Google mystery barges ( what is their purpose and for whom are they building the barges for ) deepens as Google requires even government officials to sign confidentiality agreements ? Is Google or their client more important or able to dictate to the government what they can or cannot do or say ? What is going on here folks ?

Recall the prior post on Google's secret barges?

http://fredw-catharsisours.blogspot.com/2013/10/mystery-barges-in-both-san-francisco.html

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Mystery barges in both San Francisco and Portland linked to Google - are these floating data centers and why do we see Google building these four story structures on barges , on both the east and west coasts ? Google linked by a website that covers the technology sector - but acting super secret about what it's up to ( is this a military or NSA project ? ) And if Portland Barge is identified as BAL 0011 and San Fran barge identified as BAL 0010 , are there more floating barges out there ( BAL 0001 - 0009 ? )

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http://ca.news.yahoo.com/google-takes-secrecy-heights-mystery-020206834.html

By Ronnie Cohen and Alexei Oreskovic

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - How badly does Google want to keep under wraps a mysterious project taking shape on a barge in San Francisco Bay? Badly enough to require U.S. government officials to sign confidentiality agreements.

At least one Coast Guard employee has had to sign a non-disclosure agreement with the Internet giant, said Barry Bena, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman. Another person who would only identify himself as an inspector for a California government agency had to do the same.

Moored in the shadow of the Bay Bridge off of Treasure Island, a former military base, the nondescript barge is stacked several stories high with white shipping containers, and sprouts what appear to be antennas on top. The hulking structure, half shrouded in scaffolding, has stirred intense speculation in the Bay Area since reports of its existence surfaced late last week.

Technology website CNET theorized that the vessel might be a floating data center that will house banks of computers. Local TV station KPIX said the barge is intended to serve as a floating retail store for Google's "Glass" wearable computer device - although its external appearance, at least thus far, doesn't suggest such a purpose.

Adding to the mystery, a second similar barge was recently spotted in Portland, Maine, and is also registered to By and Large LLC, according to local media reports.

The company itself is keeping mum, refusing even to acknowledge its affiliation with the vessels.

Secrecy is a standard business practice in Silicon Valley, where technology companies such as Apple Inc go to great lengths to keep their latest gadgets under wraps and a constellation of blogs compete to reveal highly prized details.

But the concealment effort surrounding the barge is in another league. Chain-link fences and security guards encircle a pier and a couple of nearby buildings on the island, which sits between San Francisco and Oakland.

A California state inspector, who said he had business in the hangar-like Building 3 where some of the early construction took place, told Reuters he had to surrender his mobile phone and sign a confidentiality agreement in order to enter.

Bob Jessup, a construction company superintendent who works in a building across the street, said Google spent the past year working on the project. He said they fenced off a wide area and brought in at least 40 welders a day, who worked around the clock and refused to say a word.

"They wouldn't give up any of the information," Jessup said. "It was a phenomenal production. None of them would tell us anything."

He said they worked on the inside and the outside of the shipping containers, outfitting them with electronics - "very hush hush" - and then loaded them onto the barge with a crane. They put sides on the containers, with glass windows in some of them. They had to weld them very precisely so they could stack, Jessup recounted.

Jessup said he could not imagine that Google would try to use the floating vessel as a retail outlet. "Who's going to want to climb up in there?" he asked. "It's really ugly."

The vessel is registered to a company called By and Large LLC, and some nearby property on Treasure Island has been subleased to the same firm. Representatives of the firm could not be reached for comment.

Larry Goldzband, the executive director of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, told Reuters his agency has had several meetings with Google officials about the barge in recent months. Yet the company provided little information other than telling him that the vessel will be used for "general technology purposes," he said.

Google "could not give us a specific plan of any kind," not even whether they intended the barge to move or stay in one place, Goldzband said. If the barge remains in place for an extended period of time after its construction is completed, it will require a permit from the BCDC, he said.

"We've asked counsel to get us as much information as soon as they can, so that we can continue the discussion," Goldzband said, referring to Google's law firm.

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/10/28/google-reportedly-building-more-floating-structures-outside-bay-area/

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) — After KPIX 5 reported on Google’s mysterious project on a barge off Treasure Island, reports have surfaced of the tech giant building similar floating structures outside of the Bay Area.

A report appearing in the Portland (Maine) Press Herald showed shipping containers stacked on a barge in Maine – with the structure appearing virtually identical to the Bay Area barge. Also, an unconfirmed report suggested a Google barge is taking shape in New London, Connecticut.

On Friday, the tech website CNET first disclosed the barge buildingand speculated Google might be building a floating data center to house server banks on the water. KPIX subsequently reported Friday evening Google is actually building the floating structures to market Google Glass — the cutting edge wearable computer that the company has under development.

“They’re building on both coasts,” said a source familiar with the Google project.

• Twitter Persona Surfaces For Mystery ‘Google Barge’
• Google To Expand Availability Of Google Glass Eyewear

Google, for its part, maintained a stolid silence on the matter, as did many Bay Area maritime officials. Google is reliably said to have spent upwards of $10 million on the project so far. With that kind of money in play, and presumably more to come, no one is anxious to speak out of turn.

But Larry Goldzband, executive director of the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, told KPIX 5 the Portland barge structure appeared to be the same kind of floating building that Google is constructing in the Bay Area.

Both the Maine and Bay Area barges are owned by a company called By and Large, which has leased a large swath of pier and an abandoned U.S. Navy hangar from the Treasure Island Development Authority – a lease reliably said to be costing $100,000 a month. Officials have not responded to requests for comment.

Informed sources told KPIX 5 that Google wants to tow the Treasure Island barge from Treasure Island to a dock at Fort Mason in San Francisco’s Marina District, where it would open to the public as a Google Glass marketing center. Among other things, the center’s docking fees could be an important source of revenue to the cash-pressed park.

But work on the barge abruptly stopped a few weeks ago.

One reason for the stoppage may be Google’s failure to obtain a permit it would need from the BCDC to park the barge on the waterfront. A barge that remained in one place for an extended period of time might technically be considered “Bay fill.”

“We shouldn’t use the Bay as a lost opportunity for that which can be done on land,” Goldzband said Monday in an interview with KPIX 5. “We need to ensure that whatever this permit is applied for actually fits into what the Bay should be used for.”

Some said Google might solve that problem if the barge did not remain at Fort Mason – that a true floating center, in transit from San Francisco to Oakland and elsewhere, might not need a permit.

But Goldzband sounded skeptical. “It’s not that easy,” he said.

And the absence of a permit may not be Google’s only concern. One person close to the Treasure Island project said it was stalled because of technical difficulties with the Google Glass product itself.

“The barge is basically done,” he said. “The problem is the product. It needs more work. They’re not ready to promote it yet.”