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I think the Google Transparency Project needs some transparency: http://fortune.com/2016/04/27/google-transparency-project/ http://fortune.com/2016/04/27/google

I think the Google Transparency Project needs some transparency: http://fortune.com/2016/04/27/google-transparency-project/ http://fortune.com/2016/04/27/google-transparency-project/

ocdtrekkie 10y ago
This article contains no data. Merely speculates or insinuates that if it's investigating Google, clearly it has to be part of some plot against them. I know it's hard to imagine, but sometimes people may just want to know what a giant evil international conglomerate is doing in backrooms with the most powerful people on the planet.
- morgante 10y ago
  I think it's a little suspicious that they won't reveal who is funding them. More importantly, I don't see any clear reason to target a specific company. There are lots of organizations like The Center for Responsive Politics which investigate lobbying and corruption without doing targeting a specific company with whatever they can find. This organization clearly seems to have an axe to grind. For example, what is the point of naming and shaming programmers who dared to quit their cushy Google jobs to come work for USDS? [0] This is symptomatic of a hatchet job: > suggests that many former Google employees working for USDS today may return to their Google jobs tomorrow with inside knowledge and relationships that could prove invaluable in securing large IT contracts for Google. The notion that programmers are going to work for Google so they can secure IT contracts is ludicrous. I know people working for USDS—they definitely are not interested in making a career out of government consulting. If this group cares so much about transparency, they should be transparent about who is funding them. I suspect it's several corporations which are even more corrupt than Google. [0] http://googletransparencyproject.org/articles/us-digital-service http://googletransparencyproject.org/articles/us-digital-ser...
  - ocdtrekkie 10y ago
    It's hard to imagine big IT contracts isn't a part of it. Bear in mind, Google Cloud Platform is Google's big push these days, and they're currently in a distant third place. Now, with all those Google employees who are then also going back to Google after their USDS stint... how many of them do you think will recommend or even consider Azure or AWS when they recommend a cloud platform for the government project they're working on? Google Apps for Government is a thing too. And at the end of the day, basically all Google wants is... all your data. Good way to accomplish that is getting your employees to write the software too.
    - morgante 10y ago
      It's really hard for me to imagine regular Google software engineers doing stints in government just to procure IT contracts. Do you really think that's how things work? It amazes me that people will look for corruption in anything. Is it really that implausible that people might not just feel a civic duty to help improve government? For the record, 18F and USDS both seem to have pushed for multiple cloud solutions, including their own cloud.gov.
      - ocdtrekkie 10y ago
        Many of these aren't "regular Google software engineers". Eric Schmidt is the former CEO and is on an advisory board at the DOD, while still chairman of the board for Google. Matt Cutts, USDS and still employed formally at Google as well, is one of the most public faces of the biggest and most profitable division Google has. If Google was a single color, I'm confident Matt Cutts would bleed it. I'm not "looking for corruption in anything". I'm looking for corruption in one of the biggest lobbyists in Washington DC that has very close ties with our administration, and strangely, has managed to avoid any sort of legal action against them, despite the fact that almost every other first world power finds cause to do so. The previous FTC Commissioner, who is tasked by our government to regulate companies like Google, was a former paid Google shill who fabricated pro-Google "studies". After being paid under the table by Google, and then squashing an FTC investigation against Google during his term there, he's now working for Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, a law firm who has a notable client... Google. I'm not "looking for corruption in anything". It's just that it's incredibly implausible that Google does not have a corrupt relationship with the government.

I think the Google Transparency Project needs some transparency: http://fortune.com/2016/04/27/google-transparency-project/ http://fortune.com/2016/04/27/google-transparency-project/

ocdtrekkie 10y ago

This article contains no data. Merely speculates or insinuates that if it's investigating Google, clearly it has to be part of some plot against them. I know it's hard to imagine, but sometimes people may just want to know what a giant evil international conglomerate is doing in backrooms with the most powerful people on the planet.

morgante 10y ago
I think it's a little suspicious that they won't reveal who is funding them. More importantly, I don't see any clear reason to target a specific company. There are lots of organizations like The Center for Responsive Politics which investigate lobbying and corruption without doing targeting a specific company with whatever they can find. This organization clearly seems to have an axe to grind. For example, what is the point of naming and shaming programmers who dared to quit their cushy Google jobs to come work for USDS? [0] This is symptomatic of a hatchet job: > suggests that many former Google employees working for USDS today may return to their Google jobs tomorrow with inside knowledge and relationships that could prove invaluable in securing large IT contracts for Google. The notion that programmers are going to work for Google so they can secure IT contracts is ludicrous. I know people working for USDS—they definitely are not interested in making a career out of government consulting. If this group cares so much about transparency, they should be transparent about who is funding them. I suspect it's several corporations which are even more corrupt than Google. [0] http://googletransparencyproject.org/articles/us-digital-service http://googletransparencyproject.org/articles/us-digital-ser...
- ocdtrekkie 10y ago
  It's hard to imagine big IT contracts isn't a part of it. Bear in mind, Google Cloud Platform is Google's big push these days, and they're currently in a distant third place. Now, with all those Google employees who are then also going back to Google after their USDS stint... how many of them do you think will recommend or even consider Azure or AWS when they recommend a cloud platform for the government project they're working on? Google Apps for Government is a thing too. And at the end of the day, basically all Google wants is... all your data. Good way to accomplish that is getting your employees to write the software too.
  - morgante 10y ago
    It's really hard for me to imagine regular Google software engineers doing stints in government just to procure IT contracts. Do you really think that's how things work? It amazes me that people will look for corruption in anything. Is it really that implausible that people might not just feel a civic duty to help improve government? For the record, 18F and USDS both seem to have pushed for multiple cloud solutions, including their own cloud.gov.
    - ocdtrekkie 10y ago
      Many of these aren't "regular Google software engineers". Eric Schmidt is the former CEO and is on an advisory board at the DOD, while still chairman of the board for Google. Matt Cutts, USDS and still employed formally at Google as well, is one of the most public faces of the biggest and most profitable division Google has. If Google was a single color, I'm confident Matt Cutts would bleed it. I'm not "looking for corruption in anything". I'm looking for corruption in one of the biggest lobbyists in Washington DC that has very close ties with our administration, and strangely, has managed to avoid any sort of legal action against them, despite the fact that almost every other first world power finds cause to do so. The previous FTC Commissioner, who is tasked by our government to regulate companies like Google, was a former paid Google shill who fabricated pro-Google "studies". After being paid under the table by Google, and then squashing an FTC investigation against Google during his term there, he's now working for Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, a law firm who has a notable client... Google. I'm not "looking for corruption in anything". It's just that it's incredibly implausible that Google does not have a corrupt relationship with the government.