But Google's ambitions rankle big competitors in the tech, media, and communications sectors, and privacy hawks are starting to fret about the company's growing market power and its Big Brother-like trove of information, which, left unchecked, could be used in all sorts of questionable ways. Google's foes, which include battle-hardened regulatory veterans such as AT&T (T, Fortune 500), haven't been shy about nudging their friends in Washington. And so the company, once virtually invisible in Washington, now finds itself in the cross hairs of regulators and lawmakers.