An excellent article appeared in Red Herring written by Alexandra Berzon. In her article, Alexandra describes a recent, albeit small, misstep by Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) whereby it began placing Google-leaning content tips at the head of search results. An outcry arose and our friends at Google quickly disengaged the "service."

This situation brings two things to the forefront of my thinking. First, why can't eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) react in similar timely fashion to its membership outcries when it receives them? Secondly, what does Google's attempt here signal in the realm of content manipulation? Setting aside the eBay angle and the business aspects of Google's decisions, let's quickly address the impending danger of content manipulation.

Remember those dedicated search engines that Google is kindly placing in government offices? Yeah, it's got its fingers in that pie. Search engines that are separate from the ones you and I access are being made available to government agencies. In other words, you will have little to no direct affect on the perceptions of government in regard to what it thinks you're really looking at. Presuming you believe that the government is always watching in the first place.

Does that scare you a little bit? It should. Consider this; Google has the job of supplying the algorithms for those search engines. Google might have input in controlling the available content rankings as viewed by our government. Google can control what the government sees and how it sees it. In theory, Google can dictate citizen mandates to the government.

We're talking about public content on public access sites. We're talking about personal input and personal perceptions. We're talking about the ability of the few to sculpt the cyber-environment for the masses. We're talking about propaganda, censorship, democracy and our future.

Are there groups or agencies out there protecting the free flow of content on the Internet? Is the First Amendment being righteously served and guarded? Can the American public assume for long that it is in control of its Internet experience? Or has it already become a manipulative tool of corporate profit mongers and social engineers? I don't know if my Internet is being manipulated or not, but you'd better believe that I'm watching with both eyes open.