Google's Sergey Brin Says Apple and Facebook Are a Threat to Web Freedom

Google's Sergey Brin says Apple and Facebook, like governments, are a threat to web freedom, in an interview with the Guardian.

He said he was most concerned by the efforts of countries such as China, Saudi Arabia and Iran to censor and restrict use of the internet, but warned that the rise of Facebook and Apple, which have their own proprietary platforms and control access to their users, risked stifling innovation and balkanising the web.

"There's a lot to be lost," he said. "For example, all the information in apps – that data is not crawlable by web crawlers. You can't search it."

Brin also criticized Facebook saying, "You have to play by their rules, which are really restrictive. The kind of environment that we developed Google in, the reason that we were able to develop a search engine, is the web was so open. Once you get too many rules, that will stifle innovation."

Referring to the increased attempts by governments to censor the Internet, and the Sopa and Pipa bills championed by the film and music industries, Brin warns against the "very powerful forces that have lined up against the open internet on all sides and around the world" saying, "I am more worried than I have been in the past, It's scary."

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