O.K. it’s time for a little rant… I remember when the book Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell was very popular and everyone was talking about how the government was going to become this oversized, technological spy machine that would control our behavior through monitoring it. Of course the book has bigger concepts and ideas other than the surveillance of citizens by their government, but that is the general idea that most remember from this novel.

So where are we today with “Big Brother”? Well, you might think that after 9/11 and the Homeland Security Act that the government is fulfilling the role of “Big Brother” and gaining control over surveillance laws in the name of justice and peace. Oh, yea, and in the name of the fight against terrorism around the world, as if that is our job to do. But while our eyes are turned away from the obvious, the real controllers of America are gaining ground.

If it hasn’t become obvious by now then I’ll just explain it as I see it. Corporations control the government through monetary donations. It is in the end money that controls what our leaders do in our government, not democracy. But is that “Big Brother”? No, not really. Or we could say not without one major and self proclaimed “most successful company in the world” in the picture: Google.

Obviously, I do not know what ties Google has with he government but I can tell you this. Google is “Big Brother”. Did you know that your Google search queries are stored for 16 months with the ability to track the search back to your IP address and you as a person? Did you know that the government can subpoena Google for their search records and information they collect about you through your Google accounts or related and linked accounts? Because of the way the law works, Google cannot withhold this information form the government.

This makes me wonder what relationship Google has with our government and if they work together on any regular basis. I wonder what kind of money Google gives to the government in any form. The problem is that Google is huge and even the government uses Google so I wonder what kind of power this gives Google over certain individuals or organizations who may be being investigated by our government through Google. Of course Google claims that an abuse of their collected information would cause mistrust among users and ultimately topple the giant; therefore they won’t do it.

I know this is a lot of speculation and wondering on my part but the amount of information Google has accumulated about its users is tremendous and valuable for marketing and general sociological studies of human behaviors. Be careful what you admit to your search engines. “Big Brother” is always watching you, even when the government is asleep.

Thanks for reading!