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NEWS > TECHNOLOGY > COURT CASE SHOWS GOOGLE AND MICROSOFT MAY HAVE COLLABORATED WITH AL QAEDA
COURT CASE SHOWS GOOGLE AND MICROSOFT MAY HAVE COLLABORATED WITH AL QAEDA
May 2 2009
Redmond, WA – Microsoft and Google have emerged not only as two of the biggest computer and software companies in the world but also as two of the biggest business rivals in modern history. Microsoft, representing the old guard of software development has found itself in an ever more fierce battle for market share from Google who has mimicked a number of pieces of software after establishing 
themselves as the dominant force in search, which Microsoft highly covets. It now appears as though the two rivals may in fact have been working together all along, and with an unexpected third party.
The collaboration has come to light in the shape of testimony by Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marrim, an Al Qaeda operative who recently pled guilty to his role in the 9/11 attacks. In the plea agreement, al-Marrim detailed how Al Qaeda mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed used his free Hotmail account to help direct the attacks, as well how he himself searched the internet the research cyanide gas. Though Google was not stated explicitly as the cyanide search engine, the Mountain View, California Company has been the dominant force in search since the beginning of the decade.
“The battle between the two companies has been escalating to almost dangerous levels in recent years. Microsoft keeps dancing with Yahoo to try and grab a chunk of the search market, and Google has created free docs and been more and more aggressive with Gmail. There’s little doubt that we are in the midst of a software cold war but I doubt anyone could have predicted this kind of illicit collaboration,” said Scrape TV Technology analyst Ken Kevins. “There is some thinking that companies should not be held responsible for the way end users exploit their product, but as lawsuit after lawsuit has proven many people simply do not share that opinion.”
In the past most end-user lawsuits have revolved around the entertainment industry. Most of those suits have fallen on the side of the creator but that lack of success has rarely stopped people from trying. It’s not yet clear what bodies would pursue such a suit against the software giants.
“The real concern here is that of angering these two giants. If say the government actively pursued a suit against them would they simply turn off the internet? Google has shown their power in that realm before and that may scare off any potential litigation but would that be appeasement or capitulation? There are a lot of similarities to the Cold war and
to the rise of Nazi Germany but none that can be directly compared, but it’s still a dangerous situation,” continued Kevins. “Both companies have shown a proclivity to annexing other companies and entities, almost on a whim, but the truth is they may already be too powerful to stop.”
Neither Microsoft nor Google have publicly shown support for Al Qaeda or the global Jihadist movement, yet. It should also be noted that none of the officials for other countries sport moustaches like Stalin or Hitler did though the relationship between facial hair and brutal dictatorship has never been scientifically proven.
“The bigger question may be whether or not the U.S. Government has used any of these services to help facilitate these confessions. If that was the case and both of these companies were playing both sides then we could have a more serious problem. Simply put, they are willing to go with the highest bidder,” continued Kevins. “Are they simply contractors or do they have a moral or ethical commitment to world domination? I’m sure more than a few parties will be interested in speaking to their executives.”
Officially Yahoo, the third party in the ongoing web battle is completely in the dark about anything that has happened since the 9/11 attacks.
Martin Philton, Technology Correspondent
NEWS > TECHNOLOGY > COURT CASE SHOWS GOOGLE AND MICROSOFT MAY HAVE COLLABORATED WITH AL QAEDA
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