6 ms·

I will be very curious when the Google Anti-Trust suit drops to see how the tech world reacts. We've seen a lot of consolidation in the past few years- Google s

by lykr0n 6y ago

I will be very curious when the Google Anti-Trust suit drops to see how the tech world reacts. We've seen a lot of consolidation in the past few years- Google seems to be gobbling up any tech company that collects a lot of personal information without consequence. There are a lot of Googlers on HN who blindly follow Google, and more people who worship the ground Google walks on; i'll be curious to see what the discussion is like when Google's evil is laid out for the world to see. Lot of the stuff Google (and other companies like Facebook) is indefensible when you look at it from an anti-trust point of view. Stuff like this article, where Google is working with people who are against what a lot of Googler's stand for will be an interesting show.

tmpz22 6y ago
I think we'll see Google pander to whatever administration is presiding over the anti-trust suite. No matter which US party it is, we'll see Google go vehemently against its stated morals in multiple ways including increasing access for security agencies and changing their strategies for political donations. The same crowd that defends them now will find excuses in order to continue to support them no matter what they do.
valuearb 6y ago
Right, Left, Googlers are just tags to lump together disparate groups of people for the purpose of demonization.
- catalogia 6y ago
  "Googler" is not an arbitrary or subjective label. It refers to people who work at google.
  - valuearb 6y ago
    Right, who have a wide range of different opinions on political issues and even Google itself.
    - catalogia 6y ago
      They have in common the belief "working at google is presently the right choice for me." (Unless they've already given their two-weeks notice I suppose.)
xenihn 6y ago
I would blindly follow them too if I worked for them. We're entering the technocratic feudalism stage of our country's history. Your government won't be able to ensure the safety and wellbeing of you and your loved ones, but your FAANG employer will. As long as you're a valued employee, that is.
- chrisco255 6y ago
  Yeah, good luck eating silicon for breakfast. I'm sure the Twitter troll army will protect you if you ever need assistance.
magicalist 6y ago
> We've seen a lot of consolidation in the past few years- Google seems to be gobbling up any tech company that collects a lot of personal information without consequence. Like what? I can only remember what seemed like some bad vr acquisitions and companies that were basically already Google Cloud products.
- dnissley 6y ago
  Fitbit
- lykr0n 6y ago
  Nest, FitBit, Senosis, and more. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Alphabet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitio...
- tarboreus 6y ago
  Since January, 2015, they've acquired Launchpad Toys, Odysee, Softcard, Red Hot Labs, Thrive Audio, Skillman & Hackett, Timeful, Pulse.io, Pixate, Oyster, Jibe Mobile, Agawi, Digisfera, Fly Labs, bebop, BandPage, Pie, Synergyse, Webpass, Moodstocks, Anvato, Kifi, LaunchKit, Orbitera, Apigee, Urban Engines, API.AI, FameBit, Eyefluence, LeapDroid, Qwiklabs, Cronologics, Limes Audio, Fabric, Kaggle, AppBridge, Owlchemy Labs, Halli Labs, AIMatter, HTC (portions), Bitium, Relay Media, 60db, Redux, Tenor, Velostrata, Cask, GraphicsFuzz, Senosis, Onward, Workbench Education, Sigmoid Labs, DevOps Research and Assessment, Superpod, Alooma, Nightcorn, Looker, Elastifile, Socratic, CloudSimple, Typhoon Studios, Pointy, North, and, last but not least, Fitbit. Prior to that, Google acquired Dejavue, Outride, Pyra Labs, Neotonic Software, Applied Semantics, Kaltix, Sprinks, Genius Labs, Ignite Logic, Picasa, ZipDash, Where2, Keyhole, Urchin Software Corporation, Dodgeball, Akwan Information Technologies, Reqwireless, Android, Skia, Phatbits, allPAY, bruNET, dMarc Broadcasting, Measure Map, Upstartle, @Last Software, Orion, 2Web Technologies, Neven Vision Germany, YouTube, JotSpot, Endoxon, Adscape, Trendalyzer, Crusix, Tonic Systems, Marratech, DoubleClick, GreenBorder, Panoramio, FeedBurner, PeakStream, Zenter, GrandCentral, ImageAmerica, Postini, Zingku, Jaiku, Omnisio, TNC, On2, reCAPTCHA, AdMob, Gizmo5, Teracent, AppJet, Aardvark, reMail, Picnik, DocVerse, Episodic, Plink, Agnilux, LabPixies, BumpTop, Global IP Solutions, Simplify Media, Ruba.com, Invite Media, Metaweb, Zetawire, Instantiations, Slide.com, Jambool, Like.com, Angstro, SocialDeck, Quiksee, Plannr, BlindType, Phonetic Arts, Widevine Technologies, eBook Technologies, SayNow, Zynamics, BeatThatQuote.com, Next New Networks, Green Parrot Pictures, PushLife, ITA Software, TalkBin, Sparkbuy, PostRank, Admeld, SageTV, Punchd, Fridge, PittPatt, Dealmap, Motorola Mobility, Zave Networks, Zagat, DailyDeal, SocialGrapple, Apture, Katango, RightsFlow, Clever Sense, Milk, TxVia, Meebo, Quickoffice, Sparrow, WIMM Labs, Wildfire Interactive, VirusTotal.com, Nik Software, Viewdle, Incentive Targeting, BufferBox, Channel Intelligence, DNNresearch, Talaria Technologies, Behavio, Wavii, Makani Power, Waze, Bump, Flutter, FlexyCore, Schaft, Industrial Perception, Redwood Robotics, Meka Robotics, Holomni, Bot & Dolly, Autofuss, Bitspin, Nest Labs, Impermium, DeepMind Technologies, SlickLogin, spider.io, GreenThrottle, Titan Aerospace, Rangespan, Adometry, Appetas, Stackdriver, MyEnergy, Quest Visual, Divide, Skybox Imaging, mDialog, Alpental Technologies, Dropcam, Appurify, Songza, drawElements, Emu, Director, Jetpac, Gecko Design, Zync Render, Lift Labs, Polar, Firebase, Dark Blue Labs & Vision Factory, Revolv, RelativeWave, and Vidmaker.
busterarm 6y ago
I wouldn't really say it's the last few years. Google has had a vertical monopoly on search/advertising for at least 15 years now and nobody's (nobody that matters, anyway) said a peep about it really.
- godzillabrennus 6y ago
  They learned from Microsoft’s mistake and have had a robust government affairs/lobbying effort for years.
- kortilla 6y ago
  Nobody has said a peep because switching is still trivial. I use ddg as my daily driver. On the advertising front, until recently, Facebook was the favorite for many companies when it came to advertising due to the better targeting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly
  - busterarm 6y ago
    You switching is meaningless. Between Android, Chrome, Google Search and AdWords, 99% and some nines of all web browsing globally is done with a Google product sitting in the middle. Even if you're using ddg, most pages you browse will have gclids somewhere.
7jdmy27SCB7QAy 6y ago
>There are a lot of Googlers on HN who blindly follow Google Which is weird because internally people are pretty damn skeptical. If anything is found I'm all for doing what is determined "correct". I would worry that people with little understanding would make that call but time will tell. On the flipside of the quoted statement, I will say that Googlers have a far better understanding about what is collected/done (in other instance IE privacy) that your random at HN so are more likely to not be so dismissive/fear mongering. When you've seen the stomach of the best it's far less scary. Default opinions are my own because I'm paranoid.
- ForHackernews 6y ago
  > I will say that Googlers have a far better understanding ...it's far less scary. I've heard variations on this theme from a lot of Googlers, and it always seems like "just trust us!" but then they can't or won't publicly disclose any reasons why we should. Do you remember this pledge? http://neveragain.tech/ http://neveragain.tech/ > We refuse to build a database of people based on their Constitutionally-protected religious beliefs. We refuse to facilitate mass deportations of people the government believes to be undesirable. A bunch of Googlers signed that, but I'd wager Google has _already_ built that database. Maybe not explicitly, but I bet Google has a decent estimate of their users' religious beliefs, race, immigration status, etc. Those are valuable categories for marketers to target!
dnissley 6y ago
> Google's evil What is this for you? I ask because I seem to get a lot of different answers to this question.
- lykr0n 6y ago
  One one hand, they expound the ideas of social justice and present themselves as a group that wants to make the world a better place, while undermining what they say they want to do by their actions. Google is a great example of the ultra-liberal left, where they are just as racist and scummy as the ultra-conservative, but they wrap it in a veil of "we want to help you and make things better for you." it's a form of gas-lighting. The lean into orwellian concepts under the guise of making the world a better place, when in reality it only makes it better for the people profiting from their technology. Google Loves LGBTQ, except when they're using YouTube to make a livelihood. In that case, Google fucks them. It's employment of "do as I say, not as I do" or "the upper-class liberal that calls the cops on the black dude walking down their street but has a Black Lives Matter sign in their yard." This ain't just Google, they're just the example I'm talking about right now.
  - amanaplanacanal 6y ago
    I suspect what google is actually doing is whatever they think is best to keep their advertisers happy. It’s that simple.
  - woopwoop 6y ago
    This is extremely vague.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
2OEH8eoCRo0 6y ago
Google isn't perfect but I think the real deal will be the anti-trust cases against Amazon. Search for "Google Nest Mini" on Amazon and the top result is an Echo Dot followed by dozens of accessories for the Google Nest Mini but no Google Nest Minis.
- lykr0n 6y ago
  Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, Uber, and others as well. They all need to be broken up and have restrictions imposed on them. Apple is the only company I can see that won't be hit.
  - 2OEH8eoCRo0 6y ago
    Apple hasn't been perfect with the app store. I think Microsoft ironically is best positioned for success when the government clamps down on user data abuses and big-tech antitrust.
  - habitue 6y ago
    Apple has made some very anti-competitive moves
  - AnthonyMouse 6y ago
    > Apple is the only company I can see that won't be hit. This is kind of astonishing logic. The obvious case against Apple is that they control totally the market for iOS apps, but even if you take the Apple supporter's argument that you should use the overall app market (i.e. including Android apps), even though they can't run on the same devices, Apple would still have more of the overall phone app market than Amazon has of the online retail market. And yet Amazon is a problematic monopoly and Apple isn't?
- AnthonyMouse 6y ago
  > Search for "Google Nest Mini" on Amazon and the top result is an Echo Dot followed by dozens of accessories for the Google Nest Mini but no Google Nest Minis. Type this into Google: site:amazon.com google nest mini The results are basically the same as you're describing. Maybe Amazon just doesn't sell it?

by lykr0n 6y ago

tmpz22 6y ago

I think we'll see Google pander to whatever administration is presiding over the anti-trust suite. No matter which US party it is, we'll see Google go vehemently against its stated morals in multiple ways including increasing access for security agencies and changing their strategies for political donations. The same crowd that defends them now will find excuses in order to continue to support them no matter what they do.

valuearb 6y ago

Right, Left, Googlers are just tags to lump together disparate groups of people for the purpose of demonization.

catalogia 6y ago
"Googler" is not an arbitrary or subjective label. It refers to people who work at google.
- valuearb 6y ago
  Right, who have a wide range of different opinions on political issues and even Google itself.
  - catalogia 6y ago
    They have in common the belief "working at google is presently the right choice for me." (Unless they've already given their two-weeks notice I suppose.)

xenihn 6y ago

I would blindly follow them too if I worked for them. We're entering the technocratic feudalism stage of our country's history. Your government won't be able to ensure the safety and wellbeing of you and your loved ones, but your FAANG employer will. As long as you're a valued employee, that is.

chrisco255 6y ago
Yeah, good luck eating silicon for breakfast. I'm sure the Twitter troll army will protect you if you ever need assistance.

magicalist 6y ago

> We've seen a lot of consolidation in the past few years- Google seems to be gobbling up any tech company that collects a lot of personal information without consequence. Like what? I can only remember what seemed like some bad vr acquisitions and companies that were basically already Google Cloud products.

dnissley 6y ago
Fitbit
lykr0n 6y ago
Nest, FitBit, Senosis, and more. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Alphabet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitio...
tarboreus 6y ago
Since January, 2015, they've acquired Launchpad Toys, Odysee, Softcard, Red Hot Labs, Thrive Audio, Skillman & Hackett, Timeful, Pulse.io, Pixate, Oyster, Jibe Mobile, Agawi, Digisfera, Fly Labs, bebop, BandPage, Pie, Synergyse, Webpass, Moodstocks, Anvato, Kifi, LaunchKit, Orbitera, Apigee, Urban Engines, API.AI, FameBit, Eyefluence, LeapDroid, Qwiklabs, Cronologics, Limes Audio, Fabric, Kaggle, AppBridge, Owlchemy Labs, Halli Labs, AIMatter, HTC (portions), Bitium, Relay Media, 60db, Redux, Tenor, Velostrata, Cask, GraphicsFuzz, Senosis, Onward, Workbench Education, Sigmoid Labs, DevOps Research and Assessment, Superpod, Alooma, Nightcorn, Looker, Elastifile, Socratic, CloudSimple, Typhoon Studios, Pointy, North, and, last but not least, Fitbit. Prior to that, Google acquired Dejavue, Outride, Pyra Labs, Neotonic Software, Applied Semantics, Kaltix, Sprinks, Genius Labs, Ignite Logic, Picasa, ZipDash, Where2, Keyhole, Urchin Software Corporation, Dodgeball, Akwan Information Technologies, Reqwireless, Android, Skia, Phatbits, allPAY, bruNET, dMarc Broadcasting, Measure Map, Upstartle, @Last Software, Orion, 2Web Technologies, Neven Vision Germany, YouTube, JotSpot, Endoxon, Adscape, Trendalyzer, Crusix, Tonic Systems, Marratech, DoubleClick, GreenBorder, Panoramio, FeedBurner, PeakStream, Zenter, GrandCentral, ImageAmerica, Postini, Zingku, Jaiku, Omnisio, TNC, On2, reCAPTCHA, AdMob, Gizmo5, Teracent, AppJet, Aardvark, reMail, Picnik, DocVerse, Episodic, Plink, Agnilux, LabPixies, BumpTop, Global IP Solutions, Simplify Media, Ruba.com, Invite Media, Metaweb, Zetawire, Instantiations, Slide.com, Jambool, Like.com, Angstro, SocialDeck, Quiksee, Plannr, BlindType, Phonetic Arts, Widevine Technologies, eBook Technologies, SayNow, Zynamics, BeatThatQuote.com, Next New Networks, Green Parrot Pictures, PushLife, ITA Software, TalkBin, Sparkbuy, PostRank, Admeld, SageTV, Punchd, Fridge, PittPatt, Dealmap, Motorola Mobility, Zave Networks, Zagat, DailyDeal, SocialGrapple, Apture, Katango, RightsFlow, Clever Sense, Milk, TxVia, Meebo, Quickoffice, Sparrow, WIMM Labs, Wildfire Interactive, VirusTotal.com, Nik Software, Viewdle, Incentive Targeting, BufferBox, Channel Intelligence, DNNresearch, Talaria Technologies, Behavio, Wavii, Makani Power, Waze, Bump, Flutter, FlexyCore, Schaft, Industrial Perception, Redwood Robotics, Meka Robotics, Holomni, Bot & Dolly, Autofuss, Bitspin, Nest Labs, Impermium, DeepMind Technologies, SlickLogin, spider.io, GreenThrottle, Titan Aerospace, Rangespan, Adometry, Appetas, Stackdriver, MyEnergy, Quest Visual, Divide, Skybox Imaging, mDialog, Alpental Technologies, Dropcam, Appurify, Songza, drawElements, Emu, Director, Jetpac, Gecko Design, Zync Render, Lift Labs, Polar, Firebase, Dark Blue Labs & Vision Factory, Revolv, RelativeWave, and Vidmaker.

busterarm 6y ago

I wouldn't really say it's the last few years. Google has had a vertical monopoly on search/advertising for at least 15 years now and nobody's (nobody that matters, anyway) said a peep about it really.

godzillabrennus 6y ago
They learned from Microsoft’s mistake and have had a robust government affairs/lobbying effort for years.
kortilla 6y ago
Nobody has said a peep because switching is still trivial. I use ddg as my daily driver. On the advertising front, until recently, Facebook was the favorite for many companies when it came to advertising due to the better targeting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly
- busterarm 6y ago
  You switching is meaningless. Between Android, Chrome, Google Search and AdWords, 99% and some nines of all web browsing globally is done with a Google product sitting in the middle. Even if you're using ddg, most pages you browse will have gclids somewhere.

7jdmy27SCB7QAy 6y ago

>There are a lot of Googlers on HN who blindly follow Google Which is weird because internally people are pretty damn skeptical. If anything is found I'm all for doing what is determined "correct". I would worry that people with little understanding would make that call but time will tell. On the flipside of the quoted statement, I will say that Googlers have a far better understanding about what is collected/done (in other instance IE privacy) that your random at HN so are more likely to not be so dismissive/fear mongering. When you've seen the stomach of the best it's far less scary. Default opinions are my own because I'm paranoid.

ForHackernews 6y ago
> I will say that Googlers have a far better understanding ...it's far less scary. I've heard variations on this theme from a lot of Googlers, and it always seems like "just trust us!" but then they can't or won't publicly disclose any reasons why we should. Do you remember this pledge? http://neveragain.tech/ http://neveragain.tech/ > We refuse to build a database of people based on their Constitutionally-protected religious beliefs. We refuse to facilitate mass deportations of people the government believes to be undesirable. A bunch of Googlers signed that, but I'd wager Google has _already_ built that database. Maybe not explicitly, but I bet Google has a decent estimate of their users' religious beliefs, race, immigration status, etc. Those are valuable categories for marketers to target!

dnissley 6y ago

> Google's evil What is this for you? I ask because I seem to get a lot of different answers to this question.

lykr0n 6y ago
One one hand, they expound the ideas of social justice and present themselves as a group that wants to make the world a better place, while undermining what they say they want to do by their actions. Google is a great example of the ultra-liberal left, where they are just as racist and scummy as the ultra-conservative, but they wrap it in a veil of "we want to help you and make things better for you." it's a form of gas-lighting. The lean into orwellian concepts under the guise of making the world a better place, when in reality it only makes it better for the people profiting from their technology. Google Loves LGBTQ, except when they're using YouTube to make a livelihood. In that case, Google fucks them. It's employment of "do as I say, not as I do" or "the upper-class liberal that calls the cops on the black dude walking down their street but has a Black Lives Matter sign in their yard." This ain't just Google, they're just the example I'm talking about right now.
- amanaplanacanal 6y ago
  I suspect what google is actually doing is whatever they think is best to keep their advertisers happy. It’s that simple.
- woopwoop 6y ago
  This is extremely vague.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

2OEH8eoCRo0 6y ago

Google isn't perfect but I think the real deal will be the anti-trust cases against Amazon. Search for "Google Nest Mini" on Amazon and the top result is an Echo Dot followed by dozens of accessories for the Google Nest Mini but no Google Nest Minis.

lykr0n 6y ago
Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, Uber, and others as well. They all need to be broken up and have restrictions imposed on them. Apple is the only company I can see that won't be hit.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 6y ago
  Apple hasn't been perfect with the app store. I think Microsoft ironically is best positioned for success when the government clamps down on user data abuses and big-tech antitrust.
- habitue 6y ago
  Apple has made some very anti-competitive moves
- AnthonyMouse 6y ago
  > Apple is the only company I can see that won't be hit. This is kind of astonishing logic. The obvious case against Apple is that they control totally the market for iOS apps, but even if you take the Apple supporter's argument that you should use the overall app market (i.e. including Android apps), even though they can't run on the same devices, Apple would still have more of the overall phone app market than Amazon has of the online retail market. And yet Amazon is a problematic monopoly and Apple isn't?
AnthonyMouse 6y ago
> Search for "Google Nest Mini" on Amazon and the top result is an Echo Dot followed by dozens of accessories for the Google Nest Mini but no Google Nest Minis. Type this into Google: site:amazon.com google nest mini The results are basically the same as you're describing. Maybe Amazon just doesn't sell it?