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Larry Page did not want to answer anything. I guess this is why they're seeking a 'round 2'. > Uber: Google invested in Uber; correct? > Page: Yes. > Uber:

• harryh 9y ago
  It's likely that Larry didn't want to be there but I wouldn't infer that from answers like this. This is exactly what you are taught to do before giving a deposition. You can't win in a deposition, you can only lose. The more information you give the other party the more you lose. So when they ask a question you are taught to answer precisely what they asked and no more. This is pretty unlike regular life. As an engineer if someone asked me "Hey, in order to get the widget-spinner to go clockwise do I call function X?" I might answer "No, what you need to do is set variable X to true." (or whatever). In a deposition the correct answer would just be "no." I was in a patent troll deposition once and the opposing attorney kept dancing around moderately close to the interesting stuff but never really got there due to the fact that he didn't really know what he was doing. It was kind of fun just saying "no" over and over again without giving him any additional context or help. Weird though. It's not how humans normally communicate.
  • dragonwriter 9y ago
    > This is pretty unlike regular life. As an engineer if someone asked me "Hey, in order to get the widget-spinner to go clockwise do I call function X?" I might answer "No, what you need to do is set variable X to true." (or whatever). In a deposition the correct answer would just be "no." Or, even, possibly, “You might” (given the question phrasing ”...do I...”), if it is technically possible to get the fidget spinner to go clockwise with a call to function X, even though it's not the right way.
    • harryh 9y ago
      Hah, even better!
  • schoen 9y ago
    This cautious question-answering might feel unusual because it potentially violates Gricean norms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative_principle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative_principle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implicature https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implicature (In typical conversation, speakers often guess why a question was asked and try to respond to the inferred motivation.)
  • the_stc 9y ago
    Do not go overboard or it will backfire: Take a 2 hour disposition transcript to the judge. All answers are ~I cannot recall~. Profit.
  • sokoloff 9y ago
    I was deposed in a case; after referencing one-way hashing in an answer, opposing counsel attempted to get me to ramble by saying, "I don't think I understand." I replied, "I agree."
    • kinkrtyavimoodh 9y ago
      I just tried to picture it and burst out laughing. Would you be able to provide any more details about this deposition? In what context did one-way hashing come up?
      • sokoloff 9y ago
        One way hashing came up in the context of sharing email opt-outs without sharing the actual email addresses. (Send a list of hashes of email addresses and the hash function and require that no one whose email hashes to a value on that list may be emailed marketing material.) It's been many years now, but we did some canonicalization of email addresses before hashing [downcasing, stripping whitespace, stripping periods (gmail), stripping any local tags (plus-sign), and maybe a few others I'm forgetting] since false positives were "safe".
    • wfunction 9y ago
      That's hilarious but did the comment even need a reply?
      • sokoloff 9y ago
        No; counsel was clearly stopping and waiting for me to respond. I could have remained silent, but my reply was a way to move things along (by indicating I wasn't going to ramble in response to a non-question as well as getting a poke in).
        • wfunction 9y ago
          Haha I see, thanks!
    • 9y ago
  • ronilan 9y ago
    > So when they ask a question you are taught to answer precisely what they asked and no more. I find this interesting conceptually. Can you elaborate where this is being taught? or, if not of general knowledge, who, when, where taught you that? Not a deposition, just an internet question.
    • Fezzik 9y ago
      Lawyers tell their clients this right before they, the client, is deposed. As another commentor here hinted at, when being deposed you are either going to play it safe or lose, there is really no winning. Deposition hiccups are later used, at trial or in settlement negotiations, as leverage against your opponent or to try to discredit them as a witness/simply make them look stupid as a witness. A deponent seldom has anything to gain from waxing poetic about whatever they are being deposed about. That's the litigation game. Edit: spelling.
    • goatherders 9y ago
      Not sure if it's taught anywhere per se, but in many arenas it becomes habit. "Do you know what time it is?" "Yes." "Can you tell me the time?" "Yes." "What time is it?" "11:30".
      • prostoalex 9y ago
        Why cough up the answer so soon? Make them specify the time zone.
        • vkou 9y ago
          And that they are asking for the current time. Not the time of the lunch break.
    • btian 9y ago
      If you work for a "normal" company, your company's lawyer will spend a day or so prepping you for deposition before the actual thing. And the deposition is very tiring.
  • prostoalex 9y ago
    I had a similar experience with the deposition (instructed by my attorney to keep things simple and single-syllable if I wanted to get out of it quickly), and the switch from on-record to off-record was pretty weird, as the opposing side knew my attorney pretty well, which inspired a lively exchange about weekend plans, common acquaintances, etc. In a few minutes we're back on record with just dry "Yes"es, "No"es and "Do not recall"s flying around.
• bitmapbrother 9y ago
  Not Google, but side business related. I once worked with a person that built and sold computers on the side. He fielded customer support calls from his desk. He was let go shortly thereafter. The new guy did have to answer his customer support calls, though.
• objclxt 9y ago
  > Larry Page did not want to answer anything. That's how you do a deposition. I don't know how many depositions Page has had to do over the years, but it's not his first rodeo. Depositions aren't just used as fact-finding (and in a case like this most of the facts are already known) - they're used to force the deposed party into either lying or omitting something they later rely on in order to discredit their eventual testimony. For example, the question "do you recall when" seems simple enough, but let's say I mistakenly mix up the year in my deposition. "How can he be trusted", the defense will say, "if he can't remember basic facts like when the company was bought?".
• cdolan 9y ago
  Why is this downvoted? He's not incorrect, Page wanted to provide the bare minimum answers, as he has the right to.
  • tehwebguy 9y ago
    Probably because the example used was not an instance of that
• tehwebguy 9y ago
  There are some good examples of him not wanting to answer anything, but this isn't one of them. Read the next 2 lines! > Q: Do you recall when? [asked again] > A: No, I don't remember when we did that. They were probably talking over each other or something.