By: Ryan Schimmel

         When someone says “Google”, you immediately think, “Oh, the most popular search engine.” Google.com is the predominant choice of internet search by common people in countless nations - our guide to the internet. The simplistic design, characterized by a white background and “googles” of little “O”’s signifying pages, is globally a homely sight regardless of the language. The English version of the site is the most accessed website in the world, followed closely by facebook.com, and youtube.com. The company was started in 1995 by two professors and now is worth more than 150 billion dollars. Google rose to power at the speed of some of the fastest growing companies such as Wal-Mart and Pay-Pal; rising from nothing into global dominance.
                We generally think of nearly everything on the internet as “overall good” and somewhat safe, but do we know what happens to our data when it leaves our machines? The answer is we do know, but most of us don’t care enough to read the garble of legal privacy agreements that always result in us clicking, “Yes, I agree.” But do you? Rather, would you if you knew what was happening in all that legal garble? Well, you decide…
Remember clicking, “Yes, I agree”? – “We have your consent. We require opt-in consent for the sharing of any sensitive personal information.”
Do you have a gmail account? – “The Gmail service includes relevant advertising and related links based on the IP address, content of messages and other information related to your use of Gmail.”
               Both of these quotes come directly from Google’s privacy policy available online. At risk of sounding like an infomercial, there’s more. You might be rationalizing that Google isn’t that bad, and that someone keeps them under control, but “Google regularly reviews its compliance with this Privacy Policy” – Google privacy policy. Can you really trust someone to hold themselves accountable for their actions when they have to restrain profit and potential new markets?
               The big thing with this issue isn’t that Google is doing things its users might not approve of but that the users of Google click “Yes, I agree” and go about their merry way. As our technology expands, so do our freedoms and opportunities to have them taken. Google isn’t tracking your every move, but at risk of sounding paranoid, someone one day could. Benjamin Franklin once said, “He who gives up freedom for safety deserves neither.” In the same way, those who give up freedom for convenience or simple lack of awareness don’t deserve the freedoms they are losing.