WGBH Forum Network; Siva Vaidhyanathan: Googlization of Everything (And Why We Should Worry)
Description:
University of Virginia professor of media studies and the law Siva Vaidhyanathan discusses the impact of Google on the Internet and the world more broadly and his new book, The Googlization of Everything (And Why We Should Worry).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 missionTo organize the worlds information and make it universally accessibleand its much-quoted motto, Dont be Evil. In this provocative book, Siva Vaidhyanathan examines the ways we have used and embraced Googleand 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 Googles 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.
