Inteligência coletiva sob controle?: a hegemonia do Google e seu domínio, apropriação e mediação da informação no ciberespaço

Abstract

The performance and consolidation of Google has been seen as a communication phenomenon of large proportions, achieving a hegemony over other systems of Internet searches, expanding, increasingly, to other markets with a clear domain and control of the processes of information. It is from this focus that the present study aims to examine these dynamics of expansion, control and mastery of information by the company. The acquisition of other companies by Google makes possible the establishment of its hegemony, threatening the liberty and privacy of network user. The main purpose of our research is the investigation of Google‟s actions, their possible implications for the network society and also the risks that their strategies could cause into the collective intelligence. From an exploratory research, we conducted a case study using Google‟s actions as the center of our observations, samples and analysis. This study allowed to identify the need that users have of creating mechanisms of resistance to manipulation and control of information, and indicate three types of opposition to the domination of Google on the Internet.