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I will hold my opinion on this but check the video. Do you agree? Or not? Or somewhat in between?

I too am withholding my opinion. But check out this poster.

Holy crap, it's like they're a profit driven company that would benefit from having a monopoly on everything...

I'd be very interested in what company sponsored that. I know it says ABC tv, ABC being owned by Disney, but did they receive any funding from say Microsoft?

Anyway, to comment on the actual piece, well, it make things sound much more sinister than they actually are. Google want to be the goto source for all your digital needs because that's the business they're in. Of course they want that, if they didn't, they couldn't compete with the likes of Microsoft and Apple. The lawsuits over privacy issues, well any large corporation is going to run afowl of the law in some regard. Google Streetview capturing pictures of naked children only happened because those kids were allowed to be naked in public. If those people didn't want their children to be photographed as such, then they should not have allowed their child to be in that situation. People leaving adult stores and vomiting know that they could be seen doing so, I don't get the point of that. They drive around with camera arrays on the top of their van or car or whatever, it's not like they are running up to your windows and taking pictures of you in the shower.

Other points were about what businesses they've bought or invested in. Specifically the DNA lab thing stuck out to me. They accuse Google of wanting to know our DNA. I wonder what that lab actually does, though. I bet it is something like gene sequencing to identify specific traits or the like. If it does specifically work with people's DNA, I'm betting it is for identification purposes through DNA testing and that Google does not actively try to seek out everyone's DNA to keep in a massive database for machiavellian purposes.

It's a lot of them making accusations that they then do not give any supporting facts for and we are just supposed to take them at their word. I've never heard of "Hungry Beast" before so what reason do I have to believe any of their claims? The Vader helmet was a nice touch, I thought they were going for a skull, but that was equally good.

I can see why a lot of people are untrusting of Google. They have their fingers in everything, but because they have their fingers in everything they are able to stay ahead of competitors. They seem to have missed the boat on social networking, but they could still pull it off.

I have yet to see them do anything evil though. Unless of course you think having ads that are more specific to your interests rather than a billion ads for porn is evil.

Shakey said:

I can see why a lot of people are untrusting of Google. They have their fingers in everything, but because they have their fingers in everything they are able to stay ahead of competitors. They seem to have missed the boat on social networking, but they could still pull it off.

I have yet to see them do anything evil though. Unless of course you think having ads that are more specific to your interests rather than a billion ads for porn is evil.

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Well Censoring the internet in China ranks up there for me.

"And in science news, GoogleTech has announced a succesful launch of their first FTL capable vessel, the GTS BigCock1237. Named after an GoogleNet online competition, the BigCock1237 is expected to arrive in Alpha Centauri in four months, where it will start broadcasting peace commercials to the cosmos."

I have a friend who continually tries to emphasize this to me, which is that Google has strayed from it's founding purpose. I think the problem is less that they are doing these things, and more that people interpret their founding motto ("Don't Be Evil") as a pledge not to do some of the things that they've already done.

The privacy issues are not what bothers me as much as Google Books. Google has been regularly uploading books into the Google Books database without permission, and whenever anyone complains that their book has basically been stolen, they settle out of court rather than address what they've been doing. This is probably the most evil thing that I've seen Google do. To be honest, it might be the only underhanded thing I've seen Google do. But it does seem to defy their original motto, and it sets a precedent that says "Yeah, we can do what we want."

Covar;355056][QUOTE=Shakey said:

I can see why a lot of people are untrusting of Google. They have their fingers in everything, but because they have their fingers in everything they are able to stay ahead of competitors. They seem to have missed the boat on social networking, but they could still pull it off.

I have yet to see them do anything evil though. Unless of course you think having ads that are more specific to your interests rather than a billion ads for porn is evil.

Click to expand...

Well Censoring the internet in China ranks up there for me.[/QUOTE]

I don't know, it seems pretty silly to call them out on it when we support that oppression every day by buying products from them. At least by getting in there they now have some leverage to remove some of that censorship, which they are doing now.

The whole thing is a "no duh" to me. Big companies, man.

Shakey;355063][QUOTE=Covar;355056][QUOTE=Shakey said:

I can see why a lot of people are untrusting of Google. They have their fingers in everything, but because they have their fingers in everything they are able to stay ahead of competitors. They seem to have missed the boat on social networking, but they could still pull it off.

I have yet to see them do anything evil though. Unless of course you think having ads that are more specific to your interests rather than a billion ads for porn is evil.

Click to expand...

Well Censoring the internet in China ranks up there for me.[/QUOTE]

I don't know, it seems pretty silly to call them out on it when we support that oppression every day by buying products from them. At least by getting in there they now have some leverage to remove some of that censorship, which they are doing now.[/QUOTE]

Oh I'm not surprised they did it (there is billions to be made in China). Just think it's a bit silly for a company claiming they do no evil and continually promote the openness of information on the internet to get in bed with the government that built the "Great Firewall" and even then get upset when China took advantage of Google to get dissenters.

I don't mind if Google wants to be my one-stop digital shop. It's convenient for me and profitable for them, if they're the best. The ad fails to cite sources and clearly just wants to incite fear of Google. Involved in lawsuits? America is the most litigious country in the world. Completely innocent people are involved in lawsuits for frivolous reasons every day.

No I'd say it's just silly. Especially when it starts yammering on about how Google wants my DNA. It's much more likely to be akin to what General Specific noted above.

Garbledina said:

I don't mind if Google wants to be my one-stop digital shop. It's convenient for me and profitable for them, if they're the best.

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This is why I have no problems with Google (I wish more people would realize they're an ad company though). I think we need to ensure Net Neutrality (real net neutrality, with truly dumb pipes) when search companies are this large.

Covar said:

Oh I'm not surprised they did it (there is billions to be made in China). Just think it's a bit silly for a company claiming they do no evil and continually promote the openness of information on the internet to get in bed with the government that built the "Great Firewall" and even then get upset when China took advantage of Google to get dissenters.

Click to expand...

I think it's silly for any company to claim they "do no evil", so I've just never taken it too seriously. In the countries that don't require censorship they have a pretty good track record though. They've handled the information they have on everyone in a responsible way so far, so I have no problem with them.

Garbledina said:

The ad fails to cite sources and clearly just wants to incite fear of Google. Involved in lawsuits? America is the most litigious country in the world. Completely innocent people are involved in lawsuits for frivolous reasons every day.

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A) there are lawsuits being filed in all sorts of countries surrounding Google Earth. I don't think any of them are really that big of a deal, so I won't dwell on that, but it isn't just America in that case.

B) the lawsuits surrounding Google Books are actually something to keep an eye on. Whatever else Google is doing, the Google Book debacle is one instance where they are clearly and boldly crossing ethical lines. (And as much flak as I might catch for linking to Wikipedia about it, it was one of the better summaries of the whole situation that I could find.)

Google's not an unstoppable juggernaut on every front... they totally bombed out of the Radio automation and radio advertising business.

I always knew Google would take over the world, and I was cool with it.

The most evil thing google ever did?

The fade-in on their main page. :|

Also, old news is old

The shape of Darth Vader had me rolling. That's the "face of evil" they're trying to get across? :laugh:

I like that they openly said it. Now we can all move on.

Shegokigo said:

The shape of Darth Vader had me rolling. That's the "face of evil" they're trying to get across? :laugh:

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Billions have seen the mask. Very few people have seen your face. What do you expect?

I feel like I should hold up one of those flags they have at karate tournaments to signify a point.

Well, Google has grown very quickly from a small search engine company to a huge tech company. I'm pretty sure Google knows more about me and could harm me more if they wanted to than Microsoft. Google has its downsides, and sure it's monopolistic and wants to be the one-stop shop for the internet - just like many other companies (Apple, Microsoft - but heck, Sun and such too). Of the big juggernauts, GOogle is relatively OK so far. Of course they've crossed some lines -especially blurry ones. And I'm not so sure I'm a fan of the Google Books thing, but we'll see how that pans out.

Covar said:

Oh I'm not surprised they did it (there is billions to be made in China). Just think it's a bit silly for a company claiming they do no evil and continually promote the openness of information on the internet to get in bed with the government that built the "Great Firewall" and even then get upset when China took advantage of Google to get dissenters.

Click to expand...

I think the question is this: Is it evil to work together with a totalitarian fascist state like China, hoping that you will be able to have some influence over what information gets through to the people of it's country? Or would it be evil to deny the people of China everything, or to throw them completely at the mercy of their own government? Simply put, if Google hadn't stepped up, someone else would have and I seriously doubt they'd have done any better than Google did.

Besides, things in China ARE slowly changing. The communists are losing favor, free enterprise is flourishing, and the people of China are beginning to question whether it is in their best interest to keep things as they are. If Google can endure in China, they will be ready to make some SERIOUS bucks once the dam breaks.