IP Democracy: The Dark Side of Google: Googlezon

Google is the hottest company to hit the Internet or the media or Wall Street in years, combining tremendous skill, ultimate versatility and unlimited money into one sprawling, sizzling enterprise with unending potential. (I know I’m repeating myself. I’ve said something similar here and here). But with Google’s unbounded success, some critics fear the market power Google holds in its hands, with journalists, in particular, scornful of Google’s ability to pick and choose what’s news.

A spooky, perhaps overwrought, but nonetheless fascinating and professionally produced video of a Google-controlled future can be found here. This Orwellian vision of the future is based on the rapid personalization of the media brought on by blogging, Amazon.com and, of course, Google.

The video tells the history of the media from the vantage point of 2014, when a company called “Googlezon” (resulting from the merger of Google and Amazon.com) rules the information world. Googlezon has a program called The Evolving Personalized Information Construct, or Epic, which is a functionally unlimited grid of information and entertainment supplied by freelance editors who use Googlezon to cut, paste, clip and rework content to supply the world’s information needs. (This follows the news “wars” of 2010 when Googlezon essentially shuts down The New York Times.)

The video is fascinating and certainly a warning of what might be, but like all dark visions, too pessimistic to ever come true. It’s hard to say something this creepy is enjoyable, but it certainly is entertaining. (Thanks Gary!)

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on August 25, 2005 4:07 PM to IP Democracy