The big topic on the NSA and Wi-Fi-gate issue is whether or not Google should disclose its secret on how their search engine is being formulated, so that regulators and Internet publishers can make sure that it is not manipulating the results.
The New York Times started the discussion stating in one of their editorials that the big impact Google’s algorithm has on the economy of the Internet should be studied so that there will be an assurance that Google is not just using their search system to boost their own business.
Google’s Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience reacted quickly through an opinion article in The Financial Times, saying that if the secret algorithm system of Google is disclosed to the public or standardize, spammers may use it to their advantage and play the system according to their benefits which may become suspect.
When it comes to federal regulations, this is Google’s newest problem both in U.S. and at Europe. That is why it placed its opinion article at FT. There are an increasing number of regulators, agitators, and regular people who have no confidence on the integrity of Google’s search results.
For a long time, Google’s independence was never questioned; this is because it gives high quality search systems wherein other businesses that ventured in the net benefited a lot. Suspicion started when Google’s 2007 inaugurated universal search technology which somehow benefited its own search categories by giving emphasis on images, maps, products, and news in their major search results page.
Many have shelled out billions of dollars just to crack Google’s system and use it for their own good and other bad intentions.
If Google will open its algorithm system to everybody, so must Yahoo, Ask.com etc. This will become catastrophic to the entire Internet.
But, even if the world benefited a lot from Google, it is still a profit corporation controlled by three men. It is the gateway to millions of people in the Internet. It would be unwise to expect that this corporation will be operating only for the public good alone forever.
This is the painful truth that disclosing a secret algorithm to the open won’t be able to solve. Google must not fail to gain the confidence of the people so as to avoid other people with bad intentions to exploit the search engine system of the company.
