Google is getting too powerful for the internet. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, and in fact use some Google services, but that doesn’t mean we should all turn a blind eye to what Google is and is capable of. Google has one of the best search engines, any they also have a wealth of knowledge. As the internet has grown, so has Google.

Google owns or has acquired a stake in 33 companies from 2001 to 2006, and they have already bought 2 companies in 2007. Maybe their plans are to buy 1 up-and-coming company a month. They forked over $1 billion to obtain 5% equity in AOL. They also bought out Youtube, their competing video site, for $1.65 billion. Instead of trying to improve their own online video service, they squelch the competition. Google swallows creativity. It doesn’t destroy it, but merely obtains (buys) the rights to innovative web applications, services, and other intellectual properties.

Think about what Google knows about you:

If you’ve ever searched on Google, visited a blogger blog, pages with Adsense ads, or pages that use Google Analytics, then you have cookie that expires in 2038, unless you have deleted it manually.

Google knows what locations you have viewed in Google Earth and Google Maps.

If there’s a Google Toolbar in your browser, it quietly sends information about pages that you surf.

When you delete your email from Gmail, Google still keeps a backup stored offline of every word you’ve ever said. “Residual copies of deleted messages and accounts … may remain in our offline backup systems.” From their Privacy Policy.

Google Desktop can access personal information on your hard drive.

Google knows about you and also shares public information about you. Do a search for your full name. Chances are that you are listed somewhere in Google’s mass of data. Also try your usernames and try putting your name in quotes.

Besides mining data, Google also restricts information. Google internationally agreed to censorship in China, such as prohibiting search results for “human rights.”

So what is there to do? Not much, really. You could abandon all Google related sites, but that is pretty impractical. You’d lose plenty of useful tools that Google obtained. Why not just be aware of what your sending (like you care that they know you search for “getting rid of greasy forehead with horse urine”), be weary of giving personal information, broaden or switch providers of services (Use google to search, Yahoo! for email, others for text-link advertising). You can even avoid Google’s cookie for searches by searching anonymously with Black Box Search. You can even add it to your Firefox searchbar.