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Google’s GDPR Workaround

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Re: Google’s GDPR Workaround

#131

Post by whatshisface »

paulcole wrote: post #119
NullPrefix wrote: post #49

>I was branded as a 'privacy nut' Companies do actually employ shills to go on forums and try to sway public opinion. They call them something like public advocates, doesn't change the idea though.

What's more likely: that Google's willing to risk being outed for employing shills or that there are people who actually hold the opposing viewpoint? Personally I tend to think of most people on HN as privacy nuts. Honestly of all the problems in the world to get worked up over, online advertising is pretty low on my list. There's nothing I can do about Google/FB/whatever, so why even think about it. If Google or who…

>that Google's willing to risk being outed for employing shills

This risk might be lower than you think, the key phrase is, "we didn't realize that the marketing firm we contracted was subcontracting to other, shadier marketing firms, who themselves aren't evil, but fell in with the wrong crowd and ended up trusting a yet deeper level of marketing firm, who was in fact evil."

Re: Google’s GDPR Workaround

#132

Post by aserafini »

kaolti wrote: post #58
NullPrefix wrote: post #49

>I was branded as a 'privacy nut' Companies do actually employ shills to go on forums and try to sway public opinion. They call them something like public advocates, doesn't change the idea though.

I get the feeling this is much more prevalent than any of us realize. Would explain why most comments seem ridiculous.

It doesn’t even require a ‘paid agent’ theory to explain. Large companies actively court allegiance from their employees and spend serious effort to retain it by, for example, relentlessly offering mandatory courses in the company’s Cultural Values and evaluating promotions through that lens.

So it’s not surprising that some BigTech employees are going to actively defend their employer’s values on forums.

The best way to understand modern tech company culture is to consider them all very successful cults.

Re: Google’s GDPR Workaround

#133

Post by thekyle »

kaibee wrote: post #105
kspacewalk2 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should their point of view just not be heard then, in such discussions?

Hi kspacewalk2, I'm John and I have views on privacy that are completely genuine and happen to align with what benefits the corporation(s) that my company, TotallyLegitimateComments LLC, contracts for. I believe advertisement is a force for good in the world and can bring together people and products that enrich their lives while creating value for shareholders! While I'd love to share what wonderful businesses my co…

This is a total straw man.

Re: Google’s GDPR Workaround

#134

Post by auslander »

ethbro wrote: post #126
auslander wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> branded as a 'privacy nut' Only the Paranoid Survive. A book by The President and CEO of Intel. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Grove

Wide-ranging thoughts and examining what-ifs makes you a curious individual. Failure to counterbalance confirmation bias by critically examining and deconstructing your own hypotheses makes you a crackpot. The main difference between the two is just which paranoid thoughts you give credence to.

What?

Re: Google’s GDPR Workaround

#135

Post by panarky »

tboyd47 wrote: post #77
kaolti wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get the feeling this is much more prevalent than any of us realize. Would explain why most comments seem ridiculous.

You mean how there are somehow always commenters in every topic ready to leap to the defense of China and major US tech companies?

Yes, definitely.

And there are also paid propagandists who attack Google at every opportunity, while ignoring far worse behavior by Google's competitors.

I'd really like to know what percentage of online content is authentic, and what percentage is paid astroturf to shape public opinion by business interests and ideological/political campaigns.

Re: Google’s GDPR Workaround

#136

Post by hobofan »

inlined wrote: post #55
docker_up wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The executives should face jail time. That would certainly light a fire under Google's ass to finally "do no evil".

Sadly mid-level employees would probably be the ones going to jail. The tech lead and/or PM sign off on compliance. I used to joke that one of my responsibilities was to put my freedom at stake. None of my products violate GDPR in any way I could conceive, but I’d hate to be handed down a mandate to do so. Both not accepting a project and not signing off on it are pretty bold moves.

Even though it's not optimal, maybe that's what it takes? Then top-tier engineers would think twice about working for companies with shady privacy practices and Google would finally have an incentive to better themselves.

Re: Google’s GDPR Workaround

#138

Post by mannykannot »

derefr wrote: post #106
tboyd47 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean how there are somehow always commenters in every topic ready to leap to the defense of China and major US tech companies?

I would guess that those are, more often than not, not paid shills but rather just people who like taking devil’s-advocate sides in arguments “for fun”, i.e. just for the challenge of seeing if they can construct a valid rebuttal to a comment. (I say this because I believe I’ve done this myself more than once, and I know my personality-type isn’t uncommon on HN.)

A simpler explanation is that they are individuals defending against what they perceive as a personal attack via 'tribal' affiliations.

Re: Google’s GDPR Workaround

#139

Post by bcaa7f3a8bbc »

rvz wrote: post #8

It's really funny to see that yesterday, I was branded as a 'privacy nut' after the release of Android 10 as I was concerned about the privacy issues that are in Android. Then the Go modules proxy issue around the Go Programming language that raised suspicions about tracking usage statistics around downloading modules turned on by default without any consent and now this. I think there are some folks at Google who ha…

Different types of Hacker News article trends to attract slightly nonoverlap different subgroups of people. You'll sometimes find different sentiments over the same topic under, e.g. U.S. politics, silicon valley startups, cryptography, or urban life.

Re: Google’s GDPR Workaround

#140

Post by mey »

docker_up wrote: post #44
Barrin92 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has been fined a 5 billion dollar fine already last year, that claim simply isn't true. But I agree with the implicit demand, they clearly haven't gotten the message. The EU should slap them with billion dollar fines again until they learn their lesson.

The executives should face jail time. That would certainly light a fire under Google's ass to finally "do no evil".

They dropped the Do No Evil in their mission statement in 2015.
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