Here’s a good read about the increasingly important role of Google on the Internet (oh, the irony of where I’m posting this). Among the things potentially in the future of Google are a variety of Internet-based applications which would allow a user to free himself from his desktop, or to essentially use “his computer” at any computer. The article does a good job of pointing out the importance of WiFi and Dark Fiber to their plan. There’s an appealing ambition in this plan of greater net access, but of concern to me are how central it would make Google to the operation of the Internet.
Some people speculate the company will use the dark fiber to build a massive nationwide network that would rival those of some of the largest Internet backbone providers such as MCI and AT&T. As that theory goes, Google would use this network to shuttle traffic across the country between its data centers. Then it would use a wireless network to distribute the content locally to end users.
This could have the potential to hinder one of the Internet’s greatest (and underappreciated) strenghts: it’s decentralized and non-discriminitory network architecture.
To make matters worse, the system is built on a series of patents which may lock control in Google’s hands.
Google is arguably one of the most interesting and innovative tech companies to come out since Apple, but perhaps we need to spend more time keeping a closer watch on Google.