Ask HN: As a Facebook or Google engineer, do you consider your company evil?

Re:Ask HN: As a Facebook or Google engineer, do you consider... by dareobasanjo on Sunday April 19, 2020 @07:46AM (#22915198)

Using the word “evil” to describe these companies when today there are people literally dying from COVID19 because of the policies of their employers & governments seems like a lack of perspective to me.

The framing of your question has no good answer like the classic “are you still beating your wife?” where either a yes or no is still a bad look.

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Re:Ask HN: As a Facebook or Google engineer, do you consider... by fdeage on Sunday April 19, 2020 @08:50AM (#22915561)

I hear your point, but I was interested precisely in Google/FB employees' feelings about their own company, not in objectively defining "evil".

Not sure I see the point you want to make with COVID-19 though... You mean there is "worse" evil going on somewhere else?

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Re:Ask HN: As a Facebook or Google engineer, do you consider... by pritambaral on Sunday April 19, 2020 @08:01AM (#22915282)

> ... when today there are people ...

This sounds a lot like whataboutism.

> The framing of your question has no good answer like the classic “are you still beating your wife?”

I don't agree your analogy holds.

1. That famous question was rhetorical, this one isn't;

2. That was a riposte to a grand claim that questions can be answered with a simple "yes" or "no" and no explanation whatsoever, the "framing" of this one — i.e., the expanded text after the headline — clearly asks for explained responses and not a simple "yes" or "no".

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Re:Ask HN: As a Facebook or Google engineer, do you consider... by spery on Sunday April 19, 2020 @07:58AM (#22915266)

I don't think its a lack of perspective. Any moves they make that makes us lose some of the freedom on the internet (and in real life now) will not be temporary. It will outlive the COVID19 crisis.

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