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An enormous thread on alleged Google Facebook collusion

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Re: An enormous thread on alleged Google Facebook collusion

#111

Post by falcor84 »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #91
ttiurani wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's about shareholder value added. A public company or a VC-backed private company can focus on making creative nice widgets and services for only a limited time before growth inevitably stalls. After that (unless the management can and wants to screw over their owners) they will need to look elsewhere for more profits.

It's about capitalism, which rots the spirit of everything it touches. Money is the most dangerous behaviour-altering drug. It shouldn't be a surprise that a system which rewards sociopathy and discourages kindness and empathy keeps generating sociopathic behaviours.

I don't quite get why capitalism would reward sociopathy more than any other system in history

Re: An enormous thread on alleged Google Facebook collusion

#112

Post by tjpnz »

willvarfar wrote: post #5

I remember when google was the shining light of “be nice company” that we all dreamed of working for, at odds with the evil that was M$crosoft. And, from reading all the “why I left google” posts and hearing about them leaving China, the old google of 20 or even just 10 years ago was the good or even just a better google. With how google went from “do no evil” to this, with how Facebook has always been profits over e…

Of FAANG I've still got a soft spot for Netflix. Even if they're selling my data there's less potential for harm given that they're not a glorified advertising company.

Re: An enormous thread on alleged Google Facebook collusion

#113

Post by awild »

mrweasel wrote: post #24
polytely wrote: post #10

Google seriously needs to be broken up into small pieces or disolved entirely. Their leadership just cannot be be trusted and the internet would be better off without them around.

Unlike Microsoft, where at least some of the business units could do pretty well on their own, if the company was broken up, I doubt the same would be true for Google. Other than search and ads, I doubt other part would do particular well. Breaking up Google would result in a lot of people losing their job. I’m not arguing that you’re wrong in the idea of breaking up Google, but I doubt it will happen.

Wouldn't this be eventually a good thing? I imagine less free online services, which would condition people to also pay online more often. It would be a bumpy road, but I can see how online magazines could make more money that way, since I'm already used to paying for my online office suite, mail etc.

It could also just lead to weird tie-in with a central ad service sharing anonymized data between all participating companies, basically spreading the data Google monopolizes further.

Re: An enormous thread on alleged Google Facebook collusion

#114

Post by rambambram »

tjpnz wrote: post #112
willvarfar wrote: post #5

I remember when google was the shining light of “be nice company” that we all dreamed of working for, at odds with the evil that was M$crosoft. And, from reading all the “why I left google” posts and hearing about them leaving China, the old google of 20 or even just 10 years ago was the good or even just a better google. With how google went from “do no evil” to this, with how Facebook has always been profits over e…

Of FAANG I've still got a soft spot for Netflix. Even if they're selling my data there's less potential for harm given that they're not a glorified advertising company.

> given that they're not a glorified advertising company

They're still an advertising company, just on a level people are less aware of. And they might not 'advertise' the usual products.

Re: An enormous thread on alleged Google Facebook collusion

#116

Post by capableweb »

jerrygoyal wrote: post #109
capableweb wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - WhatsApp backups not encrypted on Drive Hasn't this been clear since long time ago? For as long as I can remember, the message on the backup screen for Whatsapp on iOS has said that backups are not encrypted.

I don't remember it was the case on Android at least.

Here are two articles with screenshots that show both times that the statement existed there too:

- 2017 - https://www.recovery-android.com/back-up-restore-whatsapp-me...

- 2020 - https://www.androidcentral.com/how-restore-your-whatsapp-cha...

Re: An enormous thread on alleged Google Facebook collusion

#117

Post by tjpnz »

rambambram wrote: post #114
tjpnz wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of FAANG I've still got a soft spot for Netflix. Even if they're selling my data there's less potential for harm given that they're not a glorified advertising company.

> given that they're not a glorified advertising company They're still an advertising company, just on a level people are less aware of. And they might not 'advertise' the usual products.

>And they might not 'advertise' the usual products.

Based on my recent viewing history (mostly old Star Trek, first season of Blacklist and the Inspiration Four documentary) I'm struggling to see what those might be.

Re: An enormous thread on alleged Google Facebook collusion

#118

Post by paxys »

tdeck wrote: post #97
melomal wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's amazing that when you consider most tech companies based their entire perks strategy off the back of free food, beers, playgrounds, sleeping pods etc all in the name of keeping workings in the build at all times a la Facebook and Google. A little like the casinos tricks where you will never see a clock or the time inside one. There's a slight tilt on all pavements in Las Vegas that slowly push you towards the bu…

People always being this up and I think they're right to be skeptical, but the Google office I worked in (SF) was practically dead before 10 AM and after 7 PM. I never saw much evidence that any sizable group was working extra long hours. Some people hung around for dinner at 6:30 but most left before or right after grabbing food. I didn't spend enough time in Mountain View to form an informed opinion but there was d…

People made this up because everyone needed a reason to put down the Google engineers who were suddenly getting better salaries and perks than the rest of the industry at the time. There was never any truth to the whole "employees stay at work all the time". Google has consistently had fantastic work life balance, as do most other similar large companies. It's the mid-tier ones that are sweatshops.

Re: An enormous thread on alleged Google Facebook collusion

#119

Post by twic »

mattowen_uk wrote: post #71
mikeytown2 wrote: post #2

Thread https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1451619916994396164.html

Thank you! Why DO people insist on posting essays as 1,001 tweets!? The mind boggles.

It's the only popular publishing platform that permits true hypertext features such as nonlinear text, and comments on and transclusion of individual paragraphs of a post.

Re: An enormous thread on alleged Google Facebook collusion

#120

Post by bostik »

akomtu wrote: post #62
torben-friis wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if the behavior of the largest tech companies is a cause or an effect of their size. Is unethical behavior pushing companies to the top of the food chain? Or is it that other companies feel more ethical simply because they don't have as many chances to engage in unethical behavior? If it's the latter, all the push to split the companies is for nothing and we should just consider "ethics at scale" to be an un…

Criminal business is the most profitable business and "unethical" just means "white collar crime". If the law allowed drug trafficking and kidnappings, the biggest corp in the US would be a drug cartel and the only reason they are outlawed is because even people at the top agree that such cartels are bad. Things are different for white collar crime: most people believe that its OK to do shady things if nobody's obvio…

> If the law allowed drug trafficking and kidnappings, the biggest corp [anywhere] would be ...

History proves you right.

The entire British empire, a fabulously wealthy system, was founded on slave trade (think: kidnapping, trafficking) and when that became too risky to maintain either the trade or profit margins, they moved over to global drug trade. The opium wars.

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