What is the nature of the transaction between Google's computer algorithms
and its millions of human users? Are we heading down a path toward a more
enlightened age, or are we approaching a dystopia of social control and
surveillance? With these and other questions, University of Virginia media
studies and law professor Vaidhyanathan thoughtfully examines the insidious
influence of Google on our society. In just over a decade, Google has moved
so rapidly in its mission to "organize the world's information and make it
universally accessible and useful" that cries of "Google it!" resound
through high school classrooms, business offices, academic halls, and public
libraries. As Vaidhyanathan points out, we must be cautious about embracing
Google's mission and not accept uncritically that Google has our best
interests in mind. He reminds us that Google is a publicly traded, revenue-
driven firm that is dangerous in many subtle ways. By valuing popularity
over accuracy and established sites over new ones, Google sets its own
agenda regarding what information is most relevant to users, altering their
perceptions about value and significance. Vaidhyanathan admirably concludes
with a design for an information ecosystem called the Human Knowledge
Project, which would be a more democratic means of parsing and organizing
knowledge.

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