Is the GOOG getting too big?

So it can actually take take a damn long time to build a decent Mahalo search page. I made one today, my first, on Samuel Beckett, which again, took a long time to build–it’s decency, however, I leave to you to judge. My reasons for building this was simple: 1) the site–being largely the playground of techies– is sadly behind in cultural entries, 2) despite a quasi-spirited defense of Scoble’s predictions, I realized that I had never actually used Mahalo and was trying to make-amends for this by doing more then just searching, 3) the few who supported Scoble said he would be vindicated when his four year time frame passed, personally It took me about a week to, if not agree with his math, support the absolute necessity of what he proposed.

For not a week had passed since Le Affair Scoble when news came that Google had come to an agreement with the Thai government–which had blocked YouTube– that GOOG would graciously(once again) censor any videos which “might offend the king”(heh) and in turn, Thailand would unblock their site. Again, this was going on while, here at home, a seemingly reasonable people were unloading a massive five-minutes-hate on a man who, really, just suggested that Google might not always be “Google”.

It seems Google’s real genius is not in getting us to advertise for them all day and everywhere we go, but in getting large numbers of fairly-respectable people(not to mention WiRED) to do their corporate plumbing. Once Dave Winer (web2’s Robert Moses) told Scoble to just “admit you were wrong”–echoing the thoughts of many who disputed his facts, without ever providing any of their own–the Scobleizer issued a pseudo-recant that wasn’t the capitulation his detractors wanted, but also wasn’t the middle finger many of us thought those same detractors so desperately deserved (considering, again, that the only person who really pointed out any of Scoble’s factual inaccuracies was Scoble himself).

All of this, and the quickly materializing gPhone, leads me to wonder: Is Google getting too big? I, of course, use getting rather humbly–but do people who care about the web and it’s openness have to start using sites like Mahalo even if, for the time being, it’s a little less convenient? Because many souls have been sold in the name of convenience and, not to reiterate any cliches about absolute power (hint: it corrupts absolutely), but China and Thailand are proving that GOOG’s business innovations are largely technological and not ethical. So before we give all our content, ideas, thoughts, and searches to what-is-becoming a massive unavoidable CMS, let’s at-least try to plan an escape route. Mahalo, Techmeme etc. may not be the answer, but it’s a decent start.