I've long thought there was a big untold story about Google, essentially a book all about Google, but told from a user's perspective, rather than the well-worn path of Google books told largely from Google's own paternal perspective.
Given that Google is the most ubiquitous, powerful and disruptive company in the world, it seemed logical to me that users, and people affected by Google, had a lot of important and fundamental questions about Google that no book had ever tried to answer in a straightforward and well-defended manner.
- Questions like:
- Can I trust Google with my information?
- Does Google respect my privacy?
- Does Google respect others' property?
- Is security a priority for Google?
- Is Google as ethical as it claims to be?
- Is Google dominating what information people access?
- Does Google have a hidden political agenda?
- Where is the Google juggernaut taking us?
- Do we want to go there? and if not,
- What can be done about it?
- Search & Destroy Why You Can't Trust Google Inc. answers these questions based on the facts.
- I believe anyone who reads the book won't be able to look at Google Inc. the same way again.
- I also believe the book stands on its own.
- After four years of research, 726 endnotes, and over 150 quotes from Google executives, the evidence and case is overwhelming that most people's trust in Google Inc. is seriously misplaced.
You can find out more about the book, what people are saying about it, news and interviews about the book, and all the places you can buy it, at www.SearchAndDestroyBook.com.
Below is a summary of the book from the book jacket to give you a better sense of what the book is all about.
"This is the other side of the Google story—the unauthorized book that Google does not want you to read. In Search & Destroy, Google expert Scott Cleland, shows that the world’s most powerful company is not who it pretends to be.
Google pretends to be a harmless lamb, but chose a full-size model of a Tyrannosaurus Rex as its mascot. Beware the T-Rex in sheep’s clothing.
Google has acquired far more information, both public and private, and has invented more ways to use it, than anyone in history. Information is power, and in Google’s case, it’s the power to influence and control virtually everything the Internet touches. Google’s power is largely unchecked, unaccountable—and grossly underestimated. Google is the Internet’s lone superpower—the new master of the digital information universe. And Google’s power depends almost entirely on the blind trust it has gained through masterful duplicity. Google routinely says one thing and does another.
Cleland proves the world’s #1 brand untrustworthy. He exposes the unethical company hiding behind a “don’t be evil” slogan. He uncovers Google’s hidden political agenda. And he reveals how Google’s famed mission to organize the world’s information is destructive and wrong. Cleland is the first to critically examine where Google is leading us, explain why we don’t want to go there, and propose straightforward solutions.
Google’s unprecedented centralization of power over the world’s information is corrupting both Google and the Internet—a natural result of unchecked power. Google is evolving from an information servant to master—from working for users, to making users work for the Internet behemoth.
Search & Destroy conclusively demonstrates that Google’s goal is to change the world by influencing and controlling information access. Ultimately, Google’s immense unchecked power is destructive precisely because Google is so shockingly-political, unethical and untrustworthy."
I look forward to your feedback on my new book: Search & Destroy Why you Can't Trust Google Inc., and would greatly appreciate you sharing this link with your friends and colleagues. Thank you!
