"Google dominates search. But the real problem is its monopoly on data."
"The wider problem is that Google has become the ultimate monopolist of the information age. Information is a source of power, and nothing in the EU’s case does anything significant to touch that power."
THE GUARDIAN APR 19 2015
Part 3 of the Google Information War Series
If you read Part 1 and part 2 you’ve almost certainly recognized a pattern – most of the established Tech companies (part of the MSM) have lost the public’s trust. The honourable old business practice of providing the very best customer satisfaction has been replaced with the wholesale collection and sale of your personal information. Alphabet Inc and Google are some of the worst offenders, with litigation already paid out for antitrust and anti-competitive practices. After acquiring a whopping 218 companies (on record) since 2001, the conglomerate has also been accused of monopoly, patent infringement, and of course – privacy issues. You’re about to find out why!
Note: Due to the unfortunate number of repetitions you’ll necessarily be subjected to throughout this article, the names Google – and its multi-national conglomerate parent company, Alphabet, when used together – will be affectionately referred to as AG. We'll add that to the Glossary, below.
Glossary of terms:
SE = Search Engine
OS = Operating Systems
WB = Web Browser
AG = Alphabet Inc & Google
Google is much more than a Search Engine. It serves as a vital component of an interchangeable collection of hardware and software, which, when combined form a monopoly so powerful, even Apple has been forced to integrate it into their products. For the year of 2017, Android and IOS combined for 99% of the Mobile OS Market Share. Since Apple (iphone) renewed their deal in 2017 to remain the default Search Engine on the IOS, it’s easy to see how the SE market share is potentially higher than the reported 93%. The next highest of the big former Search Engine challengers is Microsoft’s Bing, at just over 1%!
Now that Google has relegated its former competitors – Bing and Yahoo - to insignificant single digits, they’re concentrating their attention in a completely different direction. Privacy Search Engines are a true existential threat to Google, since they mostly don’t collect or retain data. That is Google’s bread and butter. Google has recently embedded itself into one of the most successful alternative SE choices – Start Page. Very few even know that Start Page is Ixquick’s North American cousin. Fewer still know about SP’s agreement with Google. It’s not in bold type anywhere. Instead, it is cleverly spun by top Word-Smiths – on the right-side of the page, in small print, is the innocuous term: “Enhanced by Google.” Hovering over this term tells you nothing about how this incredible “enhancement” benefits the user – never a good sign. The rationale is that Start Page is expanding your access to information. While that may be true in certain instances, after Google’s algorithmic filters are applied, the content returned from searches may actually lead to narrowed or decreased sources and content.
You can avoid worrying about this at all by instead just using Ixquick.eu.
Google also recently finagled its way into being the default Search Engine on the incredibly popular Firefox, which is known for its Open Source Add-Ons. Out of the blue one day, after doing an update, all of the other SE choices just disappeared for many of Firefox’s customers – with no explanation whatsoever - on the phones using the Android (owned by Google) platform. There were no longer any "suggested searches," just Google! This was a bit of a dirty trick to play on consumers - after dealing with the inconvenience of losing their farvourite SE's, customers would then have to research the issue and learn how to manually add each additional SE back in. What role Google played in Firefox’s early termination with Yahoo to become the default SE is not known, but it probably starts with m and ends with y.
Oh, yeah…almost forgot…Google is now Apple’s default search engine…again. It is the default Search Engine on Iphones, Ipads and whatever those Voice Activated spying devices are called. There are so many components to AG (218 companies that we know of, and counting!), and the issue is so complex that it could not possibly all be covered in this one article. So stay tuned…
Sources:
See this post on google’s companies:
https://steemit.com/writing/@canusapatriots/a-glimpse-of-the-not-too-distant-future-featuring-alphabet-inc-and-google-s-technology
List of Google/Alphabet Acquisitions:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Alphabet
Google + Apple
https://hypebeast.com/2017/8/google-apple-3-billion-usd-deal-ios-default-search-engine
Google’s Market Share
https://www.netmarketshare.com/search-engine-market-share
Google Chart from Black Pigeon Speaks
http://blackpigeonspeaks.com/