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Sundar Pichai warns of threats to internet freedom

bbc.com

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Re: Sundar Pichai warns of threats to internet freedom

#201

Post by LatteLazy »

Nasrudith wrote: post #181
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 th…

I'd be happy to hear a third option. How do we have a working democracy if so many people believe fake news and we don't ban it?

Re: Sundar Pichai warns of threats to internet freedom

#202

Post by raybon »

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…

The whole Web 2.0 shift really changed power away from individuals to corporations on the Internet. The "appifization" further created walled gardens.

I remember using IRC, Lynx browser, Unix Talk in the 1990s and being genuinely impressed. I feel the same excitement with Crypto after many years.

Decentralized trust, pseudonymous identity and device-to-device communication will change the Internet for the better in the coming decade.

There is reason for optimism.

Re: Sundar Pichai warns of threats to internet freedom

#205

Post by sangnoir »

Miraste wrote: post #186
sangnoir wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Unfortunately for Google (and fortunately for the rest of us), they have no risk-free mechanism[1] to achieve this feat exclusively. Strategically, any sort of balkanization will mean Google's competitors can gather resources and improve technically while being shielded from competing with Google; Google would much rather bludgeon any nascent competitor early (by offering a better[2] product, today) before they grow any legs.

ISPs, on the other hand, can approve service providers this via prioritization, or DNS-/traffic-level blocking. Google was cognizant early, which is why it became a fervent "net neutrality" supporter.

1. I cannot think of anything else that could bring down anti-trust regulation faster than Google angling to be the sole service provider for an entire market

2. "better" being measured by market success.

Re: Sundar Pichai warns of threats to internet freedom

#206

Post by GoblinSlayer »

pessimizer wrote: post #191
arcturus17 wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Utopian thinking almost never comes to fruition because by definition it discounts a lot of negatives. It rarely comes from a place of first-principles reasoning about human behavior. And above all, human beings cannot see into the future so any vision is always incomplete and flawed. Nevertheless, as much as there are heaps of shit on the internet - digital surveillance, bottomless wells of inane addiction, hateful…

The only real benefit I see is 1) Wikipedia, Sci-Hub, Archive/LibGen, and 2) the increase in general literacy that came from people commenting/posting. I think 2) gets underestimated a lot - 10 years ago you could recognize a lot of stupid comments by the fact that they capitalized every word or the grammar and spelling were horrific. Those people didn't stop posting, they learned how to express themselves well throu…

No, they outsourced orthography to smartphones.

Re: Sundar Pichai warns of threats to internet freedom

#207

Post by beckman466 »

refurb wrote: post #187
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…

Welcome to capitalism, where money can buy you your own story and a good reputation.

Re: Sundar Pichai warns of threats to internet freedom

#208

Post by fleddr »

"Warns" of threats is a great title, as that is all he does.

He's a great CEO. Has no outspoken opinion about anything yet maximizes financial results. It's what Google needs at this phase of its life cycle.

The article dares to even call him an idealist.

How so? He's too afraid to even directly mention the China issue, let alone take any responsibility for it. If you're too afraid to concretely even mention a human rights issue, how are you an idealist?

When mildly pressed for their tax misbehavior, the comeback is that they no longer use the double dutch construction. An idealist would apologize for even ever using it, and pay back what you dodged. Instead, we're supposed to be happy that they pay some bare minimum now, which...get this...is more than most companies.

How generous.

An idealist has principles, stands for something, and will defend doing the right thing at any and all costs. He's the opposite of an idealist.

Re: Sundar Pichai warns of threats to internet freedom

#209

Post by GoblinSlayer »

sangnoir wrote: post #205
Miraste wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Unfortunately for Google (and fortunately for the rest of us), they have no risk-free mechanism[1] to achieve this feat exclusively . Strategically, any sort of balkanization will mean Google's competitors can gather resources and improve technically while being shielded from competing with Google; Google would much rather bludgeon any nascent competitor early (by offering a better[2] product, today) before they grow…

Right, there will be Google and Apple. Totally competition.

Re: Sundar Pichai warns of threats to internet freedom

#210

Post by GoblinSlayer »

perfect_wave wrote: post #135
dkdk8283 wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Happy to if you present a specific question.

What kind of methods do they use to go about “cancelling the asshole”? What information are they accessing that they shouldn’t be? What kind of tooling are they misusing to do this? What are the results of their actions?

Imagine you built your life around these walled gardens and then they banned you.
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