5 ms·

Eric Schmidt: We'll pull Facebook's data by hook or by crook

33 points by jaybol 16y ago

mahmud 16y ago
The money quote: "The best thing that would happen is for Facebook to open up its data," Mr. Schmidt said. "Failing that, there are other ways to get that information." He declined to be specific. What is google gonna do if they're not authorized to access the users' private social graph? Any sniffing/MIM/deep-inspection trick they might pull off would be illegal and unauthorized. Are they gonna bury the consent form in some google ToS/EULA that people will need to click through to read their emails? Seems like an empty threat to me.
- ntoshev 16y ago
  For a quote out of context, by "that information" he could have easily meant "the real-world social connections between people", which Google could probably infer from Gmail. Such articles are meaningless.
  - houseabsolute 16y ago
    The other alternative is that he may have been talking about getting Facebook's data with its users' authorization.
- jacquesm 16y ago
  I think this quote is an open license to spider googles search results in return. Google should not want to have data that people protect using something as simple as their robots.txt file, the fact that Schmidt would go on the record to suggest that he would go around means google has just lost a lot of goodwill points when it comes to people abusing google.
rblion 16y ago
World Web War III is very real. not a hype word anymore...
_delirium 16y ago
I'd imagine they already do have a decent portion of Facebook's social graph. The FB graph that Pete Warden harvested with a crawler, and then later deleted after lawsuit threats (http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18721-data-sifted-from-facebook-wiped-after-legal-threats.html http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18721-data-sifted-from...), didn't violate robots.txt in its crawling at the time. Given that Googlebot is pretty quick to acquire any web content not robots.txt-protected, I wouldn't be surprised if Google has a copy of something similar.
dotcoma 16y ago
Or: Google these days is sounding more and more like MSFT...
- patrickaljord 16y ago
  Read the article, he never said that.
  - arethuza 16y ago
    What he did say was pretty close though: "The best thing that would happen is for Facebook to open up its data," Mr. Schmidt said. "Failing that, there are other ways to get that information."
  - nopassrecover 16y ago
    I think you should blame the editorialised title, not the commenter.
- nopassrecover 16y ago
  Haha oddly enough I thought it was a Steve Ballmer quote - I had to do a double check.
- gaiusparx 16y ago
  maybe because some key positions powered by ex-MSFT staffs?
haberman 16y ago
"by hook or by crook" is the article editorializing. Eric Schmidt did not say that, as the link text implies he did.
- c1sc0 16y ago
  It's not only that, the whole article is pretty much editorializing. When will the MSM learn to just cover the facts & then STFU?
  - jacquesm 16y ago
    > When will the MSM learn to just cover the facts & then STFU? The moment people will pay for facts in stead of for entertainment. Advertisers will pay for eyeballs, if you don't have eyeballs you can have all the facts you want it isn't going to make a business.
    - edge17 16y ago
      cnn is a readership business, not a news business
- ulf 16y ago
  To be fair: "The best thing that would happen is for Facebook to open up its data," Mr. Schmidt said. "Failing that, there are other ways to get that information." He declined to be specific. I doubt he means going to the mall and buying a DVD with a database dump on it...
bmr 16y ago
This particular quote is not newsworthy, but has anyone started to wonder if Google might have to cut ties with Schmidt at some point? I started using bing this week in no small part because I find Schmidt creepy.
theprodigy 16y ago
Information in social networks are so valuable.The information can be used to generate targeted ads to the user or better search results. Everything in the facebook world can be tracked and mined to generate some relevant information on you. Based on that they can generate a targeted ad platform, identify who the opinion leaders are in your social network, etc. That is why google wants to create a popular social network or wants facebook's data. Google is in the business of targeted ads, facebook is as well. Facebook alone with that data and a platform to utillize it is worth billions. Soon they will get it right. That being said, sometimes walled gardens are good, because if facebook didn't protect this data a competitor will use it and take away the facebook's money making opportunity.

33 points by jaybol 16y ago

The money quote: "The best thing that would happen is for Facebook to open up its data," Mr. Schmidt said. "Failing that, there are other ways to get that information." He declined to be specific. What is google gonna do if they're not authorized to access the users' private social graph? Any sniffing/MIM/deep-inspection trick they might pull off would be illegal and unauthorized. Are they gonna bury the consent form in some google ToS/EULA that people will need to click through to read their emails? Seems like an empty threat to me.

ntoshev 16y ago
For a quote out of context, by "that information" he could have easily meant "the real-world social connections between people", which Google could probably infer from Gmail. Such articles are meaningless.
- houseabsolute 16y ago
  The other alternative is that he may have been talking about getting Facebook's data with its users' authorization.
jacquesm 16y ago
I think this quote is an open license to spider googles search results in return. Google should not want to have data that people protect using something as simple as their robots.txt file, the fact that Schmidt would go on the record to suggest that he would go around means google has just lost a lot of goodwill points when it comes to people abusing google.

rblion 16y ago

World Web War III is very real. not a hype word anymore...

_delirium 16y ago

I'd imagine they already do have a decent portion of Facebook's social graph. The FB graph that Pete Warden harvested with a crawler, and then later deleted after lawsuit threats (http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18721-data-sifted-from-facebook-wiped-after-legal-threats.html http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18721-data-sifted-from...), didn't violate robots.txt in its crawling at the time. Given that Googlebot is pretty quick to acquire any web content not robots.txt-protected, I wouldn't be surprised if Google has a copy of something similar.

dotcoma 16y ago

Or: Google these days is sounding more and more like MSFT...

patrickaljord 16y ago
Read the article, he never said that.
- arethuza 16y ago
  What he did say was pretty close though: "The best thing that would happen is for Facebook to open up its data," Mr. Schmidt said. "Failing that, there are other ways to get that information."
- nopassrecover 16y ago
  I think you should blame the editorialised title, not the commenter.
nopassrecover 16y ago
Haha oddly enough I thought it was a Steve Ballmer quote - I had to do a double check.
gaiusparx 16y ago
maybe because some key positions powered by ex-MSFT staffs?

haberman 16y ago

"by hook or by crook" is the article editorializing. Eric Schmidt did not say that, as the link text implies he did.

c1sc0 16y ago
It's not only that, the whole article is pretty much editorializing. When will the MSM learn to just cover the facts & then STFU?
- jacquesm 16y ago
  > When will the MSM learn to just cover the facts & then STFU? The moment people will pay for facts in stead of for entertainment. Advertisers will pay for eyeballs, if you don't have eyeballs you can have all the facts you want it isn't going to make a business.
  - edge17 16y ago
    cnn is a readership business, not a news business
ulf 16y ago
To be fair: "The best thing that would happen is for Facebook to open up its data," Mr. Schmidt said. "Failing that, there are other ways to get that information." He declined to be specific. I doubt he means going to the mall and buying a DVD with a database dump on it...

bmr 16y ago

This particular quote is not newsworthy, but has anyone started to wonder if Google might have to cut ties with Schmidt at some point? I started using bing this week in no small part because I find Schmidt creepy.

theprodigy 16y ago

Information in social networks are so valuable.The information can be used to generate targeted ads to the user or better search results. Everything in the facebook world can be tracked and mined to generate some relevant information on you. Based on that they can generate a targeted ad platform, identify who the opinion leaders are in your social network, etc. That is why google wants to create a popular social network or wants facebook's data. Google is in the business of targeted ads, facebook is as well. Facebook alone with that data and a platform to utillize it is worth billions. Soon they will get it right. That being said, sometimes walled gardens are good, because if facebook didn't protect this data a competitor will use it and take away the facebook's money making opportunity.