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Statement on Google’s conduct by founder of CelebrityNetWorth.com (2019) [pdf]

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Re: Statement on Google’s conduct by founder of CelebrityNetWorth.com (2019) [pdf]

#241
post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I do know that when I confronted Cutts about the penalty here on HN he lied about it That's an extreme thing to say and crosses into personal attack. The thread you seem to be referring to ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5418864 ) doesn't seem to support what you've said here. At a minimum, you're breaking the site guideline which says: " Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someo…

I understand. Feel free to kill this thread. please don't let that boil over into accusations against specific people unless you can strictly demonstrate what you're saying. I realized that I’m using stronger verbiage here than in the article on my website. I haven’t updated the article in some time. If I recall correctly, it doesn’t contain any evidence/proof that explicitly contradicts specifically what he told me…

I don't really think in terms like "at what level in the org chart is it okay", but if pressed I guess I'd have to say that it's never ok to say that someone lied when you don't have evidence of that.

Keep in mind that the word "lie" is strong medicine. It implies not only that someone said something untrue but that they deliberately intended to deceive.

Re: Statement on Google’s conduct by founder of CelebrityNetWorth.com (2019) [pdf]

#242
post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree if the testimony is taken at face value, it makes a pretty reasonable case. However, there's nothing to say that the values he arrived at were accurate (not that it'd necessarily be material to the case) or that his 'researchers' were not just some content farm to write up articles around those numbers in order to enhance SEO. These are the kind of things that'd be deliberated upon in a court case.

I think we agree. If the numbers required actual research they should be copyright-able.

I'm not sure about that; the mass of the moon to more decimal places would surely require actual research potentially at great expense, but the resulting number shouldn't be copyrightable since the resulting number is a fact about nature.

Re: Statement on Google’s conduct by founder of CelebrityNetWorth.com (2019) [pdf]

#243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The mere fact that he compiled the database isn't sufficient to qualify for copyright protection. He'll have to show that he used a sufficient level of creativity to arrive at the numbers he displayed. Based on his testimony, I suspect he'd have a reasonable case to argue, but he'd have to show that his researchers carefully weighed different sources and made other judgements for each individual celebrity rather than…

Why would that be necessary? Google copied celebrities the CNW founder invented out of thin air. Not just their net worth, but their very existence.

Itd be hard to calculate damages for copying the net worths of imaginary people.

Re: Statement on Google’s conduct by founder of CelebrityNetWorth.com (2019) [pdf]

#244
post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand. Feel free to kill this thread. please don't let that boil over into accusations against specific people unless you can strictly demonstrate what you're saying. I realized that I’m using stronger verbiage here than in the article on my website. I haven’t updated the article in some time. If I recall correctly, it doesn’t contain any evidence/proof that explicitly contradicts specifically what he told me…

I don't really think in terms like "at what level in the org chart is it okay", but if pressed I guess I'd have to say that it's never ok to say that someone lied when you don't have evidence of that. Keep in mind that the word "lie" is strong medicine. It implies not only that someone said something untrue but that they deliberately intended to deceive.

I think it's fair to say HN policies around naming and shaming are pretty cut-and-dry in the comment section: that is, unless it's the subject of the article or link by the OP, it's not okay.

So from what I can tell, if someone writes an article about an employee of a company, people can say whatever they like in the comment section - anecdotes as colleagues, stories of similar environments, a mix of facts and claims. The article in question may be mostly heresy, and we've seen in the past this happen with the likes of Bezos, or very public people within our field like Stallman, or founders with questionable morals (see the latest AI controversies, or ads, or hacking, or regulations)..

But as soon as we specifically name someone in the comments, it's considered a witch-hunt. I think this is only true the first time it happens, or prior to them being targeted outside of this community.

Once someone writes a blog post with at least some facts on the subject, or the mainstream media writes about them - suddenly they're fair-game.

dang, we know this isn't going to get any easier to moderate. And I think writing broad, sweeping rules around this won't work. However, could you possibly write a post about it? You've expanded in the comments section in response to my own failure to live up to these standards (sorry again!), which I think was a good amount of information.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23306743

I think it could be good for some community self-reflection, and to see where the line of discourse vs gossip sits today.

Re: Statement on Google’s conduct by founder of CelebrityNetWorth.com (2019) [pdf]

#245

And yet I constantly get CAPTCHA's just from blocking tracking cookies. The biggest scraper of them all goes to incredible lengths to prevent scraping. How ironic. I hope the US govt demolishes these monopolies. It's not just in web either, the closest historical precedent I can think of is the Robber Barons of the 30's

There’s a thing called a robot.txt.

Yeah then they won't index you at all and you lose all your traffic instantly. How about a setting to index my site without scaping my content and using it all over the place without attribution

Re: Statement on Google’s conduct by founder of CelebrityNetWorth.com (2019) [pdf]

#246
post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really think in terms like "at what level in the org chart is it okay", but if pressed I guess I'd have to say that it's never ok to say that someone lied when you don't have evidence of that. Keep in mind that the word "lie" is strong medicine. It implies not only that someone said something untrue but that they deliberately intended to deceive.

I think it's fair to say HN policies around naming and shaming are pretty cut-and-dry in the comment section: that is, unless it's the subject of the article or link by the OP, it's not okay. So from what I can tell, if someone writes an article about an employee of a company, people can say whatever they like in the comment section - anecdotes as colleagues, stories of similar environments, a mix of facts and claims…

It's my intention to collect the moderation comments on various of these perennial topics, cherry-pick the best bits, and turn them into either some essays or perhaps a kind of super-FAQ. That's why I link to old moderation comments using hn.algolia.com; the answers have started to converge in the last few years, and maybe there's a blissful future in which we can simply link to official explanations rather than endlessly reworking them. So yes in principle, though when there will be time for it is another question.

Re: Statement on Google’s conduct by founder of CelebrityNetWorth.com (2019) [pdf]

#247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> but might not be illegal, since simple numbers like a dollar amount can’t be copyrighted, and AFAIK there is no other legal impediment to Google doing what they did (IANAL). Forbes for one spends a LOT of money hiring people to try to estimate the net-worth. So it is a number--but one that someone paid a lot of money to get it. Illegal? Maybe. Not-ethical? Very much so IMO

How do you know how much money they spend?

No, but I've read of them calling several people, looking at documents people send to prove their worth etc etc. Still money

Re: Statement on Google’s conduct by founder of CelebrityNetWorth.com (2019) [pdf]

#248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Android is one of Google's core products, as well as web (including Chromium).

chromium is open source because webkit (khtml) was open source many useful parts of android are closed, and open source versions of most apps are languishing (calendar, contacts, dialer etc)

Have you checked out F-Droid lately, and how does this compare to Apple or Microsoft?

Re: Statement on Google’s conduct by founder of CelebrityNetWorth.com (2019) [pdf]

#249
post #85
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taking someone else's copy written content and presenting it as your own can be seen as content theft. Imagine if a book author did that to a chapter of a book. When the one doing it can essential present the case that they should be allowed to do it or they will destroy your business then it's an abuse of power. When they are in a position to actually do it because they have so much of the power in the space it can…

> Taking someone else's copy written content […] (You should read up a bit on this; it’s obvious you have not since you call it “copy written” when the term is “copyright” and a work can therefore be “copyrighted”. The term is about who has the right to copy a given work, and has nothing to do with “writing”.) Copying text someone else has written is indeed copyright infringement (commonly, but technically inaccurate…

Copywriting ("copy[,] written") is an industry term.

Re: Statement on Google’s conduct by founder of CelebrityNetWorth.com (2019) [pdf]

#250

I have Zero respect for the Google engineers and PMs who worked on this project, scraping content without attributing to the original source, and subsequent change in the search ranking of the original source. A very bad taste in the mouth indeed.

agreed 100% We went through something very similar where Google 'disappeared' an entire category of apps from the App Store because one of our competitor/friend companies in the same area as us was growing very fast That guy started talking about adding thousands of new users a day. Within 2 weeks Google had removed ALL (every single one) apps in that category Also this is a search vertical. So it's the very definiti…

Which category, if I may ask?
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