Loyal Users Cheer Google's Integrity
忠诚用户信赖Google

Sunday March 21, 3:21 pm ET
By Anick Jesdanun, AP Internet Writer 

Can Google, on the Verge of an Expected Public Offering, Still Be Trusted? Loyalists Think So

(中文大意)

　创立5年的Google现在已经是头号互联网搜索引擎，其严格信守的一条经营准则就是“无商不奸并非百分之百准确，企业完全可以在保持良好信誉的前提下赚钱”。但是，如今业界总是充满商业丑闻，再加上白热化的竞争现状，Google的信条也许仅仅是一种希望吧？在Google可能即将上市的情况下，其用户还信赖它吗？

　　调查显示，大多数用户对于Google仍然是充满信赖，到Google网站上进行检索已经成为他们网络生活当中不可或缺的一部分。用户使用Google查询单词拼写和词意，或是在Google网站上搜索客户的相关信息，这些服务都让他们感到非常方便。

　　comScore Media Metrix调研公司表示，去年12月，美国用户上Google进行搜索的数量已经占到了所有美国用户上网搜索数量的四分之三，其中一半是登录google.com，另外四分之一是通过登录与Google建立合作关系的网站。

　　Google创始人之一拉里-佩吉(Larry Page)表示，Google的目标就是为了给用户“提供真正有用、可靠、客观以及不偏不倚的信息”。一些业界专家认为，整个互联网搜索市场将最终确保Google继续成为一家诚实可信的企业，因为其管理高层应该会意识到，用户的信任是企业能够持续发展的一个核心资产。Forrester研究公司的分析师查里尼-李(Charlene Li)表示：“如果Google做了一些对于用户而言不好的事情，那么用户将很快就能够察觉出来，这将对Google的品牌带来负面效应。”



NEW YORK (AP) -- With a gigantic index of nearly 4.3 billion Web pages and counting, Google has become the Internet's top search engine. Credit good technology, but perhaps as important, Google's Philosophy No. 6: "You can make money without doing evil."

But in this age of corporate malfeasance and cutthroat consolidation, is that just wishful thinking? Can Google, on the verge of an expected public offering, still be trusted?

Loyal users seem to think so.

When John Young heard a radio interviewer ask whether a song was pastiche, he didn't grab a dictionary. He typed an approximation into Google to get the word's spelling and meaning.

When Young, a design consultant in Whittier, Calif., gets new clients, he "googles" them to see if they pay their bills. And he likes that Google's sponsored links, paid for by advertisers, are inconspicuously placed to the side on results pages.

For Ted Kaczmarek, a senior network engineer in Jersey City, N.J., the quality of the search results proves Google isn't influenced by the bottom line.

"A lot of times, I see some of the most obscure stuff come up No. 1," he said. "I know those people aren't paying any money because they haven't got any money."

That is not to say there haven't been complaints about the 5-year-old search engine, which comScore Media Metrix credits for three-quarters of U.S. searches in December, about half at google.com and the rest through partners that tap Google's index.

The likelihood that Google will go public and sell stock has generated rumblings that shareholder considerations might trump those of Google users.

And already, advocacy groups have complained about Google's policy of rejecting critical ads alongside regular search results. Recently, Google banned an environmental group's ads that protested a cruise line's sewage treatment methods.

Some merchants also complain that sudden changes in Google's ranking formula can wipe them off the Internet. They suspect pressure to buy ads, though Google says its changes help thwart tricks Web sites use to artificially boost listings.

Google's formula, for the most part, remains top secret, and Google co-founder Larry Page acknowledges that the company could do better in spelling out guidelines on advertising and censorship.

"We're quite a young company, growing really fast and dealing with real global issues," Page said. "Sometimes it takes time to understand the issues."

In the meantime, "secrecy always feeds the imagination and gives people the freedom to think whatever the wildest thing they can conjure up is," said Frank Hayson, editor of a Web site named Watching Google Like A Hawk.

Doug Cutting, lead developer of an open-source alternative called Nutch that seeks to better explain decisions behind its search results, said people may trust Google today, "but should we have to trust them forever just blindly?"

A play on the number Googol -- 1 followed by 100 zeros -- Google Inc. was born on Sept. 7, 1998, in a garage in Menlo Park, Calif. Through word of mouth among the tech elite, its search engine soon toppled powerhouses at the time, including Yahoo and AltaVista.

The secret sauce: A ranking system that equates relevancy with popularity. Google believes sites are more likely to link to other sites they find useful, so a site scores higher the more links it has to it. The result is greater relevancy than using keywords alone.

Because Google finds Web sites and scores them using automated software tools, it can index millions more sites than human-powered search directories, which once were considered the best.

Over time, Google became even more influential as it licensed its technology to supplement searches at Yahoo and America Online. (Yahoo! Inc. ended the relationship last month and, like Microsoft Corp. is aggressively developing rival technology.)

But Google as the market leader also draws the brunt of complaints, even those that apply to rivals, too. And that has led to some calls, though none serious or strong, for regulation or oversight.

"We have all sorts of protections against government abuse, ... but figuring out what to do when you have a private party wielding a lot of power is a puzzle," said Jonathan Zittrain, a Harvard law professor.

Although some have compared Google to an electric company, which is generally regulated to ensure that moneymaking concerns don't hurt the public interest, Google see itself more as an information provider.

Defending a federal lawsuit over changes in Google's ranking system, Google argued that its results are merely opinions. A judge agreed, saying the company deserved First Amendment protection.

In an interview, Page said Google shared values that most journalists hold: providing "really good, trustworthy, objective, unbiased information."

Nonetheless, some critics have suggested that a mechanism be created for appealing decisions on ranking. A public forum, they say, could help hash out policy issues. Perhaps Google could use a public liaison like ombudsmen found at many news organizations?

Zittrain said Google has moved toward more openness, citing its decision to publicize cases where organizations and companies, alleging copyright violation, pressure Google to remove links to critical sites.

By law, Google must remove the links or lose immunity from lawsuits, but now it also discloses specific cases through an independent site, Chilling Effects Clearinghouse.

Google has yet to do that for sites removed under pressure from France and Germany, which have strict laws banning hate speech. Page said the company still was exploring the legality of doing so.

Nancy Blachman, an author of Google tutorials and the wife of a Google software engineer, said Google doesn't add features lightly, holding "a lot of discussions about the ramifications" of each one.

Even the ads, Blachman said, favor users.

Ads are ranked not just based on payments, but on the number of clicks they get, so unpopular ads can get dropped even if their sponsors are willing to pay more.

Experts believe the market will ultimately keep Google honest, and even with shareholders to answer to, its executives should recognize that trust is a key asset.

"If Google did something that would be bad for users, people would find out about it very quickly," said Charlene Li, an analyst at Forrester Research. "That would hurt their brand."

Anick Jesdanun can be reached at netwriter(at)ap.org