The New York Times finds a giant industrial-looking complex in Oregon, complete with cooling plants, owned by Google. It's a computing center, not yet online, that Times writer John Markoff infers will hold a massive array of cheap modular components — and do who knows what with the scads of information Google handles.

Why rural Oregon? Three reasons:

• Loads of extra dark fiber from the telecom boom.
• Room to grow
• Every scary film plot you've seen: Mysterious stranger moves in, changes everyone's life, small town residents stay quiet:

  The fact that Google is behind the data center, referred to locally as Project 02, has been reported in the local press. But many officials in The Dalles, including the city attorney and the city manager, said they could not comment on the project because they signed confidentiality agreements with Google last year.
  
  "No one says the 'G' word," said Diane Sherwood of Klickitat, Wash...."It's a little bit like He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named in Harry Potter."

Hiding in Plain Sight, Google Seeks More Power [NYT]

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