I have read some claims about Google being connected to the CIA, the NSA, and other intelligence agencies.  I also read that Google denied that the story was true.  My experience is as follows:  I was a cryptologic technician in the U.S. Navy for 5 years.  I was stationed at Fort Meade, MD and worked at the National Security Agency.  I worked for offices controlled by the U.S. Navy, and offices run by the NSA directly.  I held a top secret clearance, and did top secret work that I won’t discuss in this blog or anywhere else.  The stories about Google being involved with the CIA and NSA struck me as obvious to anyone who might consider the connection.

Do the intelligence agencies have computers with access to the internet?  Yes.

Do these intelligence agencies with the internet use Google? Yes.

Do these intelligence agencies use Google services in an official capacity? (not just for personal use on lunch breaks) Yes, this is called open-source intelligence gathering and it is certainly done by the NSA, CIA, and others to obtain information through public news sources.

The intelligence community doesn’t ignore useful information just because the general public has access to it.  Top secret, secret, and confidential classifications have nothing to do with who knows the information.  It is often the case that obvious things the public (or the enemy) knows are still classified.  For example:  A mission to go and bomb some foreign village could be classified, but it is obviously known by the village, and anyone who might go there afterward.  What is secret is not that something happens, but who did it.  But you might ask:  Isn’t it obvious through simple logic who was involved?  YES, but logic has nothing to do with intelligence and secrecy.

So, if the public knows something happened, and can easily deduce who did it, what does it even mean to say that something is classified?  It means that the cleared officials who know something, and can admit that it is true, are prevented from doing so because of espionage, treason, and other laws.  They are worried about, you know, the death penalty and prison time.  To summarize:  Being classified just means that nobody in an official position will admit anything.

This means that Google, even if they are working on anything classified with the government, will not admit it.  You need to obtain evidence somewhere else.  This also means that any denials of involvement are basically bullshit.  A specific denial is a common tactic used to legally protect yourself from admitting things.  Maybe they didn’t do anything directly for the CIA for example.  Maybe they provided work for a contractor.  Maybe they lied.  It’s possible.

The important questions to be asked do not include whether or not Google did or did not work with the government.  Nobody cares because every company works with the government.  Government agencies buy name-brand computers, they use off-the-shelf technology, and they pay for it in dollars.  I don’t think Google would deny that in an official capacity, the United States government used services that Google provided.  I’m absolutely positive that Google would be aware of this since the IP addresses would be known by Google.  If a government owned IP address came to my site, I would know about it too!  So, there is no question that intelligence agencies use Google’s services, and that Google is aware of it.  Simple logic should make this fact obvious.

The important question to be asking is whether or not Google is providing anyone in government, directly or indirectly, with information beyond what is available to the public.  This includes searches made by people, what they looked at, and other things.  This also includes providing information which on its own is not that special, but in combination with other information becomes important.  In other words, Google might “fill in the holes” that other information sources don’t provide.

It is not important whether Google as an expert in search made a special search engine for the government, even if it is a secret one.  If you really want to get under the skin of Google, forget whether Google is involved with, in bed with, funded by, or partially owned by any specific agency of the government.  I assure you that they are.  What is important is where the information they collect ends up.

Google absolutely knows the following:

  • What you search for and when.
  • What sites you visit by clicking on a link in a search results page.
  • Any site you visit that is using Google Analytics, and what you look at when you are there.
  • Everything you do on a site owned by Google (Youtube, Blogger, etc.)
  • Your IP address, and what links you clicked on to get to a Google-owned page.
  • The contents of emails to and from Gmail accounts.
  • Comments you leave on Google-owned sites, or sites with Google Analytics.

Anybody want to debate me on the above items?  Any decent site has this information about themselves, whether or not they choose to pay attention.  Take a good look at Google’s privacy policy.  Just because they give “reasons” why they collect all this information doesn’t mean they don’t use it for other things.

A few more things to think about:

  • Do you really think Google gets all of its revenue from ads?
  • Do you really think Google stores all that information about you to “improve search relevancy” or are there other reasons?  Don’t forget that they have to store that information, and it probably costs a fortune.  That’s money that a smart stockholder should want back, if there isn’t a good reason to keep it all.
  • Is Google really such an awesome search engine that it needs to keep so much information about you?
  • Do you trust everyone in the government to let Google keep secrets from them.  I assure you they want the information Google has.

I don’t hate Google or the U.S. government in general.  Attacking me will only give me more publicity.  I don’t (at the time of this post) own any stock in Google or any options, but I have in the past.  If you really hate me and wouldn’t trust me with the information you willingly give Google, remember that there are probably bigger assholes at Google somewhere.

Don’t be evil ;)