Just wanted to chime in quickly on today’s buzz-producing post on TechCrunch about the need to regulate search.
Admittedly, it is pretty amazing to think about the control that Google has over search. Without a transparent algorithm, they can seemingly do what they want and keep SEOs guessing. But does that mean we need regulation? I’d have to vote no for one big reason:
Regulation = getting the government involved as an overseer.
That definitely doesn’t sound good. While I’m sympathetic to the argument that Google wields too much power, there’s no way the government will be able to keep current with technology. If the IRS is still trying to figure out how to get all of their forms to go paperless, how can we expect such a massive organization to stay ahead of the curve in something like search? I just can’t see it working.