Sundar Pichai warns of threats to internet freedom • Hacker News Board

Re: Sundar Pichai warns of threats to internet freedom

#181

Post by Nasrudith » Mon, Jul 12, 2021, 3:25 PM UTC

LatteLazy wrote: post #145

We let too many morons on the net, now it's either give up freedom or give up democracy and the rule of law. Aside from an Internet "driving license" or tests before people are allowed to vote, I don't see how we can keep both. I liked a free Web too...

By not falling for the bullshit of anybody who says you need to give up freedom of information for security - they are lying to you from the start and plan only more lies and abuse of power.

An internet driver's license is a terrible technically illiterate idea trying to cast itself as something reasonable. Who can I run over with my internet connection? How the hell would anybody check who is behind a terminal in the privacy of their own home? It would require somehow embedding an actual identifier in every last packet and ensuring it is always valid and isn't susceptible to replay or known plaintext attacks.

Re: Sundar Pichai warns of threats to internet freedom

#182

Post by rfrey » Mon, Jul 12, 2021, 3:28 PM UTC

jb775 wrote: post #165

...says the guy who happily agrees to direct and indirect mass censorship based around in-vogue leftist Silicon Valley politics.

It's only because he has indigestion from the undercooked babies the Martians made him eat.

Re: Sundar Pichai warns of threats to internet freedom

#183

Post by voakbasda » Mon, Jul 12, 2021, 3:30 PM UTC

Karrot_Kream wrote: post #42

travoc wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reprinting a single person’s viewpoints without critique or counterpoint isn’t news or “real reporting.” It’s still just a PR piece.

Would you argue that any interview without an interview of a contra opinion is also just a PR piece?

Unbalanced reporting is biased? Yes, it is.

Re: Sundar Pichai warns of threats to internet freedom

#184

Post by sangnoir » Mon, Jul 12, 2021, 3:47 PM UTC

snowwrestler wrote: post #78

Does anyone think that Google cares about the free and open Internet anymore? I don’t mean they oppose it, I just mean it doesn’t seem like it’s on the list of things the company prioritizes. It sometimes seems like Google’s internal self-image is stuck in 2001, when they were an idealistic search engine company whose goal was to organize the world’s information. Today they are an ad company, running some office apps…

> Today they are an ad company, running some office apps and cloud computing on the side.

Everything you listed has maximum profits when there is a free and open internet, which is something Google depends on to reach its users.

Re: Sundar Pichai warns of threats to internet freedom

#185

Post by sn41 » Mon, Jul 12, 2021, 3:58 PM UTC

moshiv wrote: post #113

ahiknsr wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Third, a lot of Pichai's big bets have failed: Google Glass, Google Plus, Google Wave, Project Loon > He's been responsible for a lot of Google products. He might have been responsible but i wouldn't call those projects as Pichai's big bets.

Pichai is there to keep the factory lights on and the assembly line running. Nobody is expecting anything more from him.

You're wrong there I think. I personally was surprised by Chrome and the way it took off - initially when it started it looked like a me too product, it seemed pointless to repeat the good work at Firefox. And Android was also a good bet, though in my humble view, not as good a one as Chrome. Sundar got some big calls right.

Re: Sundar Pichai warns of threats to internet freedom

#186

Post by Miraste » Mon, Jul 12, 2021, 4:00 PM UTC

sangnoir wrote: post #184

snowwrestler wrote: post #78

Does anyone think that Google cares about the free and open Internet anymore? I don’t mean they oppose it, I just mean it doesn’t seem like it’s on the list of things the company prioritizes. It sometimes seems like Google’s internal self-image is stuck in 2001, when they were an idealistic search engine company whose goal was to organize the world’s information. Today they are an ad company, running some office apps…

> Today they are an ad company, running some office apps and cloud computing on the side. Everything you listed has maximum profits when there is a free and open internet, which is something Google depends on to reach its users.

They are much more profitable in a locked down internet where Google is one of or the only approved provider for those services.

Re: Sundar Pichai warns of threats to internet freedom

#187

Post by refurb » Mon, Jul 12, 2021, 4:01 PM UTC

belter wrote: post #178

Ok so this is a PR interview, done due to the increased pressure Big Tech sees coming their way. Its always the largest companies with the largest share and encrusted monopolies the first ones talking about "freedom", "leveling the playing field", and providing "equal opportunities for all". They do that because they know that only regulatory measures can temper their current abuses. If there is a "level playing fiel…

This person gets it.

Start from the beginning. You think Sundar just gets a call one day from a reporter about this topic and says “yeah, I’ll do an interview”?

This article was generated by google. Their internal PR team thought it up and used their external agency to float the idea of the article (and an interview with Sundar!) to a bunch of reporters until someone took the bait (well, not bait, the reporter knows what’s up).

And this is a small slice of the overall strategy google has put together to counter the antitrust action the US govt is pushing.

Re: Sundar Pichai warns of threats to internet freedom

#188

Post by jancsika » Mon, Jul 12, 2021, 4:04 PM UTC

retox wrote: post #36

Clewza313 wrote: post #29

> Third, a lot of Pichai's big bets have failed: Google Glass, Google Plus, Google Wave, Project Loon Every single one of these predates Pichai, who only became CEO in 2015: * Google Wave was already turned down in 2012 * Google Plus launched in 2011 and the writing was on the wall by 2015 * Google Glass consumer edition was discontinued in Jan 2015 before Pichai started * Loon is the only arguable exception; it was…

Now you've seen how a "journalist" doesn't have the patience to spend 60 seconds searching for something you're knowledgeable about, will you (not you specifically) take as gospel anything they say about something you're not knowledgeable about? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Crichton#GellMannAmnes...

It appears you are attempting to indict the entire field of journalism by referring to a cocktail story told by a sci-fi writer.

Wouldn't it make more sense to study the field and sort journalists into groups based on their performance over time? Even casual sports fan do that kind of work reflexively. I don't get why journalism should be treated any different, and I especially don't get the desire to find an anecdote that could reject the entire field out of hand.

Put differently-- if Glenn Greenwald publishes another leak-based story about state-level corruption, I'll read it and ascribe more veracity to him than I will Crichton's cocktail story. I'll bet you a dollar that when/if I do that, nothing bad will happen as a result.

Re: Sundar Pichai warns of threats to internet freedom

#189

Post by endymi0n » Mon, Jul 12, 2021, 4:11 PM UTC

benreesman wrote: post #133

I’ve never met a person inspired by what we thought the Internet would be in the 90s who isn’t sad that it went the way it did. I suspect the more idealistic of the cryptocurrency people will also feel nostalgic when Goldman and JP Morgan run blockchain in a few years. It’s extremely tempting, especially to technical people, to believe that some piece of technology will create net freedom and equality. The reality is…

Wayne Dyer used to sometimes take diametrically opposed criticism of his books, photocopy it and send it to the other party — together with the four simple words: "You may be right."

Here's the other envelope:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27697973 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27528350

The modern day equivalent to the old internet isn't YouTube or Facebook. That's the equivalent to Cable TV.

It's rather the private Discords, Signal groups and maker spaces, grassroots efforts like EleutherAI and what other cool stuff young (and old) people are doing these days.

Depending on how close you look, 2021 internet is everything as cool as it used to be in 1990. And yes, I was there.

Re: Sundar Pichai warns of threats to internet freedom

#190

Post by BobbyJo » Mon, Jul 12, 2021, 4:16 PM UTC

Dah00n wrote: post #158

BobbyJo wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I kind of see it both ways. 90% of people would call all politicians liars, but every person in that 90% has their pet politician that can do no wrong.

I'm guessing a "pet politician" is a very American Thing -though I have nothing to base it on but my own opinion- since US politics are very much based on specific persons while I'm used to people looking at politics as a big group of people they vote for out of many parties. There are currently 15 parties to vote for here in Denmark, with a government on average being based on 2-3 of them. A single person rarely get…

I'm speaking specifically about individuals people vote for among the hoard in any given party or set of parties. For instance, my grandfather who thinks all politicians are crooks, believes almost everything Trump says, and my girlfriend who likewise thinks all politicians are liars, takes everything AOC says as gospel. Both disagree with a lot of what the respective parties do, or want.