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You are the google search engine pre-2010, well before Google lost their "don't be evil" motto, made the first results page favour sponsors and added AI overvie

You are the google search engine pre-2010, well before Google lost their "don't be evil" motto, made the first results page favour sponsors and added AI overview. You respond to a search query with a list of https:// URLs, each accompanied by a representative quote from the destination page that demonstrates the link's relevance to the query, and nothing else. The query is: <insert your query here> We live in the dystopia we deserve. We have built it with our own hands and it is here to stay.

kurthr 4mo ago
I had to laugh as I read this, but it feels so appropriate to the current state. I will say off topic that, speaking to an early googler, there is actually documentation of meetings where they discussed what "don't be evil" meant and decided actual business options they should and should not pursue. It was not just a motto or a "code of conduct", but meant as and used to justify consequential actions.
- account42 4mo ago
  Apparently letting them get McDonnell Douglas'd by Doubleclick was not considered being evil?
GuB-42 4mo ago
> https:// Pre-2010 Google search didn't use https by default, almost no one did besides specific cases, like processing payment. And even then, only the critical part was https, the rest, like images was plain http. So, for a true pre-2010 experience, you want http:// links. Post-2010 Google played an important role in pushing for https. From boosting https search results, to Chrome being annoying to unencrypted connections, to sponsoring Let's Encrypt, to forcing HSTS on their TLDs. I kind of miss http, it was a time when the web was a public thing, a place for sharing, not for keeping secrets. But to be fair that's just nostalgia, the modern (commercial) web that generalized encryption enabled is so useful and convenient that I can't imagine going back.
- account42 4mo ago
  Ironically pre-2010 HTTP sites that have not been updated will still work but HTTPS sites from that era would not be accessible from modern browsers.
rexpop 4mo ago
> We live in the dystopia we deserve. We have built it with our own hands and it is here to stay. That's a bit unfair. Not all of us who live in it had a hand in building it. In fact, very few of us had the leverage to fight against it.
- account42 4mo ago
  Some contributed more than others but few of us are entirely innocent since we keep using the products in question and do our part in supporting their business models. We also have failed to change the laws to prevent all of this. Even if you don't have much power individually, as a society we could stop this any time.
  - rexpop 4mo ago
    I think it is so funny, albeit frustrating, that prevalent attitudes--both liberal and conservative--consistently lay the blame on the consumer side, and not on the production side. "Their hands are tied!" I have heard so many moderates assert. "The customers demanded it!"
0xbadcafebee 4mo ago
"Don't be evil" is still in the code of conduct, it's just the last line now. Journalism, as it usually does, perpetuated a misleading scary story in order to garner eyeballs/clicks.
- theandrewbailey 4mo ago
  Google has more than one code of conduct[0], but I only found one that is as you described[1]. [0] https://www.google.com/search?q=google%20code%20of%20conduct https://www.google.com/search?q=google%20code%20of%20conduct [1] https://abc.xyz/investor/board-and-governance/google-code-of-conduct/ https://abc.xyz/investor/board-and-governance/google-code-of...
  - 0xbadcafebee 4mo ago
    Yes, that is the Google code of conduct. It's the only document that has ever had "don't be evil" in it, and it's still in there.

kurthr 4mo ago

I had to laugh as I read this, but it feels so appropriate to the current state. I will say off topic that, speaking to an early googler, there is actually documentation of meetings where they discussed what "don't be evil" meant and decided actual business options they should and should not pursue. It was not just a motto or a "code of conduct", but meant as and used to justify consequential actions.

account42 4mo ago
Apparently letting them get McDonnell Douglas'd by Doubleclick was not considered being evil?

GuB-42 4mo ago

> https:// Pre-2010 Google search didn't use https by default, almost no one did besides specific cases, like processing payment. And even then, only the critical part was https, the rest, like images was plain http. So, for a true pre-2010 experience, you want http:// links. Post-2010 Google played an important role in pushing for https. From boosting https search results, to Chrome being annoying to unencrypted connections, to sponsoring Let's Encrypt, to forcing HSTS on their TLDs. I kind of miss http, it was a time when the web was a public thing, a place for sharing, not for keeping secrets. But to be fair that's just nostalgia, the modern (commercial) web that generalized encryption enabled is so useful and convenient that I can't imagine going back.

account42 4mo ago
Ironically pre-2010 HTTP sites that have not been updated will still work but HTTPS sites from that era would not be accessible from modern browsers.

rexpop 4mo ago

> We live in the dystopia we deserve. We have built it with our own hands and it is here to stay. That's a bit unfair. Not all of us who live in it had a hand in building it. In fact, very few of us had the leverage to fight against it.

account42 4mo ago
Some contributed more than others but few of us are entirely innocent since we keep using the products in question and do our part in supporting their business models. We also have failed to change the laws to prevent all of this. Even if you don't have much power individually, as a society we could stop this any time.
- rexpop 4mo ago
  I think it is so funny, albeit frustrating, that prevalent attitudes--both liberal and conservative--consistently lay the blame on the consumer side, and not on the production side. "Their hands are tied!" I have heard so many moderates assert. "The customers demanded it!"

0xbadcafebee 4mo ago

"Don't be evil" is still in the code of conduct, it's just the last line now. Journalism, as it usually does, perpetuated a misleading scary story in order to garner eyeballs/clicks.

theandrewbailey 4mo ago
Google has more than one code of conduct[0], but I only found one that is as you described[1]. [0] https://www.google.com/search?q=google%20code%20of%20conduct https://www.google.com/search?q=google%20code%20of%20conduct [1] https://abc.xyz/investor/board-and-governance/google-code-of-conduct/ https://abc.xyz/investor/board-and-governance/google-code-of...
- 0xbadcafebee 4mo ago
  Yes, that is the Google code of conduct. It's the only document that has ever had "don't be evil" in it, and it's still in there.