Google Endorses Political Candidate

[Discovery]

This is not a political post to support nor detract from any candidate or party.

Last night Barack Obama delivered a TV infomercial that any of us marketers would be proud of. Great visuals, controlled themes, Endorsements and powerful stories that stick with people. However, one of these surprising endorsements was from Eric Schmidt CEO of GOOGLE.

Up until that moment last night, I guess I had never pondered how much it meant to me that Google was, well, just Google. A search site with great results, an ad platform reaching hundreds of millions of consumers, a savvy technology company helping grow businesses across this country.. and the world.

And then the endorsement from Eric Schmidt. Now we all have our own opinions, and I'm sure other CEO's have spoken for or against certain candidates. However considering the very high visibility and importance of this infomercial and the endorsement coming directly from the CEO of Google. This was not a simple side comment in private. This was an intentional well thought out endorsement of a political party.

Google told me: We are Democrats, we support Barack Obama.

This now paints my whole perspective of Google different. Not because I dislike Barack, nor that I have ill will towards the democratic party. It's simply that I felt Google should never publicly align with a political party, it taints them, it makes their motives for everything they do suspicious.

I trust Google with a great deal of sensitive private information both for my business and my personal life.
Some things are simple like search query data, and other things more direct like the content within my emails.

When Donald Trump backs McCain, it has no effect on me.
When Martha Stewart backed Obama it had no impact on me.
These folks are known by millions but they have no access to nor control over individual lives.

When Google who holds nearly 10 years of data about me aligns themselves with a political party and endorses legislation.. that can have a very significant direct impact on me.. and the hundreds of millions of users of Google.

Is it coincidence that Google is now the senior partner to use Government space missions to launch and use satellites to view and track your house, car and back yard?

Is it odd that Google launches a medical service and the big push from our Government is to use technology to reduce health costs?

Is it odd that our Government wants a "fairness doctrine" and Google has all the search query data, blogs, email and video content to identify and filter this content for the Government?

This is all very concerning to me.

How did you view this?
Do you think Google should stay out of politics or jump in?
Does it concern you that Google who holds the keys to your data would be so closely aligned with a political party?

Again, I want to stress, I am not making a point about who they endorsed, my point is that they DID endorse somebody.

Respectful comments are appreciated.

Discovery

[beu]

Yeah, Google should stick with search and stay out of politics.

[mcanerin]

FYI,

When Eric came out to endorse Obama, he clearly said that Google was "officially neutral", and that it was a personal endorsement:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/1..._n_136047.html

Having said that, Google has been involved in politics for a while now:

http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com

Personally, I think as long as politicians are constantly calling Google out on China, net netrality, etc, Google is right to at least pay attention to political trends.

Arguing that Google should just stick with search only works as long as the government doesn't use them as a punching bag, or spy on people, IMO.

You are right to be concerned about Googles reach being used for political purposes, but I think that Google isn't the only one to be doing it, and they are entitled to basic self defence.

I liken it to a newspaper endorsing a candidate - as long as the endorsment is only editorial, it's OK, but if it affects content or fairness, it's an issue.

Personally, in a perfect world I'd like to see a complete separation of the two, but I think that as long as government involves itself in business, business will involve itself in government, for better or worse.

[Discovery]

If it is a personal endorsement he should stop touting that he is the CEO from Google supporting Barack Obama.

All corporations have a employees who are working hard to influence political change to favor their companies objectives. However this is usually done in the form of explaining to the politicians what the corporation desires in a private setting. To go out and campaign for a candidate is entirely different.

A newspaper does not hold my bank account information, they don't know where I have shopped, nor what I have searched for, they don't have pictures of my home and property, they don't have access to my marketing accounts or my advertising conversion rates... email, blog, pdf and all other forms of online content. And soon Medical docs. And certainly no single newspaper has even a spittle of the amount of users Google has.

I dont mean to suggest Eric doesnt have a right to support who he wants. I am simply saying that as a public company that has a very personal relationship with businesses and individuals it is a very dangerous and to me a foolhardy move to align so closely with a party, candidate and policy.

I mean things like this could get out of hand just look at their search page today.

[j0nyDzine]

I know for a fact that a rather left leaning organization gets both a pretty big monthly Adwords account, as well their own G box for free monthly - I'm sure there's conditions such as their non-profit status and all, but they're definitely democratic.

[Discovery]

GOOGLE REPORTS FLU SEARCHES TO FEDS
Tue Nov 11 2008 15:44:50 ET

We know how you're feeling, we know if you're sick. We'll report it to the government.

GOOGLE will launch a new tool that will help U.S. federal officials track sickness. 'Flu Trends' uses search terms that people put into the Web-based search engine to figure out where influenza is heating up, and notify the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in real time.

These are the activities that I now start to question.
Google sponsoring satellites with Big Brother.
Google passing search query data to the FED
Yes, each of these moves are all under the auspice of offering better services, or stopping outbreaks of illness, but slowly they gain more and more control over and into our lives.

Discovery