Speaking of Obama and Google...

...THIS blogger wonders what in the world the Obama Administration is up to in tracking the search engine entries of the American citizens.

Sounds like a good question to me.

UPDATE! Google Wants Its Own Fast Track on Web

The Wall Street Journal published an article on Monday reporting the details of Google's admitted manipulation of search engine results to reflect its 'editorial criteria.'

Gone, says the Journal, are the days when Google was an unbiased source of search information.

In fact, apparently both Microsoft and Yahoo, in addition to Google, have quietly removed 'network neutrality' from their standards of service.

The freedom to make information available on the Internet is now for sale to the highest bidder.

Google and the other services plan to offer a fast track to the top of their search engine results to those who pay for it. Google could also give preferential treatment to its own services.

The net result of this move could well be the demise of smaller, less affluent sources of information. And large corporations such as Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon would totally dominate search engine results.

Google: Manipulating Search Engine Results

Finally, Google has admitted to doing what critics have claimed all along. The company manipulates search engine results based upon editorial criteria.

For years Google has claimed that its search engine results were totally impartial and 'computer-generated.'

According to Andrew Orlowsk at 'The Register,' Google's objectivity is giving way to admitted deference to arbitrary, editorial decisions based upon the views of a special unit the company has set up to determine content priority in its search engine results.

And thus,

Google is moving into new territory: not only making arbitrary, editorial choices - really no different to Fox News, say, or any other media organization. It's now in the business of validating and manufacturing consent: not only reporting what people say, but how you should think.

Google has further admitted that when it comes to page rank, some 'votes' (clicks) are worth more than others...meaning, of course, Google is now going to weight votes based upon how relevant or 'worthy' a story or post on a blog may be.

The problem with all of this is that in the anticipated demise of print media, news organizations are increasingly relying on Google for stories that they simply rewrite and post on their websites.

Google will thus be the centralized power through which all news, stories, and opinion will pass.