Google is the IRS of the Web

Quick, what are these people talking about?

• “I think I've found a loophole I can exploit!”
• “How can I avoid being penalized for this?”
• “Do I have to tell them about everything I do?”
• “Why do they care where the money comes from?”
• “This is too complicated, I need professional help!”
• “It's the honest people that get shafted.”

No, they're not talking about taxes, although it's a perfectly good assumption for this time of year. These people are actually talking about Google.

There is fear among search marketing experts that Google is fast becoming the IRS of the web. Or, perhaps more precisely, the (self-appointed) auditor and enforcer of search marketing.

The analogy's not perfect, but it's not that far of a stretch. Let me quote the following paragraph from the page describing the IRS criminal investigation arm:

Compliance with the tax laws in the United States relies heavily on self-assessments of what tax is owed. This is called voluntary compliance. When individuals and corporations make deliberate decisions to not comply with the law, they face the possibility of a civil audit or criminal investigation which could result in prosecution and possible jail time. Publicity of these convictions provides a deterrent effect that enhances voluntary compliance.

Let's change a few words:

Compliance with Google's search marketing rules relies heavily on self-assessments within the larger web community. This is called voluntary compliance. When sites make deliberate decisions to not comply with the rules, they face the possibility of investigation that could result in penalties. Publicity of these penalizations provides a deterrent effect that enhances voluntary compliance.

Actually, the next paragraph on that page can also be reworded:

Google's web spam agents [i.e., Matt Cutts] fill a unique roll in the search marketing enforcement community. Today's sophisticated schemes to defraud search engine users demand the analytical ability of web spam investigators to wade through complex computer records. Web spam agents are trained to recover evidence and use specialized forensic technology to recover web spam data that may be cloaked or hidden by other electronic means.

OK, I'm being a bit tongue-in-cheek here, but the parallels are there. As Google continues to grow, so will these kinds of concerns.

Google's stated mission is to “organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful”. But that's the kind of mission statement you's expect from a non-profit or governmental organization, not a public for-profit company. I think Google's mission is really to organize the world's information and monetize it, which puts it in direct competition with the likes of Thomson and Reed Elsevier. Google has two primary advantages over these other companies, however, because it doesn't have to produce or manage the content it monetizes and because it controls the distribution network. Google is perhaps the ultimate vertically-integrated information company. It's no wonder that some people are raising red flags.

I'm no apologist for Google. I'm just one guy who's to write about one aspect of Google's content monetization, AdSense, in an effort to help others make money using the Internet. (I'd write about Yahoo's Publisher Network, too, except that as a Canadian I can't join the program, which is only open to US residents, and so I have no experiences with it to share.) I turned down a job offer from Google last year not because I was morally against anything they are doing, but because Google's lawyers were concerned about my writing activities and Make Easy Money with Google in particular raised red flags in their eyes. (You can be sure that Uncommon AdSense would not have seen the light of day if I had accepted the offer. Even my little link cloaking how-to report wouldn't be welcome, would it?)

Let me finish by quoting Marshall McLuhan's book Understanding Media:

The message of any medium or technology is the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs. The railway did not introduce movement or transportation or wheel or road into human society, but it accelerated and enlarged the scale of previous human functions, creating totally new kinds of cities and new kinds of work and leisure. This happened whether the railway functioned in a tropical or northern environment, and is quite independent of the freight or content of the railway medium.

When Google effectively controls the medium of the World Wide Web, will it be a positive or a negative influence on human society? Is the world of Neuromancer becoming a reality?

You tell me.

Sponsored Link: Get the free Silent Profit Machine report on list-building and get 25 pre-built AdSense sites as a bonus!

Eric Giguere is the author of Uncommon AdSense and the award-nominated (that just means it lost!) blog Make Easy Money with Google and AdSense.

Comments