Not long ago Google was
looking for "dark fiber," basically unused Internet bandwidth that could be put to purposes that Google understands and the rest of us don't.
Now we know at least one purpose:
a "web accelerator" that would make Google the ultimate intermediary, placing itself between consumers and content all over the Internet.
Think of the business intelligence that would flow from a system where you know what millions of people are looking at on the Internet at any given moment. That's one outcome of Google placing itself between you and your users: Google would get the overview.
If you're still basing your site metrics on logfile analysis, here's a wake-up call. Google would cache and deliver your Web content to "your" users without you knowing that anything had happened. A more modern tracking system (based on embedded image GIFs with random-padded URLs) would be needed to give you an accurate picture of your own Web traffic.
This bears watching. Google already has a powerful position to observe Internet usage and behavior through
AdSense (which shows ads to just about everyone who uses the Web these days) and
Gmail. Google Web Accelerator extends that reach. What will Google do with that information?
