Google Goofs!

One more than one occasion, I have spoken out in favor of Google. Google can be generally described, in words from a recent posting by web standards guru Jeffrey Zeldman, as having been “a good corporate citizen and outstanding netizen for so long that one wants to give the company the benefit of the doubt.” What’s this about a doubt?

Somewhat suspect practices, that’s what. Zeldman describes a new feature of Google’s toolbar software, called Autolink:

For instance, if your company’s site includes a street address, a link to Google?s map service will magically sprout from your page. Likewise, a book’s ISBN number will trigger a link to an Amazon page selling that book. The BBC and CNET cite additional examples.

That sounds great to me, but I guess I’m one of those people they call an “early adopter” when it comes to new technology. I might be like a cowboy who will “push buttons first and ask questions later”, which is why I enjoy reading responsible media commentary by people like Zeldman, who observes:

Critics point out that with this technology Google is doing the very thing Microsoft tried to do in 2001. See Chris Kaminski’s “Much Ado About Smart Tags” (A List Apart 22 July 2001) if you missed that drama. Kaminski cited three problems with smart tags:

1. Per Walter Mossberg in The Wall Street Journal, Smart Tags enabled Microsoft to “edit any page on the web without the author’s knowledge.”
2. They extended Microsoft’s monopoly power into new markets, giving the Redmond giant the power to decide which non-Operating System companies would live and which would die. (Companies Microsoft’s Smart Tags division partnered with would live; their competitors would eat worms.)
3. Not least, Smart Tags were “amenable to nefarious uses, such as covert user tracking” (Chris Kaminski in ALA, paraphrasing Dan Gillmor).

If you are concerned about this, and would liek to take matters into your own hands, Zeldman offers some solutions. For those, you should read his article, Protect your site from Google?s new toolbar