Kind of based off of something I ran across on the Know Your Meme site.  Apparently there was a transparency report released by Google a few days back with some concerning information.  Long story short, various government agencies and companies asked Google to remove search listings that are politically confrontational or youtube videos portraying certain official groups in a bad light, to the tune of 6,321 removals in 6 months.  Now, while it’s hard to place blame with Google (cause when some government officials ask you to do something, it gets a bit tricky to say no), this does play up the whole “evil corporation that sacrifices the customers’ rights for third party interests”.  The real bad guy is the governments and organizations who pressure the companies (ie bullying) into compliance.  (though Google should grow a pair and say no)

So basically, governments didn’t like what people have to say, Google folds, civil liberties lost.  This right here is the whole fear behind the CISPA and SOPA!  You know, the government and corporations influencing the ISPs and search engines to censor anything they deem unsatisfactory.  That whole Big Brother thing we all worried about before.  So yeah, it’s happening for reals now guys.  But I guess they didn’t need any official legislation to control the internet afterall.  Scary stuff guys!  Kind of a loophole in that 1st amendment thing.  Granted it’s all legal and compulsory by the company, but at the end of the day, an official governing body shouldn’t be trying skirt their own laws in order to fulfill their agendas.  I for one… not happy.

Source: KYM