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Sundar Pichai: Privacy Should Not Be a Luxury Good

nytimes.com

21–30 of 77 posts

Re: Sundar Pichai: Privacy Should Not Be a Luxury Good

#21
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every controversial company seems to have one. For Twitter, it's "we're so sorry, we know we've let the community down, and we promise to do better in the future"

The "sorry" part was presented best by BP in South Park I think.

Video with the referenced South Park clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15HTd4Um1m4

Re: Sundar Pichai: Privacy Should Not Be a Luxury Good

#22
post #20

Yes it's lip service but this whole narrative about online/digital privacy was seize on by traditional media to bash tech companies while driving traffic to their properties. It also gives some academics and "experts" an outlet to promote their books. You have the right to choose not be watched while you're going to the bathroom but the whole online privacy "controversy" is a means by which foreign countries and othe…

>the whole online privacy "controversy" is a means by which foreign countries and other interested parties are using to try and justify stifling US tech companies

Do you have a source? Would like to read up on this.

Re: Sundar Pichai: Privacy Should Not Be a Luxury Good

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Equifax was founded by Cator and Guy Woolford in Atlanta, Georgia, as Retail Credit Company in 1899" And the thing is that most people would never knowingly make the privacy vs utility trade-off. The risk (that the entire world gain access to one's search history) is not in the best interest of most users. Personalized search does not provide that much added value.

Ironic that you should bring Equifax up since they would literally sell everything they had on you to anyone who could pay until Congress stomped on them with the FCRA. If you thought they were ever a good steward of your data you weren't paying attention.

Equifax is in the business of selling data. I will grant you that's a good point. I suppose the issue now boils down to whether 20 years is a long time or not. I don't think it is, but I don't see a conclusive way to argue either side of that. I'm not sure how to continue at this point :)

Re: Sundar Pichai: Privacy Should Not Be a Luxury Good

#25
post #14

This is pretty much the same tactic finance companies are using to stem the growing political fallout. First get in front of it by acknowledging the problem, then explain how you're not part of the problem, and most importantly, outsource the solution to "legislation".

Don't we want companies to outsource the solution to legislation? I'd rather have Congress than Google be in charge of deciding how much privacy everyone deserves.

Legislation and legislatures have already been in charge of your privacy, Google is just acknowledging that they have no interest in coming up with any real solutions that limit profitability.

They're agreeing with you in this step of the PR dance, then after the heavy lobbying they're already administering, they will attempt to de-fang any potential privacy legislation, then point out government incompetence while calling for a right to self-regulate.

Re: Sundar Pichai: Privacy Should Not Be a Luxury Good

#26
post #14

This is pretty much the same tactic finance companies are using to stem the growing political fallout. First get in front of it by acknowledging the problem, then explain how you're not part of the problem, and most importantly, outsource the solution to "legislation".

Don't we want companies to outsource the solution to legislation? I'd rather have Congress than Google be in charge of deciding how much privacy everyone deserves.

You really trust the government to both be competent enough to legislate technology and not be beholden to private interests?

The last thing I want is more government power.

Re: Sundar Pichai: Privacy Should Not Be a Luxury Good

#27
post #14

This is pretty much the same tactic finance companies are using to stem the growing political fallout. First get in front of it by acknowledging the problem, then explain how you're not part of the problem, and most importantly, outsource the solution to "legislation".

Don't we want companies to outsource the solution to legislation? I'd rather have Congress than Google be in charge of deciding how much privacy everyone deserves.

Legislation is reactive rather than proactive, slow in its reaction, easily corrupted by lobbyists, and likely contains loopholes anyway. Not to mention that competent regulation acts as a barrier to entry for competitors.

Re: Sundar Pichai: Privacy Should Not Be a Luxury Good

#28
Way back when, I had two Android phones and really liked them. I switched to Apple phone, tablet, and watch because of privacy.

The title is a little strange, almost like saying you don’t need those luxury Apple devices to get privacy, but that is wrong. For the mass market, I think Apple is the company that is least bad on privacy. I use some Google services like GSuite, Play Books, and Play Movies heavily but I cringe a little.

Not counting GCP, just consumer offerings: if Apple provided a good email service that supported custom domains, I would just use them for everything except deployment platforms like GCP and AWS.

Re: Sundar Pichai: Privacy Should Not Be a Luxury Good

#30
post #14

This is pretty much the same tactic finance companies are using to stem the growing political fallout. First get in front of it by acknowledging the problem, then explain how you're not part of the problem, and most importantly, outsource the solution to "legislation".

Don't we want companies to outsource the solution to legislation? I'd rather have Congress than Google be in charge of deciding how much privacy everyone deserves.

> Don't we want companies to outsource the solution to legislation? I'd rather have Congress than Google be in charge of deciding how much privacy everyone deserves.

Until the legislation is written by the industry and doesn't rein them in one bit but imposes large compliance burdens on smaller competitors and further entrenches the incumbents.

The actual solution isn't corporations or governments, it's people being in control of their own stuff. Google and Facebook can't invade your privacy if your data is on your own device and not their servers.

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