I think the Internet's top search engine company should be renamed Gobble.
That's because it won't be long before they Gobble up the whole world.
I am not technology averse, so I am not easily wowed by computer stuff.
But Google?Those guys blow my mind. It truly amazes me every time I do a search.
Honestly, I typed the word "tuberculosis" into a Google search. I got 21,500,000 results in 0.07 seconds.
Think about that for a moment. That's incredible. You can search the full text of books. You can search all public source code. You can search scholarly papers, historical news, all federal, state and local government sites or any specific school's Web site.
Want to buy something? Google Product Search will get you there.
Google News hooks you up with all the latest news for news sources worldwide.
I'm only scratching the surface of what Google is capable of here.
But they launched a new feature this week that's just a little creepy.
I've been a big fan of Google Earth and Google Maps for a while.
Google maps blends a mapping program and satellite photos. You can overlay the photos on the maps and zoom in. It's really pretty awesome.
But the new feature, called "Street View," takes mapping to a new, and perhaps unsettling, level.
Street View uses guys driving around in vans with high-tech, 100-megapixel cameras mounted on top.
The cameras provide images close enough to make out faces, license plate numbers and pretty much anything else within range.
According to Google, Street View enables users to view and navigate within 360-degree street-level imagery of various cities in the U.S. Street View imagery will initially be available for maps of the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, Las Vegas, Denver and Miami, and will soon expand to other metropolitan areas.
By clicking on the "Street View" button in Google Maps, users can navigate street level, panoramic imagery. With Street View, users can virtually walk the streets of a city, check out a restaurant before arriving, and even zoom in on bus stops and street signs to make travel plans.
So, of course, the issue of privacy becomes a concern.
Here's what Google has to say about that.
"At Google we take privacy very seriously. Street View only features imagery taken on public property. We respect the fact that people may not want imagery they feel is objectionable featured on the service. We provide easily accessible tools for flagging (that) imagery for review and removal."
That's true, there is a button to click to "report inappropriate material," but that presumes that you are aware you've been inappropriately photographed.
And by the time you become aware, you've already been downloaded by a couple million people and rebroadcast on YouTube.
Already, bloggers are having a field day with the poor sap Street View photographed walking out of an adult book store in San Francisco.
Public street or not, I wonder how that guy feels about his privacy. He's the laughing stock of the Internet right now.
On the one hand, I can see the benefit of the technology, but on the other, I can see the potential for a lot of embarrassment or even some danger.
What if the camera outs a domestic violence center? I realize it will be a long time before the Google camera van cruises through Warsaw, but does the Beaman Home shelter want to be featured on Street View?
And as the camera pans past your apartment window and the light is just right, do you want Google having a look inside?
One immediate reaction is that if you're not doing anything wrong, you don't have anything to worry about.
I don't buy that at all.
Privacy isn't about doing something right or wrong. It's about being private.
My wife and I aren't doing anything wrong in our bedroom, but I sure as heck wouldn't want anybody photographing it.
It's odd how this issue is being debated. I've noticed some people who are up in arms about Street View, are the same people who defended domestic warrantless wire tapping in the name of fighting terror. Interesting.
And cops love the new technology.
But, realistically, I suppose there's little to be done about it.
As technology advances, there will be more and more cameras in more and more locations.
I guess we need to be resolved to the fact that our actions can potentially be monitored, captured and recorded at any given moment and placed on the Internet.
So if you see a van driving by your house with a disco-ball-looking camera on top, close your blinds.
