Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that “Don’t be evil” turned into “Be a little evil” and then “Be a police state.” If the E board is worried that workers will revolt over a new policy, maybe they...
Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that “Don’t be evil” turned into “Be a little evil” and then “Be a police state.”
If the E board is worried that workers will revolt over a new policy, maybe they shouldn’t pursue that policy.
One working in a lucrative job such as one might have a Google puts him or her in a very conflicting position. My first reaction is: it's shameful only a couple of hundred employees out of over...
One working in a lucrative job such as one might have a Google puts him or her in a very conflicting position. My first reaction is: it's shameful only a couple of hundred employees out of over 80,000 are publicly denouncing this, there should be 60,000 or more. But then I thought if I worked at Google, would I jeopardize my livelihood on principles? The answer is "no."
If only there were a way to poll Google employees without putting them at risk just to show the world that more than a couple hundred disapprove of bowing to tyranny. I guess I can only hope that a very high majority of employees at Google would object to this if they could.
How is bowing to tyranny at home (see: national security letters) different from bowing to tyranny abroad? In order to do business in a location, businesses must obey the local rules and...
How is bowing to tyranny at home (see: national security letters) different from bowing to tyranny abroad?
In order to do business in a location, businesses must obey the local rules and regulations. We see Google running afoul of the EU and they had to implement the right to be forgotten . And some newspapers not bothering to offer their services to the EU after the GDPR deadline. These companies are still running up against government mandated instructions (albeit, good for the user), yet people are drawing the line at China?
Heck, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon are all in China, why can't Google also be there?
One distinction between Google and the others is that Google has been asserting it does the right thing and Google suggests it has some morality. The only word I can associate with Microsoft is...
One distinction between Google and the others is that Google has been asserting it does the right thing and Google suggests it has some morality. The only word I can associate with Microsoft is "dominance". And I have no words for Apple or Amazon. And I'm just someone in the public reflecting whatever corporate images these companies have been trying convey.
OK, then why does Google's "do the right thing" include incurring billion dollar fines in Europe, but not helping the Chinese market have a superior search choice?
OK, then why does Google's "do the right thing" include incurring billion dollar fines in Europe, but not helping the Chinese market have a superior search choice?
You work at Google you can get a job anywhere. The pay isn't that amazing. Source: worked there, quit over ethical concerns over how we were treating companies downstream of us. We were changing...
You work at Google you can get a job anywhere. The pay isn't that amazing. Source: worked there, quit over ethical concerns over how we were treating companies downstream of us. We were changing the nature of a partner program and letting small companies piss money down the drain needlessly. These were our alpha partners, who were directly helping us to succeed. With friends like that who needs enemies.
There are some things I don't understand about the outrage: Why is Microsoft offering a Party-approved version of Bing in China kosher? For what reasons is it OK for Microsoft (or even Apple or...
There are some things I don't understand about the outrage:
For what reasons is it OK for Microsoft (or even Apple or Amazon) to do business in China, but not Google?
Did these people expect a company, whose main profit it from advertising, to not seek out new markets when their current markets are almost saturated?
I would like to quote some paragraphs from one of the linked articles, that gives specific insight into the online search market in China.
After Google withdrew from China, Chinese users [were] largely cut off from foreign internet resources. Baidu and other domestic service providers only index [a] very limited [number of] foreign language resources. Considering that over 90% of internet information is in English, Chinese users suffer [a] huge efficiency loss because of the information divide.
Many government offices, companies and individuals use VPN[s] to access Google. Global Web Index reports 93 million Chinese users visit social media via VPN[s]. The number may be seriously exaggerated, but it still shows the huge demand of Chinese users [that want] to access foreign websites.
...
Moreover, the users [that] want to access [the] international internet usually have higher income, and are more valuable for advertisers.
...
Professional users have more trouble in using domestic search engines. The desired results seldom appear on the first few pages.
...
Malicious behavior on [search engine] landing pages is another important issue in China. The landing page sometimes may automatically install several extensions without the consent of users. Some landing page[s] abuse cookies to collect information, even install malware.
The current crop of Chinese search engines are sub-par, even actively malicious, for Chinese language searches, let-alone English or other languages. Why would people be so actively against offering a superior product to an underserved market?
Perhaps the folks so full of outrage care more about political games than they do about the people who would be using the product.
Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that “Don’t be evil” turned into “Be a little evil” and then “Be a police state.”
If the E board is worried that workers will revolt over a new policy, maybe they shouldn’t pursue that policy.
One working in a lucrative job such as one might have a Google puts him or her in a very conflicting position. My first reaction is: it's shameful only a couple of hundred employees out of over 80,000 are publicly denouncing this, there should be 60,000 or more. But then I thought if I worked at Google, would I jeopardize my livelihood on principles? The answer is "no."
If only there were a way to poll Google employees without putting them at risk just to show the world that more than a couple hundred disapprove of bowing to tyranny. I guess I can only hope that a very high majority of employees at Google would object to this if they could.
How is bowing to tyranny at home (see: national security letters) different from bowing to tyranny abroad?
In order to do business in a location, businesses must obey the local rules and regulations. We see Google running afoul of the EU and they had to implement the right to be forgotten . And some newspapers not bothering to offer their services to the EU after the GDPR deadline. These companies are still running up against government mandated instructions (albeit, good for the user), yet people are drawing the line at China?
Heck, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon are all in China, why can't Google also be there?
Edit: Added the right to be forgotten
One distinction between Google and the others is that Google has been asserting it does the right thing and Google suggests it has some morality. The only word I can associate with Microsoft is "dominance". And I have no words for Apple or Amazon. And I'm just someone in the public reflecting whatever corporate images these companies have been trying convey.
I think "dominance" applies equally well to Apple and Amazon as well, TBH.
OK, then why does Google's "do the right thing" include incurring billion dollar fines in Europe, but not helping the Chinese market have a superior search choice?
You work at Google you can get a job anywhere. The pay isn't that amazing. Source: worked there, quit over ethical concerns over how we were treating companies downstream of us. We were changing the nature of a partner program and letting small companies piss money down the drain needlessly. These were our alpha partners, who were directly helping us to succeed. With friends like that who needs enemies.
Anyway, there's life after Google.
There are some things I don't understand about the outrage:
I would like to quote some paragraphs from one of the linked articles, that gives specific insight into the online search market in China.
The current crop of Chinese search engines are sub-par, even actively malicious, for Chinese language searches, let-alone English or other languages. Why would people be so actively against offering a superior product to an underserved market?
Perhaps the folks so full of outrage care more about political games than they do about the people who would be using the product.