5 ms·

"A few lawsuits" is an so much an understatement that it might as well be a lie. You'd need one out of every few (13.75) people in the USA to successfully bring

"A few lawsuits" is an so much an understatement that it might as well be a lie. You'd need one out of every few (13.75) people in the USA to successfully bring a $5k lawsuit against Google to reduce them from highly profitable to break-even. Lawsuits and bad publicity only matter if they're more costly than ignoring the problem. If the company in the article successfully sued for the $5,000 they were being extorted over that wouldn't even matter. A few of those lawsuits wouldn't matter. A few thousand of those lawsuits wouldn't even matter. The European Commission last year issued a massive lawsuit against Google Adsense of $1.6 billion [1]. Google marked that EC fine down in its SEC filings on page 86 of their 10-K [2]. European Commission fees constitute an effective tax of 1.0% in 2019, which they add to various other factors for a total tax rate of 13.3%. Page 89 shows that Google revenue was $160B, while expenses were $40B. Google isn't moral, they don't see this fine as a mistake to be learned from. It's an operating expense. They won't change their tune unless it's more profitable to do so. [1]: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_19_1770 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_19_... [2]: https://abc.xyz/investor/static/pdf/20200204_alphabet_10K.pdf https://abc.xyz/investor/static/pdf/20200204_alphabet_10K.pd...

dhimes 7y ago
Google isn't moral, they don't see this fine as a mistake to be learned from. It's an operating expense. They won't change their tune unless it's more profitable to do so. This is exactly how Microsoft grew evil.
MichaelDickens 7y ago
You don't need to sue Google enough to completely eat up their profits, you just need to sue them enough that it becomes cheaper for them to staff a better customer service department.
goatinaboat 7y ago
Google isn't moral, they don't see this fine as a mistake to be learned from. It's an operating expense. They won't change their tune We the community can fix this. Stop inviting Googlers to parties. Don’t go to their talks at conferences. Throw their resumes in the bin. Only when they know their behaviour is unacceptable will they start to get it.
- LeifCarrotson 7y ago
  You're missing my point completely. When the complex system of people and laws and org charts and incentives and procedures that is the organism known as Google makes a decision, whether or not a particular decision is virtuous or not is insignificant. Even if it was, trying to change their behavior through occasional social interaction is as unlikely to make Google provide good customer service as brushing your teeth without water is unlikely to fix California central valley aquifer depletion. There's a system that rewards Google with billions of dollars and a system that sprays water into the desert that you're fighting against. Ignoring that system, and advocating that people pour emotional effort into ineffective responses, is so unhelpful as to be counterproductive.
  - dmix 7y ago
    It’d be nice if the anti trust people in the US looked into this as a factor. Anti consumer behaviour, not even non-customers as the usual case, but their own customers are being exploited by their monopolistic hold on ad publishers.
  - goatinaboat 7y ago
    and incentives and procedures that is the organism known as Google makes a decision, whether or not a particular decision is virtuous or not is insignificant. True but you can influence an organism by influencing its cells too. Think global, act local.
- mceachen 7y ago
  Individual contributors at Google are not making these decisions. It's the CEO and upper management that decide not to fund customer support teams and to adopt morally dubious policies.
  - luckylion 7y ago
    The individual contributors are part of it though. If they walk and cannot be replaced, policies have to change. They are pretty much the best pressure point there is to get Google to move on something if you're not representing a large amount of shares.
malka 7y ago
yeah. bullets are mort apt than fines to change people behavior. bank notes do not protect from bullets.

dhimes 7y ago

Google isn't moral, they don't see this fine as a mistake to be learned from. It's an operating expense. They won't change their tune unless it's more profitable to do so. This is exactly how Microsoft grew evil.

MichaelDickens 7y ago

You don't need to sue Google enough to completely eat up their profits, you just need to sue them enough that it becomes cheaper for them to staff a better customer service department.

goatinaboat 7y ago

Google isn't moral, they don't see this fine as a mistake to be learned from. It's an operating expense. They won't change their tune We the community can fix this. Stop inviting Googlers to parties. Don’t go to their talks at conferences. Throw their resumes in the bin. Only when they know their behaviour is unacceptable will they start to get it.

LeifCarrotson 7y ago
You're missing my point completely. When the complex system of people and laws and org charts and incentives and procedures that is the organism known as Google makes a decision, whether or not a particular decision is virtuous or not is insignificant. Even if it was, trying to change their behavior through occasional social interaction is as unlikely to make Google provide good customer service as brushing your teeth without water is unlikely to fix California central valley aquifer depletion. There's a system that rewards Google with billions of dollars and a system that sprays water into the desert that you're fighting against. Ignoring that system, and advocating that people pour emotional effort into ineffective responses, is so unhelpful as to be counterproductive.
- dmix 7y ago
  It’d be nice if the anti trust people in the US looked into this as a factor. Anti consumer behaviour, not even non-customers as the usual case, but their own customers are being exploited by their monopolistic hold on ad publishers.
- goatinaboat 7y ago
  and incentives and procedures that is the organism known as Google makes a decision, whether or not a particular decision is virtuous or not is insignificant. True but you can influence an organism by influencing its cells too. Think global, act local.
mceachen 7y ago
Individual contributors at Google are not making these decisions. It's the CEO and upper management that decide not to fund customer support teams and to adopt morally dubious policies.
- luckylion 7y ago
  The individual contributors are part of it though. If they walk and cannot be replaced, policies have to change. They are pretty much the best pressure point there is to get Google to move on something if you're not representing a large amount of shares.

malka 7y ago

yeah. bullets are mort apt than fines to change people behavior. bank notes do not protect from bullets.