You may have heard that Google has a motto of “Do Not Be Evil” but as this giant internet company continues to invade our lives more and more, the company takes more and more liberties with our information online. How many times today did you visit a website that had a link to Google, either directly as a Google franchise or indirectly through advertising or data sharing. We all believe that Google the services provided by Google are important and beneficial to our lives but this company grows larger and larger everyday. There may come a time when we no longer see Google as doing no evil but how will this company be overthrown?

Today, Google is under attack through the demands of the telecommunications monopolies. In the United States, most internet services are provided to homes by a telecommunication company. The individual pays a small fee each month for unlimited access to the internet. Google makes billions of dollars each year by connecting to the individual and advertising to them. At no time does Google pay the telecommunication company any money for the ability to use their internet infrastructure to reach people in their homes. If net neutrality laws are not passed, Google may be forced to pay the internet service providers and the telecommunication monopolies a large fee in order to continue to provide internet uses with services we have become acquainted with.

Improvements in home computing and desktop hardware may eventually be the downfall of Google as well. As the company becomes older and more well known, people may being to look for the next great and hot internet idea or they will make their own. Just as Google’s search engine was created by two people on a home computer if open search algorithms are created and released we may have other people creating new search engines or wiki style databases of all the data and information available. Imagine being able to rival the amount of data Google has been able to amass from your kitchen table because you have the ability to store terabytes of data on your computer. WIth open search algorithms and improved advancements in artificial intelligence you will have the ability to search and collect everything you desire and build your own citizen encyclopedia of information. You will not need to rely on a search engine to find information for you because you have your own database which is constantly being added to by the artificial intelligence and search algorithms.

Increased competition from China and Russia may eventually cause Google to be overthrown as the leader in internet search and advertising. Google provides many software programs for free to its users. These programs usually require someone to be connected to the internet in order to use them, but as more and more people from China and Russia begain to exploit the internet we may see an influx of cheep software programs available. Some people use the free Google software to host materials that they do not hold the copyright for. If Google ever suffers from a data loss scandal or has to deal with copyright litigation based upon data found in one of the online programs hosted by the company, people will begin to move away from these free online programs and may find that cheep software from China and Russia is a viable solution.

Eventually, Google will suffer a data loss scandal of some sort that will be exploited by competitors very easily. Every day Google begins to collect more and more information about its uses. While most of the information Google has collected about each user is relatively begin, imagine what would happen if the company succeeds in gaining access to private medical records and an unhappy employee steals the data. A scandal of this magnitude would effectively overthrow the company very quickly. There are currently several grassroots privacy campaigns focused on Google’s amassing of personal data and working to educate the public of the dangers associated with allowing Google to continue to collect personal information about its users.

Today we trust Google because of their motto “Do Not Be Evil” but would you continue to place all your information and trust in the company if there was a change in the management philosophy? There will be a time when management makes a decision that is good for the company but not seen as good by the internet population in general. After all, Google is a company that wants to make a profit. We are already seeing management and profit decisions coming from the company because, Google is overextending itself and expanding into areas and markets that would not be considered their core business. Do we really need a cell phone created by Google? Eventually Google will extend itself beyond its capabilities and begin to flounder in areas that are unsuccessful for the company. These unsuccessful endeavors will drain Google’s bank account and popularity.

While Google is king of the internet at this moment, internet users are fickle and at some point in the future our desire for all things Google will wane. At that point Google will be prime to be overthrown and a new company will step in to replace Google as provider and collector of most of the internet’s data.