Google: Le “Dark side”

Abstract

Beyond its public use as a source of information, Google has also become a primary tool for advertisers and the police, for whom it has become today the equivalent of DNA testing in the early 1980s. This article reexamines the ways in which the uses made of Google, especially by law enforcement officials, has raised a number of ethical and legal questions, including the arrest and incarceration of innocent people.

Keywords:

• Google
• Berlinquette
• digital surveillance
• Senservault

Notes

1 Patrick Berlinquette, Medium. https://medium.com/@patrickberlinquette. Accessed 14 Jan. 2019.

2 https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3118687?hl = fr

3 https://transparencyreport.google.com/user-data/overview?hl = fr

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michel de Pracontal

Michel de Pracontal worked as a science journalist at L’Événement du Jeudi, Science et Vie, Le Nouvel Observateur, and Mediapart. He is also the author of several studies such as L’Imposture scientifique en dix leçons (Points), La Guerre du tabac (Fayard), and L’École des suricates (Points). As a fiction writer he published La Femme sans nombril, Risques majeurs, and Les Gènes de la violence, all published with Cherche Midi. He also authored several science fiction and detective short stories published in collections such as Complots capitaux (Cherche Midi). He currently pursues a career as a novelist.