any Google products they use.
That means when users click on a link found though a Google search, the information about their choice is monitored by Google. The company does this to “provide a better user experience, including customizing content for you,” according to its privacy policy.
The policy also states that any personal information the company collects is based solely on consent. Anyone can refuse to give information or disallow site monitoring files called “cookies,” though this could make features or services not function as well.
One potential discrepancy is if a Gmail user deletes an e-mail, a draft of it might still be saved in Google’s databases.
“I don’t see any reason for that, but it doesn’t bother me that much,” McCullough said, adding that he hasn’t seen any reason to worry.
Sunny Gettinger, a spokesperson at Google’s corporate office in Mountain View, Calif., said the company realizes the importance of privacy, and posts very clearly its policies of what personal information the company collects and receives, as well as its steps to safeguard it.
“We hope this will help people make an informed decision about sharing personal information with us,” she said.
University Marketing Professor Lynn Kahle said he is more reluctant to put personal information on the Internet through Google or any other outlet.
“I think the concern for privacy is always there on the Internet,” Kahle said, adding that Google is not specifically the reason for his concern. “I don’t have any reason to believe that Google is any worse or any more evil than anyone else.”
McCullough pointed out that people are already very willing to put their credit card numbers through online purchasing outlets like Amazon.com, despite any potential dangers there.
Gettinger said Google’s official view on its practices is simple: It operates under the motto of “Don’t Be Evil.”
“That’s very much the philosophy that our founders set out, and it’s the lens through which we assess our business decisions,” Gettinger said.
When Google was first founded, it operated only as a search engine that received about 10,000 queries per day. It was forced to expand and move its servers twice during the next year, eventually landing in its current corporate office in 1999.
Kahle said Google achieved its success so quickly because of its immediate credibility.
“I think they have a certain level of search integrity that has made them attractive,” he said. “They were one of the first to do what they do on such a big scale.”
Kahle said Google’s widespread expansion has only made them more popular over the years. He said consumers are simply given more incentive to use their products if one name can provide them with everything they need.
“The more services they provide, the better,” Kahle said. “As they develop new concepts of search and new concepts of business, there are more reasons to go there.”
Privacy issues aside, Kahle said Google has had a huge effect on academia.
“The ability to access almost unlimited information with incredible ease has really changed how we acquire and use information in our society,” he said. “In higher education, that’s what we’re all about.”
The effect has reached the classroom in some cases. In Kahle’s marketing communication class, he often refers to old television commercials that most current students haven’t seen, he said. Kahle said he used a commercial from 1986 in one instance, and a student suggested looking for it on YouTube, Google’s newly acquired video service.
“In about 15 seconds we found it, and we were able to talk about it,” he said.
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