2011/03/08 by Siva Vaidhyanathan · 2 citations
Social Sciences · Business, Management and Accounting · Computer Science · #Cybersecurity and Cyber Warfare Studies #Copyright and Intellectual Property #Digital Media and Philosophy
paper · doi:10.1525/9780520948693
openalex publication_date 2011/03/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
In the beginning, the World Wide Web was exciting and open to the point of anarchy, a vast and intimidating repository of unindexed confusion. Into this creative chaos came Google with its dazzling mission—"To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible"—and its much-quoted motto, "Don’t be evil." In this provocative book, Siva Vaidhyanathan examines the ways we have used and embraced Google—and the growing resistance to its expansion across the globe. He exposes the dark side of our Google fantasies, raising red flags about issues of intellectual property and the much-touted Google Book Search. He assesses Google’s global impact, particularly in China, and explains the insidious effect of Googlization on the way we think. Finally, Vaidhyanathan proposes the construction of an Internet ecosystem designed to benefit the whole world and keep one brilliant and powerful company from falling into the "evil" it pledged to avoid.