The google that deserved much praise has been dead since not long after the DoubleClick acquisition. They’ve been DoubleClick/Google since. Ordering intentional.

That means they’ve been evil or rushing as fast as they can toward evil since… 2008.

Google died at about 10 years old.

I think I’ve seen someone here comment something similar before but I don’t know the back story. Did DS management infiltrate Google after the acquisition or something? I have never heard of anything like that. Would you mind filling me in?

Incentives and opportunities I guess?

What is the good of owning the leading ad and tracking network if you don't use it?

And besides think of all the good things one can do for the world with so much money... Only, like Mozilla they sold out the one thing they could do that no one else could (providing a free, independent browser in Mozillas case, having access to everyones thoughts without abusing it in Googles case).

I think there was a paradigm that prevailed for about 10 years, let's say 2008-2018 - and this by no means applies only to Google - under which the mass violation of user privacy and personal data collection was not just passed off as, but actual believed to be, something that would benefit the product and the user (even if there was also money to be made on the side by selling that data on). It wasn't yet fully weaponized to the point where every service got shittier unless and even if they extracted more money every year. Somewhere along the line, the game went from cataloging the internet to providing email for everyone to blackmailing anyone who didn't want to partake of their offerings or follow their rules.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. There's never been a case of a player with Google's degree of market leverage that hasn't become corrupted (or any government in a similar position, for that matter). It's not about handing out money. It's about having democratic checks in place to behead and dismember entities that do what Google has done. The vestiges of the US Govt and EU parliament are probably the last thing standing between info sector monstrosities and the end of free thought and speech in the world.

Certainly sounds like the Boeing McDonnell Douglas acquisition.

The minute a competitor appeared to challenge them, they threw all their initial goodwill away. It’s very unfortunate, so yeah. Thanks for destroying the internet Google.