Filmtank

“Don’t be evil!” – That is the famous motto of one of the most influential and fastest growing companies of our times: Google. The Google-founders Larry Page and Sergej Brin have the bold vision to organize and make accessible in digital form all information on the planet to everyone. With this goal in mind the small Internet start up has grown seemingly unstoppable over the course of 10 years into the most powerful media company in the world affecting all of our daily lives profoundly.
What is the secret of success for the search engine that today millions of people already equate with the Internet?
What is so fascinating about a company that touts to only employ the best of the best – who actually seem to be eager to join?
Google is a U.S. corporation with a network of global branches whose employees often come across as a mix of members of a cult community and a new economy kindergarten. What trailblazing technologies are these engineers working on at the notorious Googleplex headquarters in the Silicon Valley and in the European labs? What influence will Google applications such as Google Earth, Gmail or Google maps have on our current lives? What ideas and innovations can be expected in the future from the most successful Internet company?
And – what are the dangers should Google’s growth continue uninhibited? Are we watching the arrival of a giant digital octopus whose arms reach uncontrollably into every area of our lives? Is the search engine on its way to become the biggest security threat to our information society? Or does it epitomize the best the Internet can produce?
The „World’s a Google“ looks behind the facade of one of the most fascinating but also most controversial companies of our days.

2008
30 mins.
ZDF/ 3sat