4 ms·

Do no evil, right? /s People seem to have this romanticized view of Google but this is a company that makes almost the entirety of its revenue from tracking u

Do no evil, right? /s People seem to have this romanticized view of Google but this is a company that makes almost the entirety of its revenue from tracking users. Between Google, Chrome, Android, Gmail and Google Maps they have an astonishing amount of access to people's lives and most people seem none the wise to it. And yet, if another company does anything even remotely close (Microsoft with Windows 10, for example), they would be crucified. Google seems to escape the same level of criticism for some reason.

ardit33 11y ago
They are business at the end of the day. How much are you paying monthly for the youtube/search/gmail, whatever else you are using from google? Probably, $0.00. Then how are they going to keep those services up without any ads? Also, form my understanding the Youtube Red service has no ads. If ads bother you so much, you can sing up for it, for 9.99/mo.
- retrogradeorbit 11y ago
  If you pay nothing, you are not the customer. You are the product.
- jackvalentine 11y ago
  Two things that come to mind. 1) it's impossible to compete with ad-supported "free" services in a large-scale way. Any competitor to YouTube that tried to pay their bills only with paying customers can't succeed. This makes me think that we need some kind of anti-trust like law if it doesn't already exist to cover situations like this. 2) No YouTube red in most countries. I have been hit by this "delay" because I use an adblocker, but when I try to give YouTube my $9.99US a month I'm refused. Of course, I have no implicit right to use YouTube in the way of my choosing but I would like to see them act in good faith towards me when I try to with them.
jamiequint 11y ago
How is blocking free/ad-blocked access to their ad supported content evil in any definition of the word? What entitles you to access their site if they don't want you to?
- eva1984 11y ago
  Not letting tech-savvy-me having good thing for free is the new evil~

ardit33 11y ago

They are business at the end of the day. How much are you paying monthly for the youtube/search/gmail, whatever else you are using from google? Probably, $0.00. Then how are they going to keep those services up without any ads? Also, form my understanding the Youtube Red service has no ads. If ads bother you so much, you can sing up for it, for 9.99/mo.

retrogradeorbit 11y ago
If you pay nothing, you are not the customer. You are the product.
jackvalentine 11y ago
Two things that come to mind. 1) it's impossible to compete with ad-supported "free" services in a large-scale way. Any competitor to YouTube that tried to pay their bills only with paying customers can't succeed. This makes me think that we need some kind of anti-trust like law if it doesn't already exist to cover situations like this. 2) No YouTube red in most countries. I have been hit by this "delay" because I use an adblocker, but when I try to give YouTube my $9.99US a month I'm refused. Of course, I have no implicit right to use YouTube in the way of my choosing but I would like to see them act in good faith towards me when I try to with them.

jamiequint 11y ago

How is blocking free/ad-blocked access to their ad supported content evil in any definition of the word? What entitles you to access their site if they don't want you to?

eva1984 11y ago
Not letting tech-savvy-me having good thing for free is the new evil~