Member Avatar for webecedarian

I happened to hear an interview yesterday that I thought would be of interest to some of the people here, especially apropos of privacy.

The local NPR affiliate in New York had an segment with Scott Clelland, known as one of the foremost national authorities in the information and communications technologies industry, and apparently one of the biggest foes of Google. He's got a new book out called Search & Destroy: Why You Can’t Trust Google Inc. Great interview, putting things in perspective. I liked that he pointed out that Google's seemingly charming motto, "Don't be evil," is really the "lowest ethical standard ever devised."


Here's the interview, if you're interested:
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/201...le-do-no-evil/

And here's the book:
http://www.telescopebooks.com/search-and-destroy/

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Member Avatar for HiHe

People that criticize a successful business like Google are generally losers that couldn't run a hamburger joint themselves.

Member Avatar for renaldocreative

Google has it bad feature and good features; Google makes your life as a programmer easier.

Member Avatar for vegaseat

Programming without Google? Hard to imagine!

Member Avatar for renaldocreative

Programming without Google? Hard to imagine!

I agree

Member Avatar for Agilemind

I liked that he pointed out that Google's seemingly charming motto, "Don't be evil," is really the "lowest ethical standard ever devised."

And yet it is the most clear and difficult to misconstrue/misinterpret.

Member Avatar for Portgas D. Ace

You bagging Google punk? Google, is everything that is good in internet browsing...

Member Avatar for pseudorandom21

haha oh man but those crappy search engines in the 90's were the best!!

oh ma gawd, who remembers MSN chat ???

To put things into my warped perspective, google's ability to track your searching and browsing is tantamount to a star of david on your shirt in germany during the 40's.

Edited by pseudorandom21 because: n/a
Member Avatar for Neo Hippy

Further on from this post,Google got more then a little head start from an Australian company. They obtained virtually the complete business plan. The moles in the company were Sean Francis Byrne and a person calling himself Stilgherrian. Read http://​www.googlebeginnings.com/. I’d like to be paid for the work I did.

Member Avatar for Pjieter

Every business as big as Google 'deserves' some criticism.
Some people thinking critical about their marketing strategy only makes the company stronger. I never saw a business the size of google (or even smaller) without any negative reactions. That would be weird, wouldn't it? Just keep in mind that nothing of no-one is perfect, everyone makes mistakes, but that doesn't make them 'evil'.
But I think that, after all, we have to be very grateful that Google exists, especially for tech professionals! I can't imagine solving all my problems/bugs using Yahoo :)

Member Avatar for jwenting

Programming without Google? Hard to imagine!

I've been doing just that for over 20 years...

Member Avatar for goluhaque

Well, yes, Google's products are awesome. And yeah, it is a tracking bitch. Depends on the user, really. How much he is ready to compromise his security for ease of use. And at the end of the day, I think it is a brilliant move by Google, putting ease of use on one hand and security on the other, that is.

Member Avatar for DanielMilstein

Google is not at all Evil! I think the millions of spammers out there is making google look like one, if the honest practices are used, the google wont work so much on changing algorithms and site drops!

Member Avatar for jwenting

Google is not at all Evil! I think the millions of spammers out there is making google look like one, if the honest practices are used, the google wont work so much on changing algorithms and site drops!

that's not what we're talking about. It's Google's collecting and handling of private information about everyone, and what they can and are likely to do with that data.
If a government department were to collect all that data they'd be villified (and rightly so) and in many countries be in direct violation of the law, yet Google (despite in many countries violating laws by doing this) gets away with it.

Member Avatar for jackbauer24

I guess this thread better be closed now.

Member Avatar for Ancient Dragon

Programming without Google? Hard to imagine!

Weren't you around before the internet? Back then we had to read books and compiler documentation :)

Member Avatar for pseudorandom21

Googlesyndication = star on shirt to be worn at all browsing sessions.

Member Avatar for BenzZz

You can look at it on both sides; yes google does have a vast amount of private data at its disposal which violates laws and could essentially cause a lot of damage when used in certain ways, however at the same time with the vast amount of organized information available to us from it, surely being without could be seen as a step backwards?

Something that is powerful and visibly useful can always be alternatively viewed as a threat, and rightly so.

Member Avatar for Netcode

Programming without Google? Hard to imagine!

Not that its hard, I cant even imagine it at all

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