"It is dangerous enough that a single entity such as Google is dominant as a search engine," Maurer and his co-writers say, but the fact that Google is operating many other services and is probably colluding with other players was "unacceptable." "Google is massively invading privacy," the study said, with the company able to access knowledge about individuals and companies, but not bound by national data protection laws.

Google was amassing data by using data mining tools in its applications like Google Earth or Gmail in connection with its search engine function. A Google spokesman said in a statement: "These allegations are premised on numerous inaccuracies, conspiracy theories and fundamental misunderstandings about Google's products and services. They're completely without foundation and, frankly, a little strange.'' The Austrian researcher warned that by using data collected from users via its applications, Google could potentially turn into the world's largest detective agency. Even if Google did not use that potential now, it might have to do so in the future in the interest of its shareholders.

The study further argues that Google is influencing economies in the way advertisements and documents are ranked. "The more a company pays, the more often will the ad be visible." The study believes rankings can also be influenced from queries, and that in the future Google could rank paying customers higher. Moreover, Maurer was worried that Google could use its knowledge of what was happening in the world to play global stockmarkets to its advantage.

"Google has become the main interface of our reality," and distorts reality the study authors said. Most material written today was in some way based on Google and Wikipedia - and if those did not reflect reality, a distortion was possible, the researchers said, recalling biased contributions frequently placed on Wikipedia. Furthermore there is some indication of cooperation between Google and Wikipedia. Sample statistics showed that randomly selected Wiki entries consistently ranked higher on Google than on other search engines, the Graz team said.

Maurer also criticised journalists who increasingly researched their stories by googling them, as well as students copying work from the internet. "Google's open aim is to know everything there is to know on Earth," the researchers concluded. "It cannot be tolerated that a private company has that much power: it can extort, control, and dominate the world at will."

Stopping the insidious aspects of Google was however not possible by a head-on strategy, as the company was too powerful, the Austrian researchers warn. Rather, they say, the "Google effect" can be minimised by the introduction of special-purpose search engines that are better in their areas of application that the larger company is. DPA