Dina sent me this link yesterday to “Scroogled” by Cory Doctorow. A thrilling read that takes a deep look down the cellar stairs at an evil google empire. It’s an excellent thought piece and one off scenario, and anyone in communications or search should really enjoy it as a short story Sunday read.
- If this is the evil scenario then what is a more positive vision for google?
- As a social and societal scenario what can we learn and what should our personal strategies be to minimize our risk should this future come true?
- If this world is plausible… then what strategies should you take as an organization to maximize your opportunities or minimize losing it all to google.
- If this is google’s vision how should you as Microsoft, Yahoo, eBay, Facebook, etc… shape your privacy policies.
- How long do we have…. before we are Scroogled?
Excerpt: Radar Online
Four hours later in the customs line, he’d slid from god back to man. His
slight buzz had worn off, sweat ran down the crack of his ass, and his
shoulders and neck were so tense his upper back felt like a tennis
racket. The batteries on his iPod had long since died, leaving him with
nothing to do except eavesdrop on the middle-age couple ahead of him.
“The marvels of modern technology,” said the woman, shrugging at a
nearby sign: Immigration—Powered by Google.
Who has other things to say about it?
- Bruno Giussani who wrote about similar fears two years ago.
- Wall Street Journal - who interview Cory
And Scroogled is not a new term. See this example from Information Today.
A New Short Story Imagines Google as a Bad Big Brother – WSJ.com
“Mr. Doctorow: Sure, absolutely, there have been lots of signs of that. I mean, one of the things that I think is in Google’s DNA is a real tension about, on the one hand, being good to people, but on the other hand, acquiring as much information about them as they can, under the rubric that it allows them to be better to people.”
