Google poised to take over the Internet, digital media?

Normally, I wouldn't report on a story as alarmist and outright sensational as this one. But as this comes to us from respected industry voice and long-time tech journalist Robert X. Cringely, I feel as if I have no choice. In his latest post for the I, Cringely column, Cringely illuminates some previously unknown (or at least, unpublicized) facts about Google: the company allegedly controls more fiber-optic network bandwidth than anyone else in the world and is continuing to build large data centers that are well beyond the company's current bandwidth needs. Cringely argues that when it comes to the Internet, Google "has already won the game and represents to most users the face of the Internet." Okay, true or not, that's a fair enough statement.

What's next? Using Google's data center plans for South Carolina as a springboard, Cringely calculates that Google is building data centers in the U.S. at a ratio of 40 users per server. But what does the company need all of that bandwidth and all of those servers for? Here's where Cringely starts to sound a little paranoid: He thinks that Google is positioning itself for a complete takeover of the Internet by positioning itself as the world's largest ISP, television cable provider and phone company in the country. What's more, he thinks that the company has the money and the muscle to pull it off. Vision of the future or mere paranoia? You decide.

For more on Google's alleged ploy to take over the Internet:
- see this post at I, Cringely