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Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

nytimes.com

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Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#71

Post by jerf »

jackmott wrote: post #10
mythrwy wrote: post #9

It's early so not sure I'm reading this correctly, but it appears Google funded a group, then one of the members posted a statement applauding the recent 2.7 billion dollar fine against Google and that member was subsequently removed from the group? Well duh! Criticize Google all you like. But does anyone really think companies have an obligation to fund their critics? Or that groups receiving such funding have an ob…

then don't pretend you are a think tank. you are a pr firm, paid to say whatever benefits your clients.

Well, as others have pointed out, it's not hard to read "think tank" as "pr firm".

You ought to love the amount of money the $POLITICAL_ALIGNMENT_YOU_HATE spends on "think tanks"; they consume vast piles of money and to a first approximation accomplish absolutely nothing. (A bit closer look and I wouldn't say they are completely achievement-free, but it's still a terrible way to spend money.)

Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#72

Post by derping69 »

fowlerpower wrote: post #17

The thing is that Google has absolutely gone down questionable path from their early days. It is a little unfair to think this problem exists only within Google. Time and time again we are reminded why corporations will evolve to become as greedy and as protective of their turf expansive of their power and monopolistic as they can get, even if good people are running them. It is the system itself that does this, corp…

I've never seen anything like the censoring by Google and Youtube over the last few weeks. Ron Paul of all people got all his videos demonetized for being "controversial". The most disgusting thing to me is that they don't delete the videos because they don't actually break any policies but they instead remove them from search and remove the ability to comment or share the videos, stifling any potential discussion.

Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#73

Post by cisanti »

islanderfun wrote: post #70
cisanti wrote: post #43

If U.S or E.U would want to break up Google, how would it realistically work? I hope we see that happening, the company has become a monster and can literally tell the world what to think and how to feel.

OT: I agree Google has become monster-ish. But when this talk comes up, I can't help but think Amazon is just as if not more of a monster. Especially the employee horror stories and now slashing Whole Food prices. While its awesome for it's customers, I'm worried about long term effects. /r

But Google has much more global power. Amazon is in Europe and other places too, but nowhere strong as in the United States. Google, on the other hand, has most of the world under its arm, besides China and maybe Russia.

Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#74

Post by sah2ed »

fizixer wrote: post #61
fowlerpower wrote: post #17

The thing is that Google has absolutely gone down questionable path from their early days. It is a little unfair to think this problem exists only within Google. Time and time again we are reminded why corporations will evolve to become as greedy and as protective of their turf expansive of their power and monopolistic as they can get, even if good people are running them. It is the system itself that does this, corp…

Let me see, the title reads "Open Markets Applauds X" where X is a court verdict against those who're funding the think tank that produced the article. Regardless of the content of the article or the fairness of the court's decision, the title itself is inflammatory and nothing less than indicative of someone having a beef and thumbing their nose at Google. The lack of self-awareness on part of whoever came up with t…

I disagree that the title's author wasn't (self-)aware of Google being one of the think tank's sponsors; I think the author was indeed aware but somehow deluded themselves into thinking that the think tank could live up to the ideals of being truly independent while taking corporate funds.

What title do you suggest could have been less inflammatory but still convey the same message?

Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#75

Post by derping69 »

throwaway0071 wrote: post #62
fairpx wrote: post #3

> “There are simply fewer groups that are available to speak up about Google’s activities that threaten online privacy,” Mr. Rotenberg said. “The groups that should be speaking up aren’t.” Google has been doing strange things for a long time and despite that there actually are a good amount of groups speaking out against them, they stick to their guns and oust or bribe anyone in their way. The first time ever they've…

> bribe anyone in their way Do you have a source for this claim?

Eric Schmidt set up a data company for the sole purpose of getting Hillary elected. Google also had 427 white house visits during the Obama Admin. Not sure what your definition of bribe is but they are as tight with DC as any wall street bank

https://theintercept.com/2016/04/22/googles-remarkably-close...

Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#76

Post by paganel »

appleflaxen wrote: post #44
zentiggr wrote: post #7

And we are shown again that Google is now large enough and has enough enough influence that it's only serious opponent is the EU. A continent. Do no evil indeed.

[pedantic] the EU is not a continent: it's a trade bloc.

There's also politics involved, all of my country's laws (including the non-trade related ones) had to comply with the EU-wide laws before my country was permitted to enter the union. One such famous non trade-related example is that if you want to be part of the EU you're not allowed to have death penalty as a punishment in your penal code.

Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#77

Post by [deleted] »

sah2ed wrote: post #74
fizixer wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me see, the title reads "Open Markets Applauds X" where X is a court verdict against those who're funding the think tank that produced the article. Regardless of the content of the article or the fairness of the court's decision, the title itself is inflammatory and nothing less than indicative of someone having a beef and thumbing their nose at Google. The lack of self-awareness on part of whoever came up with t…

I disagree that the title's author wasn't (self-)aware of Google being one of the think tank's sponsors; I think the author was indeed aware but somehow deluded themselves into thinking that the think tank could live up to the ideals of being truly independent while taking corporate funds. What title do you suggest could have been less inflammatory but still convey the same message?

[deleted]

Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#78

Post by pgeorgi »

ktta wrote: post #29
dontnotice wrote: post #14

The omitted context here is that the lobbying against Google is much larger than Google's countermeasures.

Lobbying against Google? I would be interested in looking at your sources.

There are couple of organizations such as http://fairsearch.org and http://i-comp.org/ that some consider to be (or have been) lobbying vehicles of other major IT companies against Google, especially in the EU.

Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#79

Post by fizixer »

sah2ed wrote: post #74
fizixer wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me see, the title reads "Open Markets Applauds X" where X is a court verdict against those who're funding the think tank that produced the article. Regardless of the content of the article or the fairness of the court's decision, the title itself is inflammatory and nothing less than indicative of someone having a beef and thumbing their nose at Google. The lack of self-awareness on part of whoever came up with t…

I disagree that the title's author wasn't (self-)aware of Google being one of the think tank's sponsors; I think the author was indeed aware but somehow deluded themselves into thinking that the think tank could live up to the ideals of being truly independent while taking corporate funds. What title do you suggest could have been less inflammatory but still convey the same message?

> I disagree that the title's author wasn't (self-)aware of Google being one of the think tank's sponsors; I think the author was indeed aware but somehow deluded themselves into thinking that the think tank could live up to the ideals of being truly independent while taking corporate funds.

Let me take it to an absurd extreme and suggest the following title:

"Google Lost and Can Go Suck My D"

Last I checked it still qualifies as "truly independent thinking".

> What title do you suggest could have been less inflammatory but still convey the same message?

Was something like "Open Markets and European Commission's Finding Regarding Google" too hard?

edit: nitpick, but "Finding Against X" sounds incorrect. Finding is about something, not for or against. Verdict could be for or against. Given the title itself, I don't exactly have high expectations about the quality of the article which I haven't read yet.

Re: Google Critic Ousted from Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant

#80

Post by pgodzin »

kushti wrote: post #31
fowlerpower wrote: post #17

The thing is that Google has absolutely gone down questionable path from their early days. It is a little unfair to think this problem exists only within Google. Time and time again we are reminded why corporations will evolve to become as greedy and as protective of their turf expansive of their power and monopolistic as they can get, even if good people are running them. It is the system itself that does this, corp…

But others didn't start with "Do No Evil" motto (transformed now into "Do the Right Thing").

Google's still is "Don't be evil", Alphabet's is "Do the Right Thing"
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