Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Where in the World Is Larry Page?

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 245 posts

Re: Where in the World Is Larry Page?

#81

Post by l9k »

At this point, though, such a public-relations strategy feels dated. On balance, the celebrity of even the most caricatured CEO (Zuckerberg) appears to be a net positive for his company.

I disagree totally with that point. The "superstar CEO" Zuckerberg is now ridiculed, hated, and negatively "meme-ed". He is now the face of censorship (for some) and a laissezfaire strategy threatening democracies (for others).

Even the previous paragraph stated: "Bill Gates had become a media caricature during Microsoft Corp.’s three-year antitrust lawsuit".

Page staying in the dark only generated this one article, not a real national scandal. 99% of people don't know him and won't know him after that no-show. Google's reputation is untouched.

Only loss is for the Senators not getting the spotlight.

Re: Where in the World Is Larry Page?

#82

Post by dctoedt »

dibstern wrote: post #80

I don’t understand people on here complaining about the Senate demanding that the leaders of a business answer for its actions. Sending your lawyer or an underling is (1) a show of disrespect, (2) it shows you’re not taking responsibility for your company, and (3) when the person answering the questions isn’t really in charge, they can’t answer properly and they can’t commit their companies to behaving differently. P…

See Zelphyr's comment just below yours (for the moment) at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17978894

Re: Where in the World Is Larry Page?

#83

Post by gnode »

wjoe wrote: post #59
chosenbreed wrote: post #14

I might be missing something here but my thinking is that Google Inc/Alphabet is bigger than Larry Page. If for whatever reason he was not able to attend he could have sent a representative chosen from among the senior executives. It seems that neither his attendance nor Google's participation in the whole thing was not mandatory

Agreed. It feels like this is two separate stories really. Maybe Larry Page is a recluse, an eccentric, a technical thinker, a background figure, or however you want to describe him. I can understand why someone who started out writing a search engine in their garage might not be the type who feels comfortable doing public speaking in front of the Senate. But we should disconnect the man from the company. Google cert…

> Seems that Google did offer to send a senior legal executive, and the senate refused them.

This just goes to show how much of a charade these hearings are.

Re: Where in the World Is Larry Page?

#84

Post by wybiral »

ams6110 wrote: post #77
dibstern wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely disagree. I don’t know how you could say that. Business leaders have to answer for their companies actions, and senate hearings is one way we have of them doing that. And as wybiral said, it was a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing. Maybe I’m jaded, but your response reminds me of those from Theranos employees on this very forum when it was criticised.

"Business leaders have to answer for their companies actions" We have a law enforcement and judicial system for that. Most Senators don't know anything about business or technology.

The Intelligence Committee is more "with it" when it comes to technology and information warfare than the senate pool at large.

Re: Where in the World Is Larry Page?

#85

Post by JumpCrisscross »

agoodthrowaway wrote: post #56

From a PR point of view Google has handled this whole privacy debacle very well. By keeping a very low profile on privacy, they’ve made sure Facebook takes the heat. Facebook’s horrendous management of the issue has also allowed Google to slide under the radar on the topic. Generally I think Page is doing the right thing by keeping a low public profile.

> Facebook’s horrendous management of the issue

Part of that "horrendous management" involved sending surrogates to apologize instead of leaders. Google is repeating Facebook’s mistakes.

Re: Where in the World Is Larry Page?

#86

Post by lr »

ams6110 wrote: post #77
dibstern wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely disagree. I don’t know how you could say that. Business leaders have to answer for their companies actions, and senate hearings is one way we have of them doing that. And as wybiral said, it was a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing. Maybe I’m jaded, but your response reminds me of those from Theranos employees on this very forum when it was criticised.

"Business leaders have to answer for their companies actions" We have a law enforcement and judicial system for that. Most Senators don't know anything about business or technology.

Who do you think passes the laws that are then (supposedly) enforced by law enforcement and the judicial system?

Re: Where in the World Is Larry Page?

#87

Post by JumpCrisscross »

l9k wrote: post #81

At this point, though, such a public-relations strategy feels dated. On balance, the celebrity of even the most caricatured CEO (Zuckerberg) appears to be a net positive for his company. I disagree totally with that point. The "superstar CEO" Zuckerberg is now ridiculed, hated, and negatively "meme-ed". He is now the face of censorship (for some) and a laissezfaire strategy threatening democracies (for others). Even…

> Page staying in the dark only generated this one article

Eh, it’s going to generate nasty side effects. Google spends a lot on lobbying. This kneecaps those efforts. That’s bad news for a host of broader issues, including net neutrality.

Re: Where in the World Is Larry Page?

#88

Post by georgiecasey »

l9k wrote: post #81

At this point, though, such a public-relations strategy feels dated. On balance, the celebrity of even the most caricatured CEO (Zuckerberg) appears to be a net positive for his company. I disagree totally with that point. The "superstar CEO" Zuckerberg is now ridiculed, hated, and negatively "meme-ed". He is now the face of censorship (for some) and a laissezfaire strategy threatening democracies (for others). Even…

i agree, in this time of outrage culture, i don't know why anybody at the centre of any controversy gives it oxygen. anything you say is another story. some would say you need to get your point of view across but i'd say people have made up their mind anyway.

say nothing and the media and public move on to the next story.

Re: Where in the World Is Larry Page?

#89

Post by Retric »

wybiral wrote: post #67
Zelphyr wrote: post #60

It's kind-of Congress' own fault here. They so often have these... events, that are mostly for show and for the politicians to grandstand making them seem tough to voters but really have very little substance. I doubt any meaningful policy ever comes of them. Doesn't everybody know by now that they're grilling these CEO's in front of the cameras and begging them for money behind the cameras? "outrage" indeed.

The Senate Intelligence Committee hearings are usually pretty facts-first unlike the other random hearings and sessions. I watch them on C-SPAN whenever they happen (which isn't that frequent). Edit: I strongly recommend watching these directly from C-SPAN rather than the summarized spin-version from random news companies. You might be surprised how little of their time is wasted on grandstanding. Yeah, some politici…

On C-SPAN those jabs don't seem like much, but they are mostly what's included on regular news coverage. Making them the main point of the exercise.

Re: Where in the World Is Larry Page?

#90

Post by Retric »

lr wrote: post #86
ams6110 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Business leaders have to answer for their companies actions" We have a law enforcement and judicial system for that. Most Senators don't know anything about business or technology.

Who do you think passes the laws that are then (supposedly) enforced by law enforcement and the judicial system?

In practice, Lobbyists write these laws. Passage or non-passage is less important than content.
Post reply on HN