Is Google Becoming Skynet?

An interesting comparison of Google to Skynet can be found in computer science professor Greg Conti's book, "Googling Security: How Much Does Google Know About You?" Conti does not make an apples to apples comparison, but he does have concerns about the mass amalgamation of society's data being housed by juggernauts such as Google and being used to harm individuals in a variety of ways.

In "The Terminator," Skynet became self-aware and then decided to off the human race. The humans, of course, rebelled in turn.

In what may be one of the first real-life acts of human defiance against the machine, villagers in a tony, tiny English village named Broughton formed a human chain to physically prevent a photographer for Google Earth's Street View from snapping pictures of their neighborhood. The story was reported by MSNBC.

OK, maybe it's a stretch, because the photographer is another human. Yet, how much privacy are we willing to give up? How much data should Google have on us? Is it worth having strangers lurking about your neighborhood to be able to see your house on Google Earth?

People eagerly and without asking many questions are busy cataloging their lives and the most intimate aspects of their lives on Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and any of the plethora of hosted applications and services that are so enticing because they are often free of charge.

Can that information be used for evil purposes? Companies are already selling users' Web-tracking habits to companies that tailor Web advertisements based on a user's surfing habits. A huge amount of data sitting on a finite number of servers is a temptingly convenient wealth of information for those who may want to insure you, to provide you with a mortgage or employ you.

The vast amount of data that Google has on all of us is unsettling. The company has always managed to conduct itself in pretty ethical ways, but is a vast network that can cause harm, a real-life Skynet, not just fodder for sci-fi anymore?