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That's the part I took least issue with. >while google is the master of spreading consumer propaganda and spying on people. Equating automated behavioral anal
by rudolf0 10y ago
That's the part I took least issue with.
>while google is the master of spreading consumer propaganda and spying on people.
Equating automated behavioral analysis or ad targeting with willful communications-spying, like NSA does, is retarded. Yes, Google has been guilty of many invasive tactics and holds too much power right now, but claims that they're doing that to "suppress dissent and unpopular opinion" or "spread propaganda" will need a lot of evidence.
>The commercialization of news is the best form of censorship. You don't need to censor much when the vast majority of news is meaningless bullshit stuffed with ads and promotions, and is already controlled by organizations like Google.
How is this Google's fault in any way? Google owns a lot of those ad networks, but beyond that they're not responsible for news quality.
>Google is one of these organizations that operate without scrutiny and transparency alongside organizations such as the NSA.
Aka every other private corporation in the US? You really seem to be grasping at straws trying to make them out to be as bad as intelligence agencies.
>If you think Google will help you with anonymity, free speech, or 'unfiltered' news, you are retarded.
They're dedicating their network resources to preventing independent news websites from being censored by oppressive governments or DDoS'd by hostile entities, pro bono, and it appears to be working quite well. You've cited no specific examples of them doing the opposite, while there are many examples of them doing as they say.
I am no Google fanboy. I hate advertising and ad networks and think (or at least hope) they'll mostly die within a decade or two. I use ad blockers on all my devices and have never put a single ad on any website I've operated due to the ethical concerns.
But come on.
- Bartweiss 10y agoI mean, if you want to go all out on the "propaganda" and "alongside the NSA" claims, don't just look at advertising. Google Ideas is pretty explicitly about political and government-linked activity. Any tech company can operate alongside the NSA (they don't have much choice), but most of them don't employ Jared Cohen and send their executives to tour Iraq's green zone. I don't want to veer into conspiracy territory here - I absolutely think DDoS protection is a great project, and we need it no matter who it's being provided for. But reading The New Digital Age was a creepy experience that made me stop equating Google's political standing with that of Apple or other US tech companies. It was very openly a love letter to state power in a way I haven't seen even from topical companies like Palantir.
- rudolf0 10y agoI haven't read the book and was not aware of some of Google Ideas' more shady activities. Thank you, because otherwise I wouldn't have heard of any of this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Cohen#Involvement_on_Syrian_armed_conflict https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Cohen#Involvement_on_Syr... >In an email addressed to the deputy Secretary of State under Hillary Clinton dated on July 25, 2012, Cohen revealed that Google Ideas was working on a project, together with Al Jazeera, to track defectors of the Syrian Army with the explicit goal of "encouraging more to defect and giving confidence to the opposition." That is pretty frightening.
- Bartweiss 10y agoI'm glad you found it interesting. I started from Assange's scathing review and decided I had to read the thing for myself. From an inside view, it's just terrible futurism (who wants to read the news on a transparent screen facing a window?), but from an outside view it's a fascinating position paper from Schmidt/Cohen. I'm usually unimpressed with the "tech companies are all government conspirators!" paranoia, but I do have the sense that Google has chosen a way more active role in international politics than others.
- tloble 10y ago> Equating automated behavioral analysis or ad targeting with willful communications-spying, like NSA does, is retarded. Implying my two statements, one about spying and the other about consumer propaganda are the same is pretty dishonest bullshit. We know google spies on its users for the NSA and other agencies and we know Google makes its money from consumer propaganda. It's pretty simple. > Equating automated behavioral analysis or ad targeting with willful communications-spying, like NSA does, is retarded. Google is essentially an NSA partner when it comes to spying. > How is this Google's fault in any way? Google owns a lot of those ad networks, but beyond that they're not responsible for news quality. Of course google is responsible for what content it shows in its search engine and other products, and which content providers they reward. > Aka every other private corporation in the US? You really seem to be grasping at straws trying to make them out to be as bad as intelligence agencies. You seem to have one goal here - defend Google. Somehow other corporations doing wrong is what absolved google (and probably all other corporations) in your eyes. Nice try. > They're dedicating their network resources to preventing independent news websites from being censored by oppressive governments or DDoS'd by hostile entities, pro bono, and it appears to be working quite well. Nope, they participate in censorship and will remove and website or content from their results if some government (like the US government) as them to. > I am no Google fanboy. You wouldn't need to state that if your post wasn't just blind google defense based on false information.
- Kiro 10y agoSince you've already insulted me by calling me a cunt and retard let me insult you right back: you sound like a paranoid schizophrenic and I can't take a word you say seriously.
- tloble 10y agoretarded cunt
- seangrogg 10y agoCitation needed for virtually everything you said. Reputable sources, please.
- 10y ago