The sheer enormity of what Google has achieved over the last few years is there for all to see. The company and its brand have now become so omnipresent that it’s become quite hard to define what it does and why. Google is here, there and everywhere and it’s not going away.
Google’s activities were, until recently, generally seen to be A Good Thing. It has rightly been applauded for its often astounding levels of creativity and innovation. Its open source initiatives, which have been responsible for breaking the stranglehold over worldwide computing that was previously held by its (now) arch rival, were incredibly important.
Recently the company has started to be confronted with the sort of challenges that face any person or organisation that has this sort of success. Now what was A Good Thing is being intensively examined by all and sundry in case it has become too powerful, monopolistic and a threat to individual privacy and personal freedom. The first signs of this in the UK probably surfaced last year when the sudden appearance of Streetview provoked a media frenzy. Could Google put a picture of you changing your underwear in your home on the internet for all to see? The world wanted to be told.
This week the company has had to deal with some interesting matters. They include copyright issues concerning the world’s library of books and the imprisonment of three of its executives in Italy. The company appears to be the impending subject of a European anti-trust investigation. And a good part of the world wants to know what it is going to do about censorship in China. This is rather a large set of issues for a company with a relatively small number of people working for it.
What happens next, and how the company chooses to deal with it, is going to be interesting. Google, to date, doesn’t appear to be fond of talking about Google. Now might be the time to change that. What is Google here for? What is important to Google concerning the way Google does its business? Where does Google want to go? If Google doesn’t clearly explain this and other important aspects of its business approach, then the outside world may decide all on its own. It would be a huge shame if Google’s innovation and creativity is stifled or snuffed out as a result.
