Google.com is one of the world’s most frequently visited websites. It was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two Stanford University graduate students, in 1998. Since then, Google has gone on to become the Internet’s most popular search engine. However, hand in hand with this success has come a fair amount of suspicion and distrust.
graduate student：大学院生
hand in hand：相伴って
suspicion：疑い、疑念
distrust：不信用、疑惑
Internet users love Google. It is fast (often delivering search results in less than a second), and it organizes search results clearly. Over the years, Google has grown to add services such as image searches, video searches, and Gmail, Google’s version of e-mail. You can even download a toolbar that lets you perform a Google search without visiting the website. The best part is, all of these services are free!
deliver：(成果などを)出す
Website owners also love Google. The company’s “Google bots” roam the Internet continuously, cataloging the sites they visit. That means even the smallest of websites has a chance to appear in a Google search result. For e-commerce sites, Google is often critical to their business, and appearing high on a list of search results can help a company make a fortune. Appearing low on a list (or even worse, not appearing at all) can cause serious damage to a company’s profits.
roam：歩き回る
catalog：(物事を)分類する
be critical to X：Xにとって決定的である
fortune：財産、富
Clearly, Google is a very powerful website, and its business practices have attracted a lot of criticism. One of the company’s main revenue streams is paid advertising. Critics charge that Google gives its advertisers suggestions so that they can make changes to help their websites appear higher up on a search.
attract criticism：批判を呼ぶ
revenue stream：収入源
critic：批評家
charge：非難する
People are also worried about privacy. For example, a copy of every user e-mail sent on Gmail is kept on a Google server. Also, when you install the Google toolbar,it lets Google track every website you visit. Google says it is simply trying to help you perform searches, but critics fear that this sensitive information could fall into the wrong hands.
fear：恐れる、心配する
fall into the wrong hands：悪者の手に渡る
As Google expands, it has to be careful to maintain the public’s trust. It also must work hard to convince people that it treats all websites fairly. For an old, established company, that would be a tall order. For a young company like Google, it is a huge challenge.
as：～するにつれ
convince：納得させる
established：確立した
tall order：難しい注文
(ref.) no small order：難しい注文