Sunday, November 7, 2010

Could Google cause a war?

A few weeks ago Nicaraguan troops set up camp on the Costa Rican side of the San Juan River. The Nicaraguan general in charge of those troops has justified his actions by appealing to Google Maps, where the border is misrepresented. Google has admitted that the border is inaccurate and is working to update the maps, but what if Google did something like this on purpose? With the amount of information that Google controls, it isn't beyond belief that someone within their organization could intentionally start a war. After all, Google can manipulate maps, news, emails, and search results. Governments should never rely on information provided solely by Google or any other corporation. If inaccuracies in Google's data—intentional or not—led to international conflict, it would still be the fault of the governments for not verifying their information rather than the fault of Google for misrepresenting it.

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