The NY Times has published an article about the world's most popular search engine: each day, Google gets about 150 million queries from over 100 countries.
Its queries reveal, more or less, what people around the world are thinking about. Not exactly Jungian archetypes, but the search engine's logs reveal universal patterns.
Despite its geographic and ethnic diversity, the world is spending much of its time thinking about the same things. Country to country, region to region, day to day and even minute to minute, the same topic areas bubble to the top: celebrities, current events, products and computer downloads.
Queries, which inevitably reveal individual interests--often private, individual interests--are logged: Google archives datetime info, selected web sites, and IP addresses.
"So, does Google ever get subpoenas for its information?", the article asks.
"Google does not comment on the details of legal matters involving Google," Mr. Brin responded.
Check out the article here.