Search Engines

Search engines have been in the news a lot recently. For example, this BBC News story talks about how Google is refusing to hand over their search results to the Justice Department. This could come back to bite them in the butt when they try to buy some company and the DoJ denies their application. I believe they are probably doing the right thing as we are already giving up too much privacy involuntarily. This week a story broke on all the major news networks that for about $100 I can buy the cell phone records of a complete stranger.

What people seem to have forgotten is the reprehensible behavior of some of the other search engines. Microsoft has agreed to block search terms according to the Chinese government’s wishes. So any Chinese with democratic aspirations can’t search for pages related to those things. Additionally, users of MS blogging service can’t blog about those topics. Yahoo actually cooperated with China to jail a dissident by divulging their private information. It all comes down to MONEY. If it weren’t for all the greenbacks to be made dealing with China, I think they would have told China to piss off. Whatever happened to ethics or having a conscious?