I completely disagree. Sure it's easy to take pot shots at companies like Google as soon as they get a little too big/powerful for their britches however to rea

I completely disagree. Sure it's easy to take pot shots at companies like Google as soon as they get a little too big/powerful for their britches however to really understand Google's importance, at least one crucial aspect, look at what's going on in China, and now Iran, and somewhat unbelievably now Australia (who apparently are trying to emulate China.) Systems of real-time communication are critical infrastructure and the ongoing debate over freedom and privacy serves the lesson that there are no easy answers. We do know however that there is an especially interesting, if complex, relationship between technological systems and political freedom and that this is an issue of growing importance. In short, while Buzz may compete with Twitter (or Facebook) and while a certain number will still use it to tell you what they had for lunch or forward the 2010 equivalent of an email chain letter meme, the reality is that it is just another piece of the puzzle in the emerging web of global communications infrastructure, and has much more far-reaching implications.