<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=iso-8859-1"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">I wasn't aware that Google was getting bad mouthed - just the opposite. Which is why I simply asked a question...<div><br></div><div>I am not paranoid about corporations. I am simply cautious. Corporations, large and small, are human efforts and prone to both good and bad behaviour. Oligopolies tend to be subject to fewer external constraints and sometimes perpetrate misguided behaviour. An action by an oligopoly tends to have a broader impact and is much more difficult to mitigate through legislation or public opinion (insert plethora of examples here).</div><div><br></div><div>I consider Google part of an emerging information oligopoly (events like the creation of the DPLA are promising). This doesn't make Google good or bad, just, perhaps, worth scrutiny. The history of Google Books does suggest that Google is capable of self-serving behaviour that doesn't fit the public view of "fair use" of information.</div><div><br></div><div>Does this have anything to do with balloons? On it's own, no. However, consider that Google is active, and often dominant, in a number of information technology spaces: Google Search, Google Analytics, Google Ads, Google+, Google Books, Google Maps/Earth, YouTube, mobile devices (Android, Google Glasses), wireless Internet access and more.</div><div><br></div><div>So I asked a question. From an Internet governance perspective I believe who owns the landscape is important, particularly if they have a significant regional or global presence.</div><div><br></div><div>Cheers all,</div><div>Gary</div><div><div apple-content-edited="true"><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><span style="font-size: 10px; "><font face="Trebuchet MS"><b><i><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></i></b></font></span></div><font face="Futura" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><span style="font-size: 10px; "><font><font color="#b22200">THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL. </font></font></span></font><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><font face="Futura"><span style="font-size: 10px; "><font><font color="#b22200">THIS DOCUMENT IS NOT TO BE COPIED, </font></font><font style="color: rgb(178, 34, 0); ">PRINTED OR REDISTRIBUTED </font></span></font><font style="font-size: 10px; font-family: Futura; color: rgb(178, 34, 0); ">WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR</font><font style="font-size: 10px; font-family: Futura; color: rgb(178, 34, 0); ">. </font></div>
</div>
<br><div><div>On 2013.06.16, at 11:18 PM, Carlos M. Martinez <<a href="mailto:carlosmarcelomartinez@gmail.com">carlosmarcelomartinez@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite">
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
Agree - up to a certain point. I do not hear too much about the
'control of information' applied to, for example, Telcos. Yet they
carry most of what we type and see on the Internet. They are, in the
end, the only ones who can actually match an IP packet to a
customer.<br>
<br>
Yet Google gets all the bad mouthing. I'm not trying to defend them
(they're big enough to defend themselves ;) ), but I'm curious about
why people feel Google bears more responsibility or Google is more
to fear than other actors.<br>
<br>
Also bear in mind that in some regions/countries, Google is not even
the biggest player. Take Baidu in China and the Russian search
engines, and you've got large swaths of the Internet where Google is
second (or third).<br>
<br>
regards,<br>
<br>
~Carlos<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 6/16/13 7:56 PM, Gary W Kenward
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:AEDF0F78-FC15-4EFB-87CE-10BEC2444C57@eastlink.ca" type="cite">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;
charset=ISO-8859-1">
Using balloons to provide coverage in remote areas is a great
idea. There are many advantages over fixed infrastructure for
providing wireless connectivity to under serviced areas. There are
also many technical challenges to be overcome and certainly Google
has money to spend on research.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I just find the lack of concern over Google's growing
influence - and control over information, curious. The only
groups of people who have expressed a concern over Google's
growing acquisition of information, as far as I know, are the
various library associations around the world. It's a legitimate
concern, only offset by Google's assurances of good will.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I suspect that if the vendor involved was a major
international telecom, the dialogue would be much different (as
exemplified by some of the discussions around WSIS). </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I am not trying to vilify Google, nor am I suggesting that
they even had much of a choice as to whether to cooperate with
the NSA on the PRISM program. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The existence of the PRISM program, the type of data being
collected, the list of the companies who provided data and the
immense storage facility are not disputed. The fact that PRISM
is acquiring massive amounts of meta-data on private
communications is not a fabrication of <span style="font-family:
monospace; ">apologists, the apathetic, the fearmongers and
the conspiracy theorist(s). The only issue in dispute, within
the US, is how this data is being used and what legal
protections are in place to mitigate abuse of the
information. </span></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The real question is whether any single commercial entity
should have wide spread control over access, storage or
dissemination of information. This in particular, includes the
pipes that deliver that information, for if the meta-data
crosses or is stored in a facility in a US territory, then the
NSA - and other law enforcement agencies, have legal access
through the Patriot Act.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The real question is whether Canadian's should rely upon the
efficacy of US legislation to protect access to information
acquired from Canadian use of the Internet.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Colin Hogan's article <a moz-do-not-send="true" j87aee45d="true" rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.ipolitics.ca/2013/06/10/should-canadians-worry-about-the-nsas-prism-program-maybe/">"Should
Canadians Worry About the NSA's PRISM Program? Maybe"</a> gives
better background. Mr. Hogan's credentials as a journalist are
respectable. The article includes references to concerns
expressed by Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart over the
deficiencies in Canada's standards when it comes to protecting
personal online privacy.</div>
<div><span style="font-family: monospace; "><br>
</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: monospace; ">Gary</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: monospace; "><br>
</span></div>
<div>
<div>
<div>On 2013.06.16, at 4:43 PM, Carlos M. Martinez <<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:carlosmarcelomartinez@gmail.com">carlosmarcelomartinez@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
<blockquote type="cite">
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"> What does it have to
do with the poor balloons ? <br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 6/16/13 3:39 PM, Gary W
Kenward wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:8F82A832-3689-447E-B225-452015F41DEA@eastlink.ca" type="cite">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;
charset=ISO-8859-1">
I am surprised that so little is being said about
Google's growing monopoly on information, globally.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Particularly in light of the recent disclosures
concerning project PRISM, which includes Google
providing information to the NSA.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Gary<br>
<br>
<div>
<div>On 2013.06.16, at 11:46 AM, Glenn McKnight <<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:contact@internetsociety.ca">contact@internetsociety.ca</a>>
wrote:</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr"><a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=192277280">http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=192277280</a>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><span style="color:rgb(17,17,17);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:19.200000762939453px">Google
scientists have been testing a way to link
computers to the internet in rural, war torn
or disaster areas where high speed internet
does not exist. We hear from Steven Levy, a
senior writer with Wired magazine who was
embedded with the Google team.</span><br clear="all">
<div>Glenn McKnight<br>
Membership Outeach<br>
<div>ISOC Canada Chapter</div>
<div>skype gmcknight</div>
<div>"The Internet is for Everyone"</div>
<div><img moz-do-not-send="true" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?view=att&th=13d35e7c9f4238cb&attid=0.1&disp=thd&zw"><br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
_______________________________________________<br>
As an Internet Society Chapter Officer you are
automatically subscribed<br>
to this list, which is regularly synchronized with
the Internet Society<br>
Chapter Portal (AMS): <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="https://portal.isoc.org/">https://portal.isoc.org</a></blockquote>
</div>
<br>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
<br>
<pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
As an Internet Society Chapter Officer you are automatically subscribed
to this list, which is regularly synchronized with the Internet Society
Chapter Portal (AMS): <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://portal.isoc.org/">https://portal.isoc.org</a></pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
<br>
<pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
As an Internet Society Chapter Officer you are automatically subscribed
to this list, which is regularly synchronized with the Internet Society
Chapter Portal (AMS): <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://portal.isoc.org/">https://portal.isoc.org</a></pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
</div>
</blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>