In Google we trust?
Much has been written recently about just how far Google can go before it runs into public disapprobation. Some of this dialogue has taken place in fora such as the ACM's discussion lists. This month, Wired magazine takes up the baton.

"Don't be evil," is the mantra of Google's Sergey Brin, according to an article in the January edition of Wired. Brin aims to always do good by users.

Google is certainly innovative. We have recently seen 'search results as slide show' in Google labs viewer; Google webquotes; the product search facility Froogle. And on and on grows the gigantic Googleplex.

But in recent months, Google has not had an easy ride. Daniel Brandt of www.google-watch.org has attacked Google's PageRank mechanism. Of perhaps more interest in terms of freedom of speech, when Anita Roddick - founder of UK chain the Body Shop - criticised in her blog actor John Malkovich (a "vomitous worm") and later Google itself, Google pulled her ad.

The search engine has also had confrontations over the last few months with the Church of Scientology and the Chinese government. All too often, it seem that Google is willing to make a compromise that smells unhealthy. For example, those citizens of China searching for human rights information may now be directed to a standard-looking - but Chinese government-approved - page. This follows negotiations that took place between the Chinese government and Google after the search engine was pulled in mainland China.

In October, two Harvard researchers alleged that Google had begun blocking users in France, Germany and Switzerland from accessing sites carrying material likely to be seen as racist or inflammatory in each country. [This follows, remember, past sagas with Yahoo in France, an Internet directory fined by local courts for permitting French citizens' access to international material deemed illegal locally].

Meanwhile, the empire grows apace. Google is fast becoming the new Goliath.

Of course, there is no lock-in with Google, so we are free to use any Internet search service. The market domination arguments that are hauled out in respect of Microsoft are not so relevant here.

But nevertheless, many of us are becoming particularly reliant on Google for producing our research results. So just how far can Google go in its concessions to realpolitik before it is judged to be violating the trust of users? And if Google does go public - rumours abound about a Google IPO as saviour of Wall Street - won't its problems worsen, as the 'purity' of long-term user interests clash with the short-termism of shareholders (who have never been particularly known for their concern for 'evil'). Will Google spawn its own serious 'watch' industry, just as ICANN did a few years ago?

Elsewhere on the search engine front, my original favourite search engine - which fell on hard times when taken over by Lycos/Terra - seems to be undergoing a rebirth. Hotbot now provides a unified interface to four of the web's best search engines: Google, FAST, Inktomi and Teoma. This is not metasearching - it's a half-way house, allowing the user quickly to compare results without having to go to their home pages.