Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech

Re:Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company... by joelx on Tuesday August 13, 2019 @10:06AM (#20685942)

I agree completely with this.

Keep in mind that true evil is MBS ordering the murder of journalist Khasshogi. True evil is invading and conquering Crimea. True evil is murdering your generals with anti-aircraft guns or watching dogs tear them apart while still alive.

Serving banner ads across sites does not even remotely compare.

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Re:Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company... by CoolGuySteve on Tuesday August 13, 2019 @10:34AM (#20686202)

Yes and no, some of the projects mentioned in the article, like Project Dragonfly, involved developing the kind of censorship tools necessary to prop up dictators like the ones you mentioned.

That’s not whining imo, that’s standing up to exactly the breed of ‘True Evil’ you define here.

We have seen this before in tech: Nazi Germany was probably IBM’s second largest customer at the time. There is a moral imperative to not let something like that happen again.

We should all be disturbed that the executive team at Google felt that Project Dragonfly was appropriate.

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Re:Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company... by RestlessMind on Tuesday August 13, 2019 @06:24PM (#20690868)

So by that logic, US and like minded allies should ban their industries from working with China / Russia / Middle Eastern dictatorships? Are you advocating for complete trade barriers?

If not, why single out Google when Apple / Walmart / ... are allowed to benefit from Chinese market?

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Re:Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company... by andonisus on Tuesday August 13, 2019 @11:07AM (#20686542)

My opinion is that someone is going to be providing that service, so it might as well be me (better the devil you know than the devil you don't).

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Re:Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company... by komali2 on Tuesday August 13, 2019 @04:54PM (#20690130)

Exactly the reasoning used by arms dealers.

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Re:Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company... by andonisus on Friday August 16, 2019 @11:14AM (#20715963)

The world is not absolute. It would be nice to be able to take an absolutist, moral stance against things I disagree with. But as I get older, I realize that one must be able to compromise and see in shades of grey.

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Re:Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company... by komali2 on Friday August 16, 2019 @02:39PM (#20718212)

Compromise is important, and one doesn't need to go the way of the Sith, but giving in on your morals is pretty much what leads to problems in this world.

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Re:Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company... by andonisus on Friday August 16, 2019 @08:54PM (#20721157)

I agree! But also being able to compromise so that you still can wield influence is important. For example, if an American company (such as Google) does not fill the need for this service for China, that leaves the door open for other countries to fill this void -- countries which America might not want to be furnishing this service.

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Re:Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company... by tropicalia on Tuesday August 13, 2019 @11:01AM (#20686476)

true evil is...

This is a straw man argument. The critique made of Google is not that has come to embody "true evil". But that it has (by degrees) slouched towards moral ambivalence, and acquiescence of (yes) evil.

Serving banner ads across sites does not even remotely compare.

I think you are perfectly aware that Google is engaged in a lot more than simply the business of serving banner ads.

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Re:Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company... by wruza on Tuesday August 13, 2019 @12:19PM (#20687254)

True evil is also believing all crap that yellow press and country-level echo chambers produce and then to bring it at someone’s table.

While I completely disagree with a commentor who calls “not interested in politics” an euphemism, as if they were disgusting and uneducated, your set of scary factoids likely falls right into this category.

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Re:Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company... by molteanu on Tuesday August 13, 2019 @10:46AM (#20686337)

...or invading and destroying countries and countless communities across the globe with a smile on your face.

I agree with you completely!

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Re:Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company... by chepaslaaa on Wednesday August 14, 2019 @02:37PM (#20698581)

true evil is threatening countries who wont sell oil strictly for USD with nuclear warfare

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Re:Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company... by lowdose on Tuesday August 13, 2019 @11:35AM (#20686810)

True evil would be if the Kremlin were to warn about the threat posed by Belgium or France to Russian security and the need to contain this threat and even declaring a national emergency. Like the USA did in their backyard, "that little region over here" aka South America. Crimea was a very logical step after NATO kept violating the promise made to never move an inch geographical beyond Berlin.

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Re:Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company... by cj on Tuesday August 13, 2019 @10:31AM (#20686180)

Did you just compare Google's advertising business to assassination, murder, and war crime?

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Re:Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company... by shrikant on Tuesday August 13, 2019 @11:08AM (#20686549)

He literally said they do not even compare.

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Re:Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company... by NeonVice on Tuesday August 13, 2019 @10:35AM (#20686209)

He was contrasting them.

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