Google Opens Up Government Databases

Google Opens Up Government Databases

www.truthera.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — By providing free consulting and some software, Google Inc. is helping state governments make reams of public records that are now unavailable or hard to find online easily accessible to Web surfers.

The Internet search company hopes to eventually persuade federal agencies to employ the same tools _ an effort that excites advocates of open government but worries some consumer privacy experts.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Despite the obvious benefits of this Google initiative for those conducting Web searches, privacy advocates said they are worried about unintended consequences, cautioning that some records may contain personal and confidential information that should not be widely available.

www.truthera.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

As far as I am concerned Google is synonymous with government intellignece. Aren't they the one's that limit what their Chinese viewers look at online in China due to their governments request. Gee, why wouldn't they do the same thing in this country?

I believe Google is used as an instrument not just to monitor people and Americans but also to help persuede how we think about certain things.

Google is much more powerful than most think, but then again so is the institution of government.

Way to go big business/big government!

I could see the benefits IF the information is accurate. With my experience with the government, I know that my info that is already on the internet is inaccurate, I think this could harm innocent people if they publish inaccurate info.

What MBF is trying to say is that disinformation is just as effective as true information. And believe it or not MBF the US Intelligence agencies are great at using both types of intelligence.

Are you so naive as to believe that our government still cares about the "innocent people?"

[edit on 30-4-2007 by Low Orbit]

Originally posted by Low Orbit
What MBF is trying to say is that disinformation is just as effective as true information. And believe it or not MBF the US Intelligence agencies are great at using both types of intelligence.

Are you so naive as to believe that our government still cares about the "innocent people?"

[edit on 30-4-2007 by Low Orbit]

EXACTLY!!!

Look at the lives that could be ruined by this. And it's not just the intelligence agencies, but ALL government agencies. They have no problem ruining your life just to cover up their incompetence and corruption.

Oh jeebus.

They're public records.

All Google is doing is saving you the time of sitting at a terminal at your local courthouse, city hall, or library.

Originally posted by apc
Oh jeebus.

They're public records.

All Google is doing is saving you the time of sitting at a terminal at your local courthouse, city hall, or library.

well said apc...
You know, I realize this is a concpirisy-theory-based website but, come on folks, not everything that happens in the world is a conspiricy; sometimes a cigar is just a cigar!

[edit on 4/30/2007 by Stormrider]

I am pro-open-government because the government lies to us enough as it is. That doesn't mean that I'd completely trust the government if it made a default policy of openness, but it'd be a start, and this is in the right direction.

Any, personal, private records of individual citizens shouldn't be kept in public records anyway. "Public" being the keyword there.

As far as Google being a covert government tool to spy on us...I doubt it. Yeah, they deserve all the flack they get for kowtowing to the Chinese government on censorship, but at the same time they're the only ones that actually make it explicitly clear to their users that they are censoring something. Yahoo, Microsoft, and many other search engines will censor without making it known they're censoring. In fact, MySpace China (which is owned by News Corp. which owns Fox and Fox News), which just recently launched, has a big red button that encourages its users to spy on each other and report those that are subversive (religion and politics are also suppressed there).

APC you are right, I guess it's only the phone companies that get monitored by US intelligence agencies. (Just kidding) Think about it apc, if the intelligence agencies tap our phones why wouldn't they use the internet for what it truely is; one of the best tools to persuede and control public opinion through controlled information and disinformation.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, however this cigar is worth billions upon billions of dollars and governments actively and knowingly contract with it. APC, is it the case that the bigger a company/government gets the more you are willing to trust it? If you say yes have you ever thought about moving to Russia?