5 ms·

If the accusations are indeed true, it's disappointing behavior from Google. For a "Do No Evil" company, they certainly seem to be abusing their market position

If the accusations are indeed true, it's disappointing behavior from Google. For a "Do No Evil" company, they certainly seem to be abusing their market position. We should, in the very least, demand a formal explanation.

dismantlethesun 10y ago
Every since they made "do no evil" their position, it seems that evil has been redefined from "profoundly immoral and malevolent" to "anything I don't really like, even if it only slightly harms someone else's position".
- lucastx 10y ago
  Google is supposedly hiding a direct competitor to one of its main product from its search engine, the main entry of the Internet for millions of people that aren't very proficient with computers. Google's product, Gmail offer considerably lower security and privacy than this competitor and using it instead of ProtonMail may very realistically get someone (a journalist, whistleblower, LGBT activist...) in deep trouble or even killed in lots of places and contexts. I think this is a pretty evil move. Not only for this but what it represents when, again, millions of people were educated for years to enter the Internet through this search engine and don't have any clue that it may not only tamper with the order of the results but also hide websites.
  - x1798DE 10y ago
    If you are using ProtonMail for anything critical you're doing it wrong. It might be more convenient than other encrypted mail solutions, but it's in-browser cryptography with all the security issues that entails.
    - lucastx 10y ago
      Sure it is not the best tool -- but depending on what means "critical" in your context it provides great security. Not against the NSA targeted attacks, sure, but if you're not so concerned about your adversary using exploits and more sophisticated tools (versus just demanding data from the provider or something like that) ProtonMail goes a long way. Anyway it is, for most cases I can think of, much better than Gmail.
tr1ck5t3r 10y ago
Google can fix any results they like as shown here. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3222375/Google-fix-anti-semitic-bug-claims-Jews-control-Hollywood.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3222375/Google-fix-a...
ubernostrum 10y ago
Google already abuses its market position, and has for years. Google-owned properties get preferential placement in search results. Google-owned properties don't pay the DMCA penalty(note). Google-owned properties get treated as safe automatically. There are all sorts of ways Google uses its position as the largest search engine to promote or give preferential treatment to its own non-search properties, and this is nothing new. (note)Google will penalize a site's ranking in search results if Google receives large numbers of DMCA takedown requests for search results on that site. Except, of course, if the site is a Google property, in which case no penalty because Google knows its properties follow good procedures for handling DMCA complaints. Good luck convincing them your site does.
tinus_hn 10y ago
Hate to disappoint you but Google's 'Do no evil' principles died years ago. Today they are no better than Facebook or Microsoft.

dismantlethesun 10y ago

Every since they made "do no evil" their position, it seems that evil has been redefined from "profoundly immoral and malevolent" to "anything I don't really like, even if it only slightly harms someone else's position".

lucastx 10y ago
Google is supposedly hiding a direct competitor to one of its main product from its search engine, the main entry of the Internet for millions of people that aren't very proficient with computers. Google's product, Gmail offer considerably lower security and privacy than this competitor and using it instead of ProtonMail may very realistically get someone (a journalist, whistleblower, LGBT activist...) in deep trouble or even killed in lots of places and contexts. I think this is a pretty evil move. Not only for this but what it represents when, again, millions of people were educated for years to enter the Internet through this search engine and don't have any clue that it may not only tamper with the order of the results but also hide websites.
- x1798DE 10y ago
  If you are using ProtonMail for anything critical you're doing it wrong. It might be more convenient than other encrypted mail solutions, but it's in-browser cryptography with all the security issues that entails.
  - lucastx 10y ago
    Sure it is not the best tool -- but depending on what means "critical" in your context it provides great security. Not against the NSA targeted attacks, sure, but if you're not so concerned about your adversary using exploits and more sophisticated tools (versus just demanding data from the provider or something like that) ProtonMail goes a long way. Anyway it is, for most cases I can think of, much better than Gmail.

tr1ck5t3r 10y ago

Google can fix any results they like as shown here. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3222375/Google-fix-anti-semitic-bug-claims-Jews-control-Hollywood.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3222375/Google-fix-a...

ubernostrum 10y ago

Google already abuses its market position, and has for years. Google-owned properties get preferential placement in search results. Google-owned properties don't pay the DMCA penalty(note). Google-owned properties get treated as safe automatically. There are all sorts of ways Google uses its position as the largest search engine to promote or give preferential treatment to its own non-search properties, and this is nothing new. (note)Google will penalize a site's ranking in search results if Google receives large numbers of DMCA takedown requests for search results on that site. Except, of course, if the site is a Google property, in which case no penalty because Google knows its properties follow good procedures for handling DMCA complaints. Good luck convincing them your site does.

tinus_hn 10y ago

Hate to disappoint you but Google's 'Do no evil' principles died years ago. Today they are no better than Facebook or Microsoft.