We Are The Network will discuss whether Google is destined to become evil, tomorrow Tuesday at 12PM noon SL (US Pacific Time), that is at 9 pm CET. 
We will be at the Epoch Institute in Second Life™
Click here to teleport to the Epoch Institute in Second Life™
This Week’s Topic
“Is Google Destined To Become Evil?”
In Google’s 2004 SEC registration statement was this statement from the founders of Google, explaining the new pact that Google would make with the world, in order to ease concerns about privacy, control and security related to the services that were being constructed, as well as others to come later on. This statement has been widely referred to as Google’s goal to “Don’t Be Evil”.
As Google has grown, it has accumulated and centralized a previously unknown level of personal information, made it eminently searchable in seconds, and provided numerous services that are focused on accomplishing these goals. At the same time, the willingness of people to freely share personal information (often in return for services that have the appearance of being free to the individual) is based on a generalized belief that Google will forever hold to its mantra of “do no evil”. Is this a reasonable assumption? What if that assumption, that millions of us have taken as a reasonable risk, turns out to be false?
A phrase that appears as part and parcel of corporate and political governance discussions is “Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely”. Is Google on the path to absolute power (or perhaps has reached it already?), and if so, what would stop this long known maxim from exerting itself over time?
In this session we will discuss the meaning of absolute power in the Internet age, how Google fits into the picture of privacy, security and trust, and discuss some possible scenarios, both good and bad, for how Google’s continued expansion might play out.
More information on JoelFoner.com
Roland Legrand