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Is there any evidence Google is actually taking any action like so some Google-apologists are quick to claim? Are there any official statements? Basically all

by rickmb 15y ago

Is there any evidence Google is actually taking any action like so some Google-apologists are quick to claim? Are there any official statements? Basically all a see after these incidents is Google only responding when being pressed by individual reporters, and even then only in very superficial terms. Sweeping it under the rug seems to be a more appropriate description of Google's response to some extremely serious accusations. This isn't just a random act of drunken mischief by someone that just happens to be a Google employee. We're talking criminal activities undertaken by people being paid by Google, using Google's corporate infrastructure and aimed at Google's competitors.

nostromo 15y ago
> We're talking criminal activities undertaken by people being paid by Google, using Google's corporate infrastructure and aimed at Google's competitors. Yikes, I think you're getting overly excited. Two contractors in India errantly changed the direction of a street and suddenly it's a "serious accusation" of "criminal activity"? For me this falls somewhere between, "meh" and "mischievous prank" -- strongly leaning towards "meh."
- pyre 15y ago
  Truly. The other accusations are more serious than these OpenStreetMap ones.
kstenerud 15y ago
Or perhaps, just perhaps, they are doing an internal investigation and avoiding any substantial press releases until they've completed their investigation. I know that's what I'd do when there's an army outside just waiting for a chance to sue. You have no evidence that they condoned the operation, or that they're trying to cover it up. All you have is conjecture until there's more information available, and that's not useful at all. But since we're in the land of conjecture, let's think about this: Google, a massive corporation generating huge profits, suddenly decides to scrape a Kenyan database piecemeal (rather than just sucking up the whole thing at once before starting, like an intelligent person would do), then engages telemarketers to fraudulently cold call a bunch of small businesses in the hopes of selling them web hosting. Now, how much income do you suppose that would bring in? a few hundred thousand? Maybe a million if they're lucky? Would it even be worth a multinational's time and effort to cold-call selling websites, even if it were totally kosher? I doubt it. Add to that the negative press that a scam like this would bring when it's eventually exposed and it's well into the realm of ludicrous. Even if this were supposedly perpetrated by the most evilest nastiest company in the world, I'd have the same argument (money). So, we're left with the next most likely possibility: a small number of people with internal access to Google's infrastructure, for whom a few hundred thousand to a million dollars worth of sales would be quite lucrative. And if you were in Google's shoes, with this happening somewhere in your GIANT company, what would you do? If you answered "push out a press statement telling all right away", you'd be betraying a fundamental lack of understanding in how large corporations work. Their size makes them slow. Messages have to go up and down the chain of command. Investigations take days, weeks, sometimes even months. Bureaucracy, procedures, and legal issues hamper every step. So put away your pitchfork and wait like everyone else.

by rickmb 15y ago

nostromo 15y ago

> We're talking criminal activities undertaken by people being paid by Google, using Google's corporate infrastructure and aimed at Google's competitors. Yikes, I think you're getting overly excited. Two contractors in India errantly changed the direction of a street and suddenly it's a "serious accusation" of "criminal activity"? For me this falls somewhere between, "meh" and "mischievous prank" -- strongly leaning towards "meh."

pyre 15y ago
Truly. The other accusations are more serious than these OpenStreetMap ones.

kstenerud 15y ago

Or perhaps, just perhaps, they are doing an internal investigation and avoiding any substantial press releases until they've completed their investigation. I know that's what I'd do when there's an army outside just waiting for a chance to sue. You have no evidence that they condoned the operation, or that they're trying to cover it up. All you have is conjecture until there's more information available, and that's not useful at all. But since we're in the land of conjecture, let's think about this: Google, a massive corporation generating huge profits, suddenly decides to scrape a Kenyan database piecemeal (rather than just sucking up the whole thing at once before starting, like an intelligent person would do), then engages telemarketers to fraudulently cold call a bunch of small businesses in the hopes of selling them web hosting. Now, how much income do you suppose that would bring in? a few hundred thousand? Maybe a million if they're lucky? Would it even be worth a multinational's time and effort to cold-call selling websites, even if it were totally kosher? I doubt it. Add to that the negative press that a scam like this would bring when it's eventually exposed and it's well into the realm of ludicrous. Even if this were supposedly perpetrated by the most evilest nastiest company in the world, I'd have the same argument (money). So, we're left with the next most likely possibility: a small number of people with internal access to Google's infrastructure, for whom a few hundred thousand to a million dollars worth of sales would be quite lucrative. And if you were in Google's shoes, with this happening somewhere in your GIANT company, what would you do? If you answered "push out a press statement telling all right away", you'd be betraying a fundamental lack of understanding in how large corporations work. Their size makes them slow. Messages have to go up and down the chain of command. Investigations take days, weeks, sometimes even months. Bureaucracy, procedures, and legal issues hamper every step. So put away your pitchfork and wait like everyone else.