Baidu Expose Suggests That It's A Lot More Involved In Music Downloads Than It Lets On

Google On The High Seas

from the yo-ho-ho-an'-a-barrel-o'-patents dept

Mon, Sep 15th 2008 5:14pm — Michael Costanza

It looks like Google has had enough of the taxes, rules, and regulations associated with hosting its data in various countries around the world. Its solution? Floating data centers anchored beyond national boundaries. The idea seems pretty ridiculous on its face. The costs associated with maintaining a fleet of barges, in addition to the challenges that would arise regarding server maintenance, power requirements (wave power? really?), and security (protection from real pirates), make the effectiveness of such a solution highly questionable. To make this story even more ridiculous, Google has filed for a patent on the idea, presumably so that it can reap the huge rewards when everyone else realizes that hosting data at sea is the way to go. To be fair, this is likely just a defensive patent filing -- given Google's past patent activities. But what does it say about the patent system when a company has to waste the resources of the patent office, on an idea that's probably never intended to be implemented, with the possible effect of preventing someone else from innovating in a related area? And, even though the idea as proposed may be silly, what if someone else could make something similar work? Do we want a single company to have the exclusive right to attempt something like this? The patent system is supposed to promote progress, not be an anchor dragging it down.

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Filed Under: barges, data centers, international waters, patents
Companies: google

41 Comments

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sandy beaches, 15 Sep 2008 @ 5:19pm

Just a hunch
Why not just buy an island ?
Should be cheaper and must easier to get employees to stay there
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Buzz, 15 Sep 2008 @ 5:34pm

Wow
I bet Microsoft wishes they thought of this.
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Ken McNamara, 15 Sep 2008 @ 5:35pm

Whose Navy will protect them?
They seem to take for granted that the US Navy will protect them on the high seas.

Perhaps they'll manage to honor the US Navy on Memorial Day -- but probably not, they probably think if they're nice to everyone, no one will bother them.
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reed, 15 Sep 2008 @ 5:36pm

My server is wet!
You must be seriously jealous you didn't think of dropping your server in the drink first.

I applaud the effort though, it is amazing what you have to do to get freedom in our society.

Google's next mission, a server on Mars! To infinity and beyond!
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My Patent, 15 Sep 2008 @ 5:38pm

Re: My server is wet!
Google's next mission, a server on Mars! To infinity and beyond!

Wait a sec, why not have a server in orbit. I thought of it first !
[ link to this | view in thread ]
ThePeopleGeek, 15 Sep 2008 @ 5:40pm

Maybe they could lease some space from The Piratebay.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Prior Art, 15 Sep 2008 @ 5:48pm

I say the idea is not new or innovative. There is prior art because the PirateBay was considering this several years ago when they were first raided.
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Dino, 15 Sep 2008 @ 5:52pm

Patents? We don't need no stinking Patents!!
I think it's funny that Google patented the idea, but they're planning on utilizing the idea in international waters to get away from regulation. If someone else DID want to copy the idea, whats going to stop them? They're in international waters! Away from regulation!

To Google:
Nyah Nyah! We took your idea!

From: The Copycat-ers
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2008 @ 5:53pm

Re: Just a hunch
Why not just buy an island ?
There are no islands not already claimed by some country and by international law any newly formed islands will be assigned to the nearest existing country.
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Bryan Price, 15 Sep 2008 @ 6:10pm

Connectivity?
I'm curious, what are they doing, tapping into the international fiber routes between countries for connectivity? Their own fiber connecting to mainland? Hurricane/blizzard/thunderstorms/anchor-breaking/Exxon Valdeez tanker type of events?
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Pangolin (profile), 15 Sep 2008 @ 6:14pm

Maybe not so strange.....
Don't oil platforms have electricity? Internet connectivity? Lease space on an offshore oil platform!
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wasnt me!, 15 Sep 2008 @ 6:20pm

Re: Just a hunch
that was what i was about to say.
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wasnt me!, 15 Sep 2008 @ 6:23pm

Re: Connectivity?
they can connect to a satellite all they need is a dish for Internet access.
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teknosapien, 15 Sep 2008 @ 6:32pm

Preparing for the eventual
Perhaps they are preparing for when the polar caps melt ?
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angry dude, 15 Sep 2008 @ 6:35pm

I got a better idea for Google
Place your data center on the Moon !!!
Hey, I am not even going to patent it
On the Moon Google founder punks can employ some aliens which posess superior intelligence and don't need to breath,
eat, drink or have sex
Plus no more H1B visa scandals
Great idea !!!

But serioslly, may the good storm destroy those Google IT slavery barges
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bookdragoness, 15 Sep 2008 @ 6:42pm

Is this really going to be "preventing someone else from innovating in a related area" or is it more to protect themselves from getting sued if they do implement it? It seems all too common these days to have to file these sorts of lawsuit-insurance patents.
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Monk, 15 Sep 2008 @ 6:48pm

Dont you Know abot SeaLand?
They could buy SeaLand, for only U$ 1bi.
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Havok, 15 Sep 2008 @ 6:48pm

Re: I got a better idea for Google
Hey that's sweet! Perhaps I can sell my cubic meter of Moon that I bought to them... Century21 eat your heart out. Maybe it'll be worth enough to buy Merill Lynch for myself!

xD
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Jake, 15 Sep 2008 @ 7:40pm

I really can't see this getting beyond a feasibility study or two; I can see them siting a few converted barges in major cities with more harbour space than reasonably-priced real estate, but site it more than a few thousand yards off the coast and the expenses start piling up; wave turbines are pretty effective in open ocean, but laying and maintaining a fibre-optic cable that far would not be cheap. Throw in resupply for whoever Google find to man this thing and the expenses are going to pile up very fast. And good luck insuring one in the Gulf of Mexico or the North Sea!
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2008 @ 7:52pm

Re: Dont you Know abot SeaLand?
Great Britian claims SeaLand as their territory.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2008 @ 7:54pm

Re: Re: Dont you Know abot SeaLand?
Oops, Great Britain (typo).
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artful007, 15 Sep 2008 @ 8:04pm

bribery is easier
what happen to bribing the local goverments?, sure seems to be an easier way to avoid paying taxes and compling with rules. That is the driving issue, I think we should invade those pesky countries. How dare them try to infringe on Google's right to make a profit.
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wasnt me!, 15 Sep 2008 @ 8:08pm

Re: Re: Dont you Know abot SeaLand?
U.K. courts ruled that the platform—located six miles (ten kilometers) off the eastern English county of Suffolk (United Kingdom map)—was outside British jurisdiction. At the time, the border of U.K. territorial waters was set at three miles (five kilometers) from the coast.
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Blaise Alleyne (profile), 15 Sep 2008 @ 9:46pm

Re: Re: My server is wet!
I'll race you to the patent office!
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Carl, 15 Sep 2008 @ 10:06pm

outside of national boundries
OK, so they can patent the idea to get outside of the law by being outside of any national boundary. But wouldn't the same rules apply for those who wanted to break the patent? What nation can protect the patent if someone else were to build barges and float some servers on it?
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Energy, 15 Sep 2008 @ 10:59pm

I bet this is more about energy than anything else. Besides the human element, electricity, much of which is due to cooling, is one of their biggest costs. There was a story about either Google or MS dropping servers down into a cave to keep them cool. This could be similar...drop them down into the water where the temperature and natural cooling system (waves) would fix the cooling problem. Then with wave energy, they could run the servers..
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Lucretious, 16 Sep 2008 @ 1:39am

once again, this is caused by the "contributions to society" made by that wonderful, noble professional....the Lawyer.
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mike allen, 16 Sep 2008 @ 1:48am

not new idea
The idea of putting things at sea to avoid government or other intervention / snooping is not new. Many radio stations did it in the 60s to 80s in Europe. MMMM RIAA and others skaming every penny off internet radio. excuse me. Google its nothing new and you cant patent it.
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AJ, 16 Sep 2008 @ 4:31am

Don't forget...
...what will they do about security? They'd have to finance their own navy to protect them from attack by pirates or people with a grudge against Google. Being in international waters and not paying taxes (which support the military and police), they'd have to do something to protect that large investment. Sinking a barge or capturing it would be a pretty big loss for them.
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Enrico Suarve, 16 Sep 2008 @ 5:02am

Re: Don't forget...
They'd have to form a Google Navy

I always quite fancied joining the navy but the idea of getting involved in dumbassed wars started for political reasons

I'm sure a Google Navy wouldn't do any actual invading (fingers crossed), and the uniforms are bound to be amazing - I'm picturing sergeant Peppers but with more O's

Google Boys are you listening? Where do I sign up?

Fighting Pirates with logic bombs, wrestling giant squid with spagetti - back in time for tea and youTube of the day - ooh arrr!!
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Ferin (profile), 16 Sep 2008 @ 5:08am

Bah!
All your arguements fail to persuade me, in light of one inescabable fact. This idea will provide the perfect oppurtunity to see real life reenactments of the corporate take over scene from the beginning of "Meaning of Life." And that, sir, is worth every penny that might be required to see this idea become realized.
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hegemon13, 16 Sep 2008 @ 6:06am

What good would a patent do?
Hmm, I thought one of the listed benefits would be that the barges would be in international waters, outside the jurisdiction of any government. How, then, would a patent do them any good?
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Sep 2008 @ 6:30am

They should have checked
I already have a patent on using barges for stuff.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
check mate, 16 Sep 2008 @ 7:04am

google google
I just patened the URLs / domain names & intellectual property rights for my new online products "Google Moon" & "Google Mars".

Anybody have a few cheap 3D cameras, I need to get started on this.
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*angry dude, 16 Sep 2008 @ 7:05am

Re: I got a better idea for Google
[There we go! Got that angry rant script working again! Just needed a little code whacking.]
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Bryan Price, 16 Sep 2008 @ 7:34am

Re: Re: Connectivity?
Are T1 speeds going to quench the thirst of datacenters that size? I'm not even worrying about latency.

Yeah, an oil platform probably has connectivity, but certainly not suitable for a datacenter.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Sep 2008 @ 7:40am

One can only wonder how this article would have read had the subject of the article been investigated before publication. See below:

http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fne tahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=2&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=google.AS.&am p;OS=AN/google&RS=AN/google
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Esahc (profile), 16 Sep 2008 @ 7:41am

Re: Maybe not so strange.....
It's been done and Google will probable opt for this over floating barges.

http://www.sealandgov.com/

http://www.sealandgov.org/history.html
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robster, 17 Sep 2008 @ 10:19am

google is waiting...
to hire Kevin Costner as new CEO for when Waterworld becomes a reality
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Kamu, 20 Sep 2008 @ 11:56am

The point to using floating barges is using sea water to cool the computers, which is a huge draw on power.

I don't understand the really negative tone from the article.

"But what does it say about the patent system when a company has to waste the resources of the patent office, on an idea that's probably never intended to be implemented, with the possible effect of preventing someone else from innovating in a related area?"

Heaven forbid them wasting PO resources. They could be approving extremely vague patents with those resources!

Also, what more 'innovating' could be done in this area? Google has innovated and this is the outcome.

"And, even though the idea as proposed may be silly, what if someone else could make something similar work? Do we want a single company to have the exclusive right to attempt something like this?"

How is it silly? Have you even done the slightest bit of research? Where is your calculations to prove that it is not feasible to power a datacentre on wave power? Keeping in mind the huge savings of using seawater as cooling.
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costanza (profile), 22 Sep 2008 @ 11:04am

Kamu,

The point to using floating barges is using sea water to cool the computers, which is a huge draw on power.

As I read it, they would use wave *power* to cool and power the servers. They couldn't just throw sea water over the servers -- the idea would be to use wave energy to power the cooling systems (similar to those in current land-based data centers) as well as the servers themselves. It seems that floating data centers would present all of the challenges of their dry-land counterparts, plus a bunch of new challenges. So you don't get to just dump the costs of cooling into the sea.

Heaven forbid them wasting PO resources.

I get your point about wasting PO resources -- wouldn't it be nice to keep them occupied with harmless nonsense all the time? But the problem is that the incredible growth in patent filings, as everyone seeks to patent anything and everything, has only led to more bad patents being granted, and more bloating of government. And wasting PO resources means wasting taxpayer money.

Also, what more 'innovating' could be done in this area? Google has innovated and this is the outcome.

What more innovating could be done? Who's to say? That's the point. If the PO grants such a patent to Google, we may never find out. Do you honestly believe that Google's ideas here are the final outcome of innovation in this area?

How is it silly? Have you even done the slightest bit of research? Where is your calculations to prove that it is not feasible to power a datacentre on wave power? Keeping in mind the huge savings of using seawater as cooling.

I never said it's not feasible to power a data center on wave power. But this idea is not as simple as that. Google is talking about anchoring data centers many miles off shore, in what is often a pretty volatile environment. So, while it may be possible -- maybe even relatively easy -- to harness the power of waves to run the servers and the cooling systems, additional costs associated with protecting the electronic equipment from the corrosive sea water, preventing damage due to movement (these are floating barges), insurance, security, efficient, reliable communications technology and so on, do make this idea appear pretty far-fetched, at this point. I'm skeptical that there are "huge savings" to be realized.

But perhaps more innovation could address many of these issues.
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