The Googlization of Everything

washingtonpost.com:

Even Spies Go to Trade Conferences

By Robert O'Harrow Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 13, 2008; D01

The spies and contractors stood side-by-side, pressing by a crowd of pitchmen at the Ronald Reagan Building.

It was an unusual gathering, a trade show and conference organized by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to promote using open sources of information such as the Internet and television broadcasts as part of the intelligence process.

Judging from the packed seminars and the crowds collecting corporate brochures, mints and pens in the exhibition hall, most everybody was there to do business.

Booz Allen Hamilton offered a service called InTrack to help collect, monitor and process data collected from the Internet and other sources. LexisNexis promoted a system for sending automated warnings of trouble abroad. There were companies selling translation systems, Web search tools and data-mining supercomputers. One of the more popular booths was Google's, though exactly what it wanted to sell the intelligence community was not clear. ...