> And, Google's secrecy and self-isolation erodes trust.
Many, if not most, tech companies are much more secretive than Google (Apple?). From the few times I've read Google's blogs, I thought they were quite transparent and open.
> the current interpretation of Delaware corporate law states that a corporation must maximize shareholder value.
That would make a great tagline for a dystopian Hollywood film. There is a good reason why Google takes good care of your data and won't sell it to evil governments or corporations: they would go out of business if they did so.
Your comment is more a criticism of NDAs, corporate secrecy and capitalism than Google itself.
Many, if not most, tech companies are much more secretive than Google (Apple?). From the few times I've read Google's blogs, I thought they were quite transparent and open.
Ummm.... I'm talking from the perspective of hosting the largest networking group of tech founders in Silicon Valley for the last 4 years. We've held meetups of 150+ people 4 miles away from the Googleplex every month for several years now.
How many Google engineers have I talked to at our meetups in the last 12 months? 2 or 3. I've also talked to a ton of other young startups around the Valley.
What I'm saying is based on that experience. I don't know where you're located, or what your experience is with Google aside from "the few times I've read Google's blogs". Your mileage of course may vary.
That would make a great tagline for a dystopian Hollywood film.
Perhaps. But, I'm also basing this on a number of conversations with quite expensive lawyers in and around Silicon Valley. The fact of the matter in US corporate law, is that C Corporations have to maximize shareholder value, and act in the best interests of their shareholders. When a corporation doesn't do that, the directors of that corporation open themselves to being sued for breach of fiduciary duty.
There is a good reason why Google takes good care of your data and won't sell it to evil governments or corporations: they would go out of business if they did so.
Or, they could quietly, privately maximize that data by looking up personal data on founders of startups that are being potentially acquired by Google. They'd be quite silly not to, actually.
They could certainly look up for a history of searches coming from a competitor's IP addresses to see what they are planning.
They could certainly look up a potential employee's search history, calendar history (to check for other scheduled interviews), email contents, GPS location data from their Android phones when they are screening job candidates.
I'm saying this from the perspective of having built an alpha of a search engine for financial news. And, I know that I was certainly interested in every single search that was referred from an IP address located in Manhattan. And if a lot of queries came in for a topic that I didn't have much data for in my index, I quickly went out and found sources of information to pad my index with.
It's not a criticism of corporate secrecy and capitalism. It's the essence of capitalism.
If Google doesn't use that data for it's own corporate advantage it's stupid. I've never heard of anyone call Google stupid. And, that's exactly what I would do if I had access to that kind of data. Couple that with some tight NDA's and no one would ever know.
>If Google doesn't use that data for it's own corporate advantage it's stupid.
Maybe they don't do some of the things you're saying because its illegal and in 13 years of business where their business relies on a public reputation.. it would do more damage to their business then the minor wins of spying on some startup that they can probably out compete anyways.
What laws would this be breaking? The data they are gathering is proprietary and people have opted in to that data by using their services. Why shouldn't they use it to their financial benefit?
> And, Google's secrecy and self-isolation erodes trust.
Many, if not most, tech companies are much more secretive than Google (Apple?). From the few times I've read Google's blogs, I thought they were quite transparent and open.
> the current interpretation of Delaware corporate law states that a corporation must maximize shareholder value.
That would make a great tagline for a dystopian Hollywood film. There is a good reason why Google takes good care of your data and won't sell it to evil governments or corporations: they would go out of business if they did so.
Your comment is more a criticism of NDAs, corporate secrecy and capitalism than Google itself.