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> <i>wierdos whot spy on you</i> LOL. I agree with a lot of your points but this one really hit home. On this one, the spying, I always wondered how odd or awk
by abbadadda 7y ago
> <i>wierdos whot spy on you</i>
LOL. I agree with a lot of your points but this one really hit home. On this one, the spying, I always wondered how odd or awkward it had to be internally to push new methods, techniques, or initiatives for "improving user experience" (I.e., spying). I interviewed for some Technical Solutions Engineer role at Google a long time ago. I really wanted the job but when asked a couple questions about how I'd technically achieve some goal related to spying on users and I always found myself hesitating, looking at the interviewer, and thinking, "is it ethically okay if I say this?" I can't imagine how the work environment transitioned at Google over the years from "do no evil" to actively fostering spying on users. I have to imagine it happened because there were few if any laws around user privacy while Google was up and coming. But I know Google has good internal controls for privacy, but I have to imagine there were many unethical or borderline conversations in the name of better spying on users data. I'm still trying to get away from Gmail because I know everything I send/receive is parses but the struggle is real. This is in addition to Chrome and an Android phone, not to mention Google search results. What's the risk of all this spying? In sum, what is at risk is the loss of free will. People who don't care because "they have nothing to hide" cannot see the forest for the trees. Then again, I need to make some changes myself. As an ancient Chinese proverb says, "To know, and not to do, is in fact not to know."
- Spoom 7y agoI think it's very likely that they wanted you to question the ethics there. I don't know what your interview was like though. Googler, opinions are my own.
- perl4ever 7y agoI don't think trying to select for an ethical core really works. Ultimately, you are either going to go along with the people around you or you are going to stick to some principles that aren't shared by everybody, and in the latter case, you're going to be unsuitable for the job, because you're not running the company. So looking for evidence of ethics in an interview is just looking for a smooth talking hypocrite, even if you think you really want to.
- davidwihl 7y agoThe point is about asking good questions and having a healthy debate not about arriving with a preconceived “ethical core.”
- taneq 7y agoThe one Googler I know personally and have talked to about this stuff seems to have a weird blind spot around privacy and data collection. They're super friendly and happy to discuss products and features, but any questions about keeping data on your own device, limiting data access etc. just gets a blank stare, as if the very concept of "data which Google doesn't track" is nonsensical to them.
- Riverheart 7y agoIt is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it. -Upton Sinclair
- drusepth 7y agoI'm just now realizing why I might have failed my interviews that I thought I nailed some questions in...
- pingyong 7y ago>I'm still trying to get away from Gmail because I know everything I send/receive is parses but the struggle is real. There's the spying, but then there are also the numerous instances where Google simply terminated someone's account for completely random reasons that their automated system picked up. And you literally cannot ever get a human to talk to you at that company unless you manage to create a social media circus. Just semi-recently a bunch of people got permanently banned (that includes gmail, gdrive, everything) because they spammed emotes on a YouTube stream (something that is fairly commonplace on Twitch, at most you'll get a small timeout on that stream). I think most of them got unbanned eventually, but it took like a week and the streamer trying to raise awareness on social media. If something like this happens to you and you're alone, your account is just dust. Using gmail or google drive isn't just giving Google your data to look at, it also means that everything you don't have a local backup for might be completely inaccessible to you on a whim, forever.
- syberiyxx 7y agoThis is my nightmare fuel. Brave New World style