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I posted recently about how they lost my trust after snaring schools with offers of free email and Chromebooks, used that captive audience of kids to secretivel

I posted recently about how they lost my trust after snaring schools with offers of free email and Chromebooks, used that captive audience of kids to secretively build profiles to show ads, denied it when caught, but chickened out about lying in federal court and now they declare they've stopped doing it. Add to that statements that it couldn't be turned off and silently switching language about tracking on their web pages. If this isn't evil then I don't know what is. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7690503 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7690503

jacktt 12y ago
I guess that would be your version of events if you only got your news from Microsoft PR. GApps for education had an option in its admin console to enable ad targeting, it was off by default, the main reason it was there is that it and gmail shared much of the same infrastructure. As for the lawsuit which despite your claims and those of your linked source (which is parroting the PR folks at safegov in their interpretation) didn't uncover anything other that what Google already stated, but sadly the efforts of these vested interests to confuse you and other uninformed persons by misusing the word "scanning" bared some fruit.
hagope 12y ago
This is perhaps a bit greedy but not evil...evil is bombing an elementary school: http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/30/world/meast/syria-civil-war/ http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/30/world/meast/syria-civil-war/
- wetafur 12y ago
  So when Google said their policy was 'Dont be evil.', they meant they would do their utmost to refrain from blowing up elementary schools? According to Brin and Page: "Don't be evil. We believe strongly that in the long term, we will be better served-as shareholders and in all other ways-by a company that does good things for the world even if we forgo some short term gains. This is an important aspect of our culture and is broadly shared within the company."
DanBC 12y ago
Evil is kidnapping a school because you feel that western education is against the rules of your religion. Boko Haram kidnapped over 230 schoolgirls in Nigeria. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/30/hundreds-march-nigeria-chibok-schoolgirl-kidnappings-boko-haram http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/30/hundreds-march-... But even if we avoid extremists, it's easier to call people evil when they spy on their pupils using the webcams on the school provided laptops. And then, after people have complained, they do it again. http://www.wired.com/2011/06/webcam-scandal-resurfaces/ http://www.wired.com/2011/06/webcam-scandal-resurfaces/
- wellboy 12y ago
  Ok then the "evilness" per pupil is higher, however what's more evil? Kidnapping 230 puplis or spying on 23,000 pupils, or 230,000 or 23M?
  - Navarr 12y ago
    Is it spying when you're just not turning off automated systems that nobody looks at the data for? It's literally no different than what Google does for anyone else, yet it's spying for schools because... why? Were the children using the services under 13? I've never understood why this was potentially illegal, and never seen anything address that.
    - hadoukenio 12y ago
      > Is it spying when you're just not turning off automated systems that nobody looks at the data for? James Clapper, is that you?

jacktt 12y ago

I guess that would be your version of events if you only got your news from Microsoft PR. GApps for education had an option in its admin console to enable ad targeting, it was off by default, the main reason it was there is that it and gmail shared much of the same infrastructure. As for the lawsuit which despite your claims and those of your linked source (which is parroting the PR folks at safegov in their interpretation) didn't uncover anything other that what Google already stated, but sadly the efforts of these vested interests to confuse you and other uninformed persons by misusing the word "scanning" bared some fruit.

hagope 12y ago

This is perhaps a bit greedy but not evil...evil is bombing an elementary school: http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/30/world/meast/syria-civil-war/ http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/30/world/meast/syria-civil-war/

wetafur 12y ago
So when Google said their policy was 'Dont be evil.', they meant they would do their utmost to refrain from blowing up elementary schools? According to Brin and Page: "Don't be evil. We believe strongly that in the long term, we will be better served-as shareholders and in all other ways-by a company that does good things for the world even if we forgo some short term gains. This is an important aspect of our culture and is broadly shared within the company."

DanBC 12y ago

Evil is kidnapping a school because you feel that western education is against the rules of your religion. Boko Haram kidnapped over 230 schoolgirls in Nigeria. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/30/hundreds-march-nigeria-chibok-schoolgirl-kidnappings-boko-haram http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/30/hundreds-march-... But even if we avoid extremists, it's easier to call people evil when they spy on their pupils using the webcams on the school provided laptops. And then, after people have complained, they do it again. http://www.wired.com/2011/06/webcam-scandal-resurfaces/ http://www.wired.com/2011/06/webcam-scandal-resurfaces/

wellboy 12y ago
Ok then the "evilness" per pupil is higher, however what's more evil? Kidnapping 230 puplis or spying on 23,000 pupils, or 230,000 or 23M?
- Navarr 12y ago
  Is it spying when you're just not turning off automated systems that nobody looks at the data for? It's literally no different than what Google does for anyone else, yet it's spying for schools because... why? Were the children using the services under 13? I've never understood why this was potentially illegal, and never seen anything address that.
  - hadoukenio 12y ago
    > Is it spying when you're just not turning off automated systems that nobody looks at the data for? James Clapper, is that you?