Posts Tagged ‘Google’

And These Are Our Allies

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

Why is that the security services of supposed democracies believe they must have access to everyone’s data as a condition of doing business in their country?

Hello Blackberry, hello Google, hello Skype: Welcome to India!

The problem for all these companies is that they’ve more or less reached saturation point in Western economies, so they’ve got to go elsewhere in order to keep growing.

It’s at that point we find out which is more important to them: the bottom line or their customers’ rights and freedoms.

Gorilla says: “No encryption necessary: they’ll take the money and sell out their clients every time!”

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Google Is Evil

Monday, August 9th, 2010

And so is Verizon, and so are all those commercial interests who want to keep the barriers of entry to competition as high as possible!

It’s certainly not about net neutrality, or the Internet as a public space!

It’s all about the Microsoft/cable tv model, once we allow monopolies, we must support monopolies to keep the Internet, and telecoms, and content providers, and cable tv as profitable as possible!

Will the FCC put a stop to this nonsense, or will it be, like every other regulator in our woebegone country, captured by whatever industry wants to give them a spin?

We’ll see…

Gorilla says: “If we can get beyond these worthless robber barons, we might decide that freedom isn’t so dire!”

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It’s Only About Money

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

Google: sort of censoring, sort of not!

Google’s not a paragon of free speech, it’s not a bastion of democracy, it’s simply a business that can no longer make a buck in China unless it dances to Beijing’s tune…

Most of the other multinationals in China understand this formula. They don’t care a whit for human rights in China or anywhere else they operate. What they do care about is the bottom line, and so long as that’s humming along, why be good?

Gorilla says: “When greed is what counts, nothing much else does!”

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True To Your School

Friday, February 19th, 2010

The Chinese hackers who went after Google were actually students!

And these kids are so good, the NSA still doesn’t know who was responsible; best they could do was trace it to some servers in Taiwan.

The schools where the attacks originated are very close to the Chinese military, but a professor at one of them suggested it was just a few rogue geeks out for a bit of patriotic hacking fun!

Gorilla says: “Our kids, meanwhile, are trying their best not to make up snow days!”

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Who’s Hacking Now?

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

Google, hacked in China, now in bed with the NSA!

It’s all very defensive, supposedly, apparently Google’s technology isn’t good enough to fend off attack without government help.

And of course privacy isn’t under threat, not from an agency that engaged in warrantless wiretaps of Americans for years or from a company that controls the vast majority of the information mining, search market…

Gorilla says: “In cyberspace, they also turn and cough whenever Uncle Sam wants hearts and minds to follow!”

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Bed ‘Em, Get ‘Em

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

Google is shocked, shocked to find that the Chinese are hacking into their systems!

Like any other corporation whose only concern is the pursuit of money, Google pretends that human rights and copyrights really matter, when they’d gladly sell every account of every dissident in China for whatever the market will bear…

Can’t have it both ways, have to decide whether you really aren’t evil or are just another feckless promoter of whatever keeps the stock price and the options above water!

So, let’s hear no more about Internet piracy, until you decide that things like free speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of the press are worth giving up a buck for!

Gorilla says: “Brin and bear it!”

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Net Neutral: Even Better Without Monopoly!

Monday, September 21st, 2009

The US FCC is putting together proposals to support “net neutrality”, that is preventing Internet service providers from restricting users’ access to the Internet by creating a a system based on ability to pay.

This seems a fine idea, intended to help consumers, but an even finer idea would be to do something about the pre-existing oligopolies and monopolies that control Internet service, search engines, and software in most of the world.

For example, if Microsoft’s search deal with Yahoo is approved, then 3 companies will control 92 percent of the Internet search market. Microsoft itself already controls more than 90% of the operating system software market. While there is nominal competition for ISP service between cable tv and phone companies, in practice prices for these services are fixed and these companies generally stay away from competing too hard in their non-essential markets (cable tv doesn’t really do much phone, phone doesn’t really do much cable tv).

Gorilla says: “It’s good to own a horse called Net Neutral, but monopolistic practices have already left the barn!!!”

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The 7 Percent Solution

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

What happens when 3 companies control 93% of the search engine market?

It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out the answer, but Gorilla explains: “Whatever happens, it won’t be innovation!”

Now we’re really back in the 30s again!

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Is The Con Still Going On?

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

Andrew Orlowski thinks so.

Gorilla’s not enough of an expert, but it does appear that the promised wonders of computing have pretty much fallen by the wayside over the past 10 years.

There’s really been nothing much revolutionary in computing for the consumer since the browser.

Search engines, mobile phones, broadband-enabled videos, book and music stores, portability, digital yada yada: it’s all about reinventing the same old wheel and charging more for it.

Prices should have come down on a whole host of things, and most especially on those things having unlimited supply, e.g. phone and Internet service, but limited demand.

To paraphrase Harold McMillan very loosely: “Margins, dear girls and boys, margins are what no technological breakthrough can overcome”.

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