Search Beyond Google -- Technology Review

Resurrected an old letter that I wrote to TR to post on my blog. (It was never published.) Thought it was still relevant. Here it is:

I was very intrigued by the recent article in Technology Review about
"Search beyond Google." The article mentioned various ways people are
trying to subvert and spoof Google and how Google is fighting back. I
thought I would add something to this, a practice I have observed that
people call "anti-googling." Now that Google is so prevalent when two
people meet who have not met before, they tend to Google each other
immediately afterwards and then peruse a variety of interesting facts
and tidbits about each other. If one wants to be a bit annoying -- or
downright mean -- one can create a number of web pages (using weblogs
or free sites such as geocities) implicting someone in various silly
acts or even in a crime. These reside on the web and will often be
picked up by Google. Once they spring into existence it is very hard
to make them disappear or to combat their veracity. Thus, one can be
smeared in a very unfortunate way, using Google.

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http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=13505&ch=infotech
Search Beyond Google -- Technology Review
March 2004, By Wade Roush

Google reigns supreme as the search engine of choice-but for how long? A pack of startups-and Microsoft-are developing technologies to find what you want, faster. If employees at Google are anxious about the future, you wouldn't know it from a visit to the company's headquarters. Since last fall, when talk of an initial public offering got investors salivating, the organization has been under unusual scrutiny: some observers have called it "the hottest company on the planet," while others claim it's a business in leaderless disarray, with competitors crowding in and major customers on the verge of defection. But the Google complex in Mountain View, CA, is as outwardly carefree as any college campus....

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