Google, long hailed as the internet search option of choice, also has a long history of Censorship in regards to what you can and cannot search for using their engine.
Recently they have removed the ability to search for sites online that lobby groups for the Motion Picture studios, Recording industry, and other powerful right wing groups petition Google to do. Google has shown no backbone or leadership in maintaining the rights and privacy of its user base. It's readily apparent just how easily Google will give up information or cave to the Government despots to take away the rights of those that use their search capabilities. They have been accused of misuse and manipulation of search results, page ranking misuse, removing or censoring links, data disclosure and privacy breaches, and collecting and aggregating data about Internet users.
I have decided that I will no longer use Google search but switch off to either Yahoo, or because I'm a Linux user as well, Duck Duck Go is a fantastic search engine with many privacy features.
The fact is that it's time for regular people to start using their ability to switch to other products when the corporations start infringing on our rights and privacies. We are the ones that must do this, the Governments won't, the Corporations won't, and we have very limited lobbying power ourselves. So we have to vote with our dollars and our choice of products. This includes not using the Google Chrome browser as it has nefarious means of collecting your private data and information. Google Mail is another huge data mining tool and also used to share your private information.
As consumers we ultimately hold the power, but we must do as a unified group, not a scattered bunch with the, "I don't give a shit." mentality. Make sure to check out Change.org and sign petitions to help get our views out there. Basically, start using your considerable power to let the Corporations know that you will not accept their practices.
Without everyone getting on board and trying to make changes we will all end up paying the price of corporate data piracy and loss of our privacy.
-Seth
Wikipedia Information
Boston Review Article
Image Censorship
