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"It is not evil". Keep telling yourself that. Google is selling you to the world, and this is just one more way to get you on their site and making money for

"It is not evil". Keep telling yourself that. Google is selling you to the world, and this is just one more way to get you on their site and making money for them.

missing_cipher 15y ago
"If you're not paying, you're the product" still applies, I agree.
- kevinh 15y ago
  That's a naive quote. You are the product, yes, but you're also the customer. Google has to appease you to keep you. Without a balance between consumer and advertiser, Google won't make any money.
  - 2muchcoffeeman 15y ago
    This is only a valid point if people are aware of what is going on and make an informed choice. I'd don't think this is true. Consider Internet Explorer. People used it because it was there. Even with better alternatives people used it. It took a fair while to educate users. People use Google because it's the default search engine. They could get away with having only momentum. Appeasing users would then be unnecessary until a real competitor comes along.
zobzu 15y ago
i'm not sure how being able to click personalized or regular search is not evil it's data they have, data they use. what you choose to see doesnt have much to see with it. i don't think they're move evil than yesterday, but they're not less either (basically agreeing in greater lengths hehe)
redthrowaway 15y ago
And? What's evil about advertising? Seriously, I'm surprised to see this kind of comment ranked so highly on HN. Google makes products. Most of them are good, some of them are excellent. In exchange, they show you ads. The alternative is making the user pay. There's nothing wrong with this arrangement; it's the default monetization strategy for a huge number of companies. The core of the argument seems to be that Google knows too much about you, and is selling your personal data to advertisers. That's not really the case, though. Google isn't going to ESPN and saying, "Here's John Smith from Deerborn, Michigan. He's 38, has a wife and a 4 year old daughter, and cheats on his taxes. Give me $50." They're simply allowing advertisers to target users fitting a certain profile. Now, you may not be comfortable with how much Google knows about you, and that's fine, but targeted advertising is hardly evil.
- vicngtor 15y ago
  Your comment greatly changed my views on advertising.
- joebadmo 15y ago
  Totally agree. "You are the product" is such a reductive, partisan talking point that at this point it's actually a pretty good filter for intellectual honesty and critical thinking. I wrote a whole blog post about it here: http://blog.byjoemoon.com/post/9910020865/you-are-the-product http://blog.byjoemoon.com/post/9910020865/you-are-the-produc...
- betterth 15y ago
  I'd rather pay a trivial amount of money for their service than be forced into a global information gathering scheme whose sole point (currently) is effective advertising. It's frustrating that they've gobbled up some of the best programmers in the world to make some of the best software in the world-- And then enforced the rule that you can't use their software without being spyed on. Why not let us pay for software? Call it what you want, I call it evil.

"It is not evil". Keep telling yourself that. Google is selling you to the world, and this is just one more way to get you on their site and making money for them.

missing_cipher 15y ago

"If you're not paying, you're the product" still applies, I agree.

kevinh 15y ago
That's a naive quote. You are the product, yes, but you're also the customer. Google has to appease you to keep you. Without a balance between consumer and advertiser, Google won't make any money.
- 2muchcoffeeman 15y ago
  This is only a valid point if people are aware of what is going on and make an informed choice. I'd don't think this is true. Consider Internet Explorer. People used it because it was there. Even with better alternatives people used it. It took a fair while to educate users. People use Google because it's the default search engine. They could get away with having only momentum. Appeasing users would then be unnecessary until a real competitor comes along.

zobzu 15y ago

i'm not sure how being able to click personalized or regular search is not evil it's data they have, data they use. what you choose to see doesnt have much to see with it. i don't think they're move evil than yesterday, but they're not less either (basically agreeing in greater lengths hehe)

redthrowaway 15y ago

And? What's evil about advertising? Seriously, I'm surprised to see this kind of comment ranked so highly on HN. Google makes products. Most of them are good, some of them are excellent. In exchange, they show you ads. The alternative is making the user pay. There's nothing wrong with this arrangement; it's the default monetization strategy for a huge number of companies. The core of the argument seems to be that Google knows too much about you, and is selling your personal data to advertisers. That's not really the case, though. Google isn't going to ESPN and saying, "Here's John Smith from Deerborn, Michigan. He's 38, has a wife and a 4 year old daughter, and cheats on his taxes. Give me $50." They're simply allowing advertisers to target users fitting a certain profile. Now, you may not be comfortable with how much Google knows about you, and that's fine, but targeted advertising is hardly evil.

vicngtor 15y ago
Your comment greatly changed my views on advertising.
joebadmo 15y ago
Totally agree. "You are the product" is such a reductive, partisan talking point that at this point it's actually a pretty good filter for intellectual honesty and critical thinking. I wrote a whole blog post about it here: http://blog.byjoemoon.com/post/9910020865/you-are-the-product http://blog.byjoemoon.com/post/9910020865/you-are-the-produc...
betterth 15y ago
I'd rather pay a trivial amount of money for their service than be forced into a global information gathering scheme whose sole point (currently) is effective advertising. It's frustrating that they've gobbled up some of the best programmers in the world to make some of the best software in the world-- And then enforced the rule that you can't use their software without being spyed on. Why not let us pay for software? Call it what you want, I call it evil.