Hi Jez,

My beef with Google stems not from their efforts to monetize and profit from their ability to organize and access vast quantities of data, but from their entry into Red China.

When the Justice Department here, in the States, asked Google for aggregate statistical data on searches for child pornography Google flatly refused to cooperate. Understand that the Justice Department was not asking for anything that could be used to identify any inividual user. Neither were they asking for data concerning searches for pornography in general. They were simply conducting a study to try and determine how extensive the problem of child pornography on the internet had become. And Google chose to protect the child pornographers because of their so-called committment to principles of liberty and corporate opposition to censorship.

But then, in order to gain access to Red China, Google now routinely turns over all data to the Red Chinese government everytime anyone tries to search for Tiananmen Square, or anything else that the Red Chinese perceive as even potentially subversive to their totalitarian rule. And Google doesn't just turn over aggregate statistical data. They identify the potential subversives right down to their name, address and phone number. Oh yes. And let's not forget that they censor out of their search results all websites that the Red Chinese deem subversive.

But who knows. Maybe it's not about quelling political dissent. Maybe they just want to help silence the "nutters."

That's why today I use www.ask.com.