Google "Do No Evil" meta thread

[bernorange 8390]

I ranted a bit about Google on TOS but neglected to start a new thread here when we migrated.  I searched and didn't see an existing thread for the purpose so here we are.

Quote

...

AMP allows Google to basically take over hosting the web as well. The Google AMP Cache will serve AMP pages instead of a website’s own hosting environment, and also allow Google to perform their own optimisations to further enhance user experience.

As a side benefit, it also allows Google full control over content monetisation. No more rogue ad networks, no more malicious ads, all monetisation approved and regulated by Google. If anything happens that falls outside of the AMP standard’s restrictions, the page in question simply becomes AMP-invalid and is ejected from the AMP cache – and subsequently from Google’s results. At that point the page might as well not exist any more.

...

More:  https://www.polemicdigital.com/google-amp-go-to-hell/

[Parliament 14667]

Would you translate that to English, please?

[NeverMarryAStripper 22490]

If google doesn’t like you then you disappear

[Doc Holliday 199]

If they can't make money off of you then you disappear. 

[bernorange 8390]

@Parliament - you could click the link for the full explanation, but essentially, Google is using their position as the de facto monopoly on search traffic to force news sites (all sites really, but news sites specifically at this time) to use a (mobile) content delivery format that they (Google) control.  You don't use Google's format, they don't send you any traffic.  Google's format allows Google to do anything they want to your content.

[Rusty Shackelford 414]

That’s why I get my news exclusively from Facebook

[F250 29310]

Rocko must have been on to something with all his Yahoo news articles.

 

 

[MissingInAction 25650]

I get all my news off bathroom walls. Consequently the joke is in my jand, and my mother chugs large black dong.

[Buffsoldier 1895]

1 hour ago, MissingInAction said:

I get all my news off bathroom walls. Consequently the joke is in my jand, and my mother chugs large black dong.

[Doc Holliday 199]

I suspect there will be a global economic collapse at some point, when?, who knows, and the alphabet, plus a few other major corporations, will be able to offer a solution or weather the storm and then will jump the shark into total 1984 or some variation. 

[bernorange 8390]

Julian Assange has apparently written a book about Google and has posted a long excerpt from the book on wikileaks website:

https://wikileaks.org/google-is-not-what-it-seems/

There is no date posted on the page, so this might be old news and I'm just now seeing it.

[Zavala 1384]

Alphabet

They are linked to Oil aggy and the Clintons, Obama, Bush. Something weird is going on in Qatar with all these characters.

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/26/us/politics/26gates.html?_r=0

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/12/former-us-defense-secretary-robert-gates-qatar-poses-same-problems.html

http://alcalde.texasexes.org/2011/09/texas-am-a-case-study-in-failure-in-governance/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/15/barack-obama-qatar-libya-gaddafi

http://www.qf.org.qa/news/using-data-to-make-the-world

[Zavala 1384]

On 9/11/2018 at 9:23 AM, Doc Holliday said:

I suspect there will be a global economic collapse at some point, when?, who knows, and the alphabet, plus a few other major corporations, will be able to offer a solution or weather the storm and then will jump the shark into total 1984 or some variation. 

It's already here with google search. They got caught manipulating the suggested search before the election. Also, search is broken, and youtube search is now broken.

Even worse may be China, and what Google is doing there.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-45653035

The letter alleges Google is working on:

A prototype interface designed to allow a Chinese joint venture company to search for a given user's search queries based on their phone number

An extensive censorship blacklist developed in accordance with Chinese government demands. Among others, it contained the English term "human rights", the Mandarin terms for 'student protest' and 'Nobel prize', and very large numbers of phrases involving 'Xi Jinping' and other members of the CCP

Explicit code to ensure only Chinese government-approved air quality data would be returned in response to Chinese users' search

 

[kibbles 70]

Larry and Sergei started off with the right idea and culture - however, once they hired eric and decided to get rich - they took their eye off the ball a little bit, got married, etc - and now it is a bit of a shit show.  I left the Googleplex in 2004

[DaysOff 8267]

Get your ass to the library and look it up in the Encyclopedia Britannica like we did in the olden days if you're worried about search results.

[Dbeasy 15645]

All monopolies end badly, for either the company and/or the customer.

[Kyle 208]

On September 28, 2018 at 11:32 AM, DaysOff said:

Get your ass to the library and look it up in the Encyclopedia Britannica like we did in the olden days if you're worried about search results.

I pine for the days when a search engine would actually search vs. returning whatever it's advertisers were paying. Is there an actual search engine anymore?

[bernorange 8390]

15 minutes ago, Kyle said:

I pine for the days when a search engine would actually search vs. returning whatever it's advertisers were paying. Is there an actual search engine anymore?

Duckduckgo.Com

[Kyle 208]

3 minutes ago, bernorange said:

Duckduckgo.Com

Thanks. Google seems like the epitome of evil.

[Neonmoon 38131]

What am I supposed to do? Use Yahoo like a poor?

[luke duke 6470]

What am I supposed to do? Use Yahoo like a poor?

Rocky says they have great articles.

[bernorange 8390]

On 9/29/2018 at 9:17 PM, bernorange said:

Duckduckgo.Com

I posted that from a mobile previously, so I wasn't able to fully expound upon it. 

I highly recommend that you change the default search engine in your web browser to https://www.duckduckgo.com/ or another search engine of your choice . Google lives off of the ad revenue from it's search engine. If you don't want to support them, stop using their search engine.

Quote

DuckDuckGo (DDG) is an Internet search engine that emphasizes protecting searchers' privacy and avoiding the filter bubble of personalized search results.[3] DuckDuckGo distinguishes itself from other search engines by not profiling its users and by deliberately showing all users the same search results for a given search term,[5] and emphasizes returning the best results, rather than the most results, generating those results from over 400 individual sources, including crowdsourced sites such as Wikipedia, and other search engines like Bing, Yahoo!, and Yandex.[6][7]
...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuckDuckGo

Edited October 1, 2018 by bernorange

[HoustonHorn 1066]

The other day I searched for a plumber on my phone and it came up with a number for the company and I clicked it and rang then played a recording that said, "Google or its partners may record this call..." I hung up and called a different company. Fuck Google wanting permission to actually record my phone call. I bet most people don't even think twice about that though.

 

[bernorange 8390]

Quote

... the internet giant went on the record Wednesday to make clear that even if it does discriminate on the basis of political viewpoints -- which it denies -- it can’t be forced to change. Not only would it be wrong to compel a private company to guarantee free speech in the way that government censorship is forbidden by the Constitution, but it would also have “disastrous practical consequences,” Google said in a court filing.

“The First Amendment appropriately limits the government’s ability to censor speech, but applying those limitations to private online platforms would undermine important content regulation,” the company said. “If they are bound by the same First Amendment rules that apply to the government, YouTube and other service providers would lose much of their ability to protect their users against offensive or objectionable content -- including pornography, hate speech, personal attacks, and terrorist propaganda.”

Google’s argument that YouTube isn’t a “public forum” and therefore is not subject to the First Amendment isn’t novel -- it’s based on a long history of rulings by U.S. courts. In its filing, Google is urging the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to dismiss a challenge by Prager University, a nonprofit producer of conservative videos on public affairs topics that accused the Alphabet Inc. unit of using its filter for age-appropriate content to illegally restrict access to Prager’s content.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-01/google-to-bias-accusers-regulating-youtube-would-be-disastrous

I agree with Google's private property argument.  I posted this mainly to illustrate that Google will justify censoring content on their platforms as they see fit.

[Neonmoon 38131]

I love Google, but I realize it’s a monopoly. Will the government have to break it up Mama Bell style at some point? 

[Doc Holliday 199]

17 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

I love Google, but I realize it’s a monopoly. Will the government have to break it up Mama Bell style at some point? 

Only when it no longer serves the purpose it's currently serving. 

[Grade of D as in David 13256]

2 hours ago, Neonmoon said:

I love Google, but I realize it’s a monopoly. Will the government have to break it up Mama Bell style at some point? 

Nope. If they didn't break up the banks after the too big to fail bullshit, Google sure isn't getting broken up. 

[Neonmoon 38131]

1 hour ago, Grade of D as in David said:

Nope. If they didn't break up the banks after the too big to fail bullshit, Google sure isn't getting broken up. 

Well then I’m glad I’m so deep in the Google/Nest web that I couldn’t get out if I tried

Edited November 9, 2018 by Neonmoon

[Doc Holliday 199]

1 hour ago, Neonmoon said:

Well then I’m glad I’m so deep in the Google/Nest web that I couldn’t get out if I tired 

you can get out if you're tired enough.  #permanentnightnight

[Hate 20319]

1 hour ago, Neonmoon said:

Well then I’m glad I’m so deep in the Google/Nest web that I couldn’t get out if I tried

[Bigbend1812 13104]

Just place me in RDR2. 

[High Plains Drifter 11197]

On 9/29/2018 at 9:17 PM, bernorange said:

Duckduckgo.Com

for the win.

[SHOOTER12 8897]

On 9/10/2018 at 12:02 PM, Rusty Shackelford said:

That’s why I get my news exclusively from Facebook Surlyhorns.com

fifm

[kibbles 70]

Chris sacca is the vanguard of useless coward butches and their fake internet money.  Minnie Ingersoll, Code for America, is a close second

[Monster 219]

"This is the impenetrable banality of “don’t be evil.” They believe that they are doing good. And that is a problem."

-from that Julian Assange article.    Rings true, since nobody thinks they're the bad guy.   Egotists always think they're doing the right thing.

Apparently, Google was doing its own CIA type operations in foreign countries.  (some of the thing they were doing did actually seem 'good'?)

The takeaway seems to be that Google is part of the US Government.  Which isn't new news, I guess.  But it's very interesting to read all of the dates and players and places.

I read a dystopian comedy novel called 'Making Monsters' recently.  It's set in a future where geographic states have been replaced by Corporate States.   I really don't think we're too far from that becoming reality. 

At some point ,US corporations are going to get tired of using lobbyist/middlemen and they'll just buy themselves an amendment that makes them states and start electing their own congressmen.  

Edited November 14, 2018 by Monster

[Monster 219]

On 9/29/2018 at 9:17 PM, bernorange said:

Duckduckgo.Com

Just set this as my default.   I expect the loss of my internet search revenue will bankrupt google within a month or two.  You're welcome everybody.

 

Edited November 14, 2018 by Monster

[Smax 3800]

Breaking up Google wouldn't have the same ripple effects throughout the world economy as breaking up the major financial institutions would.

Any single entity deciding what information to deciminate to the masses should scare the hell out everyone.

[bernorange 8390]

Also:  https://townhall.com/columnists/johnstossel/2018/12/05/the-creepy-line-n2536980

Edited December 5, 2018 by bernorange

[Kyle 208]

On 11/14/2018 at 12:07 PM, Smax said:

Breaking up Google wouldn't have the same ripple effects throughout the world economy as breaking up the major financial institutions would.

Any single entity deciding what information to deciminate to the masses should scare the hell out everyone.

This. 

[ChickenSandwich 10004]

Biggest collusion racket on the planet. 

[bernorange 8390]

Quote

...
Gizmodo's Kashmir Hill recently accepted a monumental challenge: blocking tech giants from her everyday life due to privacy concerns and sheer curiosity. But she took the challenge to extreme lengths to demonstrate just how pervasive these companies are beyond just the apps they provide.

How? By actively blocking all communication with Google's 8,699,648 (!) IP addresses on every device she owned. Not merely finding alternatives for the various Google apps we all rely on, but preventing those devices from pinging a single Google server.

The results were both calamitous and eye-opening.
...

More:  https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2019/04/09/heres-the-shocking-reality-of-completely-blocking-google-from-your-life/#6ad978921fec

[clapclapclap 9000]

You can chase privacy, but if you want to keep certain political groups and the feds from having a pretty accurate profile of you, it's too late.

[TwiceHorn 32198]

Google to Disable Ad-Blocking in non-enterprise Chrome Installations

Bahaha.  Welcome back, Firefox.

[tbone_ 14539]

Why anyone would use chrome is beyond me

[YChang 3587]

I guess at least Google is being honest about their business model.

[52-80 19382]

switched (back) to Firefox many months ago.  on desktop and mobile.  its been great.  no ragrets

[Gene Parmesan 4121]

I only use it because my wife doesn't know what it is and therefore won't be looking at the search history if I forget to go incognito mode.

[bernorange 8390]

Just now, Gene Parmesan said:

I only use it because my wife doesn't know what it is and therefore won't be looking at the search history if I forget to go incognito mode.

Switch your default search engine to duckduckgo.com.  Change your browser setting to delete browsing history every time you close the browser.

[52-80 19382]

31 minutes ago, bernorange said:

Switch your default search engine to duckduckgo.com.  Change your browser setting to delete browsing history every time you close the browser. 

yeap, and when you want to watch something on youtube, search for it through duckduckgo's video search, then view the youtube video through the embedded results. 

google just knows way too much

[Nice Guy Eddie 13776]

On a side note about the thread title, I’ve never fully understood that “do no evil” is some type of value to be admired.  It’s setting the bar fairly low.  

Would you utilize bank who’s motto is “we won’t steal your money”. Or does google reward their employees who’s annual goal is to “not steal google IP”.