Re:Google's software mistreats or harms the user
by TeMPOraL on Tuesday August 20, 2019 @05:19PM
(#20752300)
And again they don't stand if your perspective accounts for the following observable facts:
- Multinational corporations care little about their reputation - the public has very short memory, and it's rare that a reputational issue outweighs considerations like sunk costs, network effect, or lack of better alternative on the market. See literally almost every scandal involving a corporation ever.
- The larger the organization, the less individual ethical and reputational concerns of bottom-line workers matter. See literally every corporation. For particular recent examples, see e.g. Volkswagen emissions scandal or Boeing 737 Max fiasco, both cases involving actual engineers with actual careers on the line, and not just software devs risking unemployment for 10 minutes.
Note that both statements are explainable even without attributing malice to any corporation. They're side effect of scale and market power.
- Multinational corporations care little about their reputation - the public has very short memory, and it's rare that a reputational issue outweighs considerations like sunk costs, network effect, or lack of better alternative on the market. See literally almost every scandal involving a corporation ever.
- The larger the organization, the less individual ethical and reputational concerns of bottom-line workers matter. See literally every corporation. For particular recent examples, see e.g. Volkswagen emissions scandal or Boeing 737 Max fiasco, both cases involving actual engineers with actual careers on the line, and not just software devs risking unemployment for 10 minutes.
Note that both statements are explainable even without attributing malice to any corporation. They're side effect of scale and market power.