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Where in the World Is Larry Page?

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Re: Where in the World Is Larry Page?

#111

Post by RIMR »

Retric wrote: post #103
wybiral wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main point of the "exercise" is to discuss the issues and a few politicians hijack a few minutes of time to make political jabs for the media. The rest of it is still important. They're asking questions and forming their perception of the situation which they use to shape policy.

If they simply want fact finding they could do that over a phone call.* The circus is very much the point. * Granted, phone calls don't have the weight of purgery to keep people honest. But, that only goes so far.

We live in a Democracy. These fact finding exercises must occur in view of the public.

C-SPAN covers this stuff verbatim, with zero spin. This stuff is very important to Democracy, and sitting it out is horrible optics.

Re: Where in the World Is Larry Page?

#113

Post by joshuamorton »

wybiral wrote: post #108
Retric wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they simply want fact finding they could do that over a phone call.* The circus is very much the point. * Granted, phone calls don't have the weight of purgery to keep people honest. But, that only goes so far.

In this case it isn't a "circus". Watch these hearings, they aren't as sensational as you seem to think [1]. When it comes to information warfare and propaganda, you'll see them come to the same type of conclusion on multiple panels, which is that public awareness is a key component in any effective counter measure. Giving the leaders of these industries a mic to educate the public seems in all of our best interest.…

There kavanaugh hearing wasn't a circus either (ignoring the protestors), but it's still just a tool to generate soundbites.

A closed door hearing is for fact finding, public ones are for proselytizing.

Re: Where in the World Is Larry Page?

#114

Post by pdonis »

Zelphyr wrote: post #91
dibstern wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely disagree. I don’t know how you could say that. Business leaders have to answer for their companies actions, and senate hearings is one way we have of them doing that. And as wybiral said, it was a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing. Maybe I’m jaded, but your response reminds me of those from Theranos employees on this very forum when it was criticised.

I agree that business leaders have to answer for their actions. But that is clearly not what is happening at these inquiries. The CEO of Equifax was called to one when they had their major security breach last year. What came of that? Can we all honestly say, a year later, that he answered for his company's actions? Nothing of consequence happened to him, very little if anything of consequence happened to his company…

> these inquiries should have WAY harsher consequences than they have

As another commenter posted, we have a judicial system for that. We have separation of powers in our government for a reason. Congress should not be acting as judge and jury.

Re: Where in the World Is Larry Page?

#115

Post by duxup »

godzillabrennus wrote: post #64
agoodthrowaway wrote: post #56

From a PR point of view Google has handled this whole privacy debacle very well. By keeping a very low profile on privacy, they’ve made sure Facebook takes the heat. Facebook’s horrendous management of the issue has also allowed Google to slide under the radar on the topic. Generally I think Page is doing the right thing by keeping a low public profile.

Google didn’t play as fast and loose with sharing data as Facebook did. That helps.

That we know of so far.

Maybe they didn't, but it's not like we know exactly what Google is doing with data.

Re: Where in the World Is Larry Page?

#116

Post by lisper »

One thing this article completely neglects to mention: Larry has vocal chord paralysis and so has difficulty speaking.

https://www.wired.com/2013/05/larry-page-vocal-chords/

This could have something to do with why he's reluctant to do a lot of public speaking nowadays.

[UPDATE] I was wrong: the article does mention this, I just missed it. I would delete this comment but I can't since it has been replied to.

Re: Where in the World Is Larry Page?

#117

Post by gnode »

maxxxxx wrote: post #16
dzdt wrote: post #8

I would feel much better about being a google user if they were standing up strongly for the original "do no evil" ethos. Where is Page indeed? It really seems like the ethical stance has faded away.

Idealism goes away once a company has reached a certain size and has to reach for big growth like Google. They all have to turn into big faceless corporations. That's why we shouldn't celebrate things like trillion dollar companies or the richest man in the world but we should celebrate small companies. That's where ethics and also innovation can happen .

I don't think this is not so much a property of the big company than it is of the public company. The only thing which generally unites public investors is a desire to see a positive return on their investment, typically with a high aversion to risk.

I would argue there is something to be celebrated about the "richest man in the world". Large private investors are more accountable than the public, and can act on ideologies or intentions other than greed (for better or worse).

Re: Where in the World Is Larry Page?

#118

Post by puzzle »

wybiral wrote: post #67
Zelphyr wrote: post #60

It's kind-of Congress' own fault here. They so often have these... events, that are mostly for show and for the politicians to grandstand making them seem tough to voters but really have very little substance. I doubt any meaningful policy ever comes of them. Doesn't everybody know by now that they're grilling these CEO's in front of the cameras and begging them for money behind the cameras? "outrage" indeed.

The Senate Intelligence Committee hearings are usually pretty facts-first unlike the other random hearings and sessions. I watch them on C-SPAN whenever they happen (which isn't that frequent). Edit: I strongly recommend watching these directly from C-SPAN rather than the summarized spin-version from random news companies. You might be surprised how little of their time is wasted on grandstanding. Yeah, some politici…

The SSCI might be less of a circus show than e.g. House committees, but you still hear preposterous things from them. Look at this interview:

https://www.wired.com/story/mark-warner-senate-committee-hea...

"I know Kent Walker. He’s a good guy. I respect him, but we had the lawyers back in November. This is a hearing that’s going to talk about solutions. I think it speaks volumes that Google doesn’t want to be part of that discussion. I don't think it’s good for them or for coming up with a good solution."

That tells me that either Warner doesn't know what Walker does on a daily basis (he could ask) or he just wants an excuse to skewer Page over China, as in the next paragraph. It's particularly glaring, because he goes out of his way to mention that the hearing was about solutions. Any solution at Google/Alphabet would involve Walker a lot more than Page, who's just not immersed in policy. "We had the lawyers back in November" is such a cheap shot. (Perhaps even cheaper if you know that Warner is a lawyer who never practiced...)

And this is from a Democrat who has more latitude to do his real job on the committee. Out of political calculation, Burr and co. need to avoid getting on the nerves of the guy in the White House by even implying that perhaps his victory was aided by another government. All of this to say that I don't expect much to be done. There's the DETER act, but it's not clear if it will pass, in what shape and with what kind of vigor it will be enforced.

Re: Where in the World Is Larry Page?

#119

Post by RIMR »

Retric wrote: post #90
lr wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who do you think passes the laws that are then (supposedly) enforced by law enforcement and the judicial system?

In practice, Lobbyists write these laws. Passage or non-passage is less important than content.

Politicians are the ones that introduce these laws, and these companies answer to the people, not just to lobbyists.

You seem pretty consistently dismissive of the democratic process in this thread. I don't think I should have to remind you of how critically important it is.

Re: Where in the World Is Larry Page?

#120

Post by Sgt_Apone »

lisper wrote: post #116

One thing this article completely neglects to mention: Larry has vocal chord paralysis and so has difficulty speaking. https://www.wired.com/2013/05/larry-page-vocal-chords/ This could have something to do with why he's reluctant to do a lot of public speaking nowadays. [UPDATE] I was wrong: the article does mention this, I just missed it. I would delete this comment but I can't since it has been replied to.

It mentions that several times.

>In the 1990s he was diagnosed with vocal cord paralysis, a nerve condition that eventually has made it difficult for him to speak above a hoarse whisper. “Sergey says I’m probably a better CEO because I choose my words more carefully,” Page wrote in a Google+ post in 2013, the same year he stopped joining earnings calls.

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