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"Dear Google, please save us!" You might as well have said, "Dear God, please save us!" Sorry, but you won't be saved by any corporate entity; they're in bed

by ajays 13y ago

"Dear Google, please save us!" You might as well have said, "Dear God, please save us!" Sorry, but you won't be saved by any corporate entity; they're in bed with the surveillance state anyways. It is people like us, yes, you included, who have to take up the baton and run with it. Here are things you can do: - Talk to your non-techie friends, and bring them up to speed - Explain to them why "giving up rights for temporary safety" doesn't work - Tell them why this sort of surveillance is against the core democratic principles this country was founded on - Suggest to them that they should vote out any politician who supports such policies. In the end, it is the Congress' job to keep checks and balances; and they've failed miserably. Time for all of them to go.

espeed 13y ago
You've mistaken me for someone else. Corporations hold more influence with Congress than voters. Google has enormous power, but it lives and dies by its users. If we hold Google accountable to the point it has to act, its lead could trigger a movement among the Internet giants, and that's a mighty big lever.
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  > The truth of the matter is, corporations hold more influence with Congress than voters. Corporations are convenient fictions. The truth of the matter is individuals with lots of money and connections hold more influence with Congress individuals without lots of money and connections.
  - espeed 13y ago
    Last year Google spent $18,220,000 lobbying Congress -- #8 on the top spenders list (http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?showYear=2012&indexType=s http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?showYear=2012&index...). That's not fiction, but it's a drop in Google's coffers. And the 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._Federal_Election_Commission http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._Federal_Elec...) removed the ban which prevented corporations from using their treasury funds for direct advocacy.
    - dragonwriter 13y ago
      I didn't say corporate lobbying was a fiction, I said corporations as independent entities are a convenient fiction; corporations are tools through which individuals exercise power, not real entities that have power of their own.
    - res0nat0r 13y ago
      Google's mission statement is: to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. It isn't to fall on it's sword and risk the entirety of the company fighting the US government on principale. I'd argue that doing that putting out of work tens of thousands of people in the worst case would "be evil". http://www.google.com/about/ http://www.google.com/about/
      - espeed 13y ago
        #1 of its core philosophies is: "Focus on the user and all else will follow." (http://www.google.com/about/company/philosophy/ http://www.google.com/about/company/philosophy/) Don't you think safeguarding its users data and keeping their trust would fall under that? From a business perspective, if Google loses the trust of its users, it's the beginning of the end. Safeguarding user trust should be priority #1.
        res0nat0r 13y ago
        They do safeguard their users data. They also comply with laws under which they are subject to, they aren't mutually exclusive.

by ajays 13y ago

espeed 13y ago

You've mistaken me for someone else. Corporations hold more influence with Congress than voters. Google has enormous power, but it lives and dies by its users. If we hold Google accountable to the point it has to act, its lead could trigger a movement among the Internet giants, and that's a mighty big lever.

dragonwriter 13y ago
> The truth of the matter is, corporations hold more influence with Congress than voters. Corporations are convenient fictions. The truth of the matter is individuals with lots of money and connections hold more influence with Congress individuals without lots of money and connections.
- espeed 13y ago
  Last year Google spent $18,220,000 lobbying Congress -- #8 on the top spenders list (http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?showYear=2012&indexType=s http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?showYear=2012&index...). That's not fiction, but it's a drop in Google's coffers. And the 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._Federal_Election_Commission http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._Federal_Elec...) removed the ban which prevented corporations from using their treasury funds for direct advocacy.
  - dragonwriter 13y ago
    I didn't say corporate lobbying was a fiction, I said corporations as independent entities are a convenient fiction; corporations are tools through which individuals exercise power, not real entities that have power of their own.
  - res0nat0r 13y ago
    Google's mission statement is: to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. It isn't to fall on it's sword and risk the entirety of the company fighting the US government on principale. I'd argue that doing that putting out of work tens of thousands of people in the worst case would "be evil". http://www.google.com/about/ http://www.google.com/about/
    - espeed 13y ago
      #1 of its core philosophies is: "Focus on the user and all else will follow." (http://www.google.com/about/company/philosophy/ http://www.google.com/about/company/philosophy/) Don't you think safeguarding its users data and keeping their trust would fall under that? From a business perspective, if Google loses the trust of its users, it's the beginning of the end. Safeguarding user trust should be priority #1.
      - res0nat0r 13y ago
        They do safeguard their users data. They also comply with laws under which they are subject to, they aren't mutually exclusive.