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> These days I distrust almost every move Google makes by default, and I imagine there is a growing number of people like me. Google has lost its way, not just

> These days I distrust almost every move Google makes by default, and I imagine there is a growing number of people like me. Google has lost its way, not just with this, but with AMP/Chrome/URLs, and their impending destruction of one of the great achievements of modern technology -- the decentralized, open WWW. The Web was always under attack but to see the fatal blows delivered by Google is very depressing. I've already removed Facebook's companies entirely from my life. This year, I'm working on moving away from Google as much as possible.

jacksmith21006 8y ago
Google has not lost their way. They walked away from billions in China when the government tried to hack Gmail accounts. Google made it so ALL people can afford a smartphone not just the rich like Apple. Apple on the other hand https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/03/apple-privacy-betrayal-for-chinese-icloud-users/ https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/03/apple-privacy... Campaign targets Apple over privacy betrayal for Chinese iCloud ...
- JoshMnem 8y ago
  Smartphones are not necessarily good things. I think they are damaging attention[1] and causing a lot of negative effects on society (social media, fake information, etc.). Humans shouldn't be online at all times. [1] https://hbr.org/2018/03/having-your-smartphone-nearby-takes-a-toll-on-your-thinking https://hbr.org/2018/03/having-your-smartphone-nearby-takes-...
- curiousDog 8y ago
  They did it for a reason -- to sell ads. If they truly wanted it so people could afford it, they'd not be making billions of profits each year. They give you things for free at the cost of your privacy. Apple otoh is upfront about it.
MrEldritch 8y ago
The Web would have been dead no matter what Google did. Its death was as inevitable as any human's - just a matter of which organs fail, in what order, and when. If there's one thing we can learn from all this, it's that decentralization of a network is best understood as a temporary process for electing the monopoly node(s).
- JoshMnem 8y ago
  The Web is not dead yet, and its death is not inevitable. It has been under attack since at least the days of America Online, and it survived that. Google's market share with the browser (all Chromium-based browsers) puts them in a position where they might succeed in destroying it this time. I wouldn't give up completely just yet. People need to speak up, including Google employees. Other companies like Automattic and Cloudflare need to stop enabling schemes like AMP. Large content publishers should say "no" to AMP, because it is not in their long-term best interests. A visit to a restricted shell of your content on someone else's AMP server/cache is not a real visit to your website.

jacksmith21006 8y ago

Google has not lost their way. They walked away from billions in China when the government tried to hack Gmail accounts. Google made it so ALL people can afford a smartphone not just the rich like Apple. Apple on the other hand https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/03/apple-privacy-betrayal-for-chinese-icloud-users/ https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/03/apple-privacy... Campaign targets Apple over privacy betrayal for Chinese iCloud ...

JoshMnem 8y ago
Smartphones are not necessarily good things. I think they are damaging attention[1] and causing a lot of negative effects on society (social media, fake information, etc.). Humans shouldn't be online at all times. [1] https://hbr.org/2018/03/having-your-smartphone-nearby-takes-a-toll-on-your-thinking https://hbr.org/2018/03/having-your-smartphone-nearby-takes-...
curiousDog 8y ago
They did it for a reason -- to sell ads. If they truly wanted it so people could afford it, they'd not be making billions of profits each year. They give you things for free at the cost of your privacy. Apple otoh is upfront about it.

MrEldritch 8y ago

The Web would have been dead no matter what Google did. Its death was as inevitable as any human's - just a matter of which organs fail, in what order, and when. If there's one thing we can learn from all this, it's that decentralization of a network is best understood as a temporary process for electing the monopoly node(s).

JoshMnem 8y ago
The Web is not dead yet, and its death is not inevitable. It has been under attack since at least the days of America Online, and it survived that. Google's market share with the browser (all Chromium-based browsers) puts them in a position where they might succeed in destroying it this time. I wouldn't give up completely just yet. People need to speak up, including Google employees. Other companies like Automattic and Cloudflare need to stop enabling schemes like AMP. Large content publishers should say "no" to AMP, because it is not in their long-term best interests. A visit to a restricted shell of your content on someone else's AMP server/cache is not a real visit to your website.