Well when I mention Google the first thing that comes to your mind may be the search engine www.google.com or the web mail site www.gmail.com. Well one thing is for sure, the number of people who depend on Google for their needs is enormous and is on the rise day by day. This article is intended to throw some light on the consequences of excessive dependence that people have on Google.
Well I doubt I would find anyone who has not used www.google.com to search for anything online. Well even I use it everyday or say hundreds of times a day, but here we do have to realize that with query we make, we are sending data regarding our preferences to Google . Although Google says that it uses this data to enhance our search experience, it can also be used by them to limit our search to the sites that pay them. It was discovered by the famous Google-critic Daniel Brandt in 2002 that Google placed a cookie on each registered user's computer, which can be used to track that person's search history, and that the cookie was set to expire in 2038. Sounds pretty scary but it is true.
Well that was about Google’s search facility, there's lot more to follow. Now coming to their e-mail service, Gmail. According to about.com it is the best free e-mail service ever. With just one Gmail id, you get access to Orkut ( A Social networking Site ), Blogger ( Free Blogging service ), Adsense ( Online advertising ), Picasa ( Photo Sharing service ) etc. This may sound tempting to anyone, but we do have to realize the dangers here. Whenever you register on Gmail you do have to give some of your personal details, when you sign up for Adsense you have to give your telephone number as well as your exact address. When you register on Orkut, Google gets know your socials contacts. Using Google Docs and Spreadsheets can save huge amounts of data on Google’s servers. Add to it Google's online payment service Google Checkout, through which they will have your credit card details as well ( Oh Great !! ). Imagine if this information gets into the wrong hands ( Although not really possible !! ), we can think of Google misusing these details to increase their profits by directing us to sites that pay them. You may be finding it hard to imagine but there were a number of lawsuits slapped on them ( Google ) regarding various Privacy and Copyright issues.
Therefore the thing that we need to understand is that Google is a company that works to earn profits, it may offer free services which may be good but then every good thing comes with a price !!.
