Google Protects Healthcare From Michael Moore

An anonymous reader suggests we stop over to ZDNet for a case where Google may be stepping on the wrong side of that famous Don't Be Evil line. A Google staffer is offering to help the healthcare industry contain the damage that Michael Moore's film is about to do. (Here is the original Google Health Advertisement blog post by Lauren Turner; in case it disappears, it is reproduced in full in the ZDNet post.) Quoting from the Google post: "Many of our clients face these issues; companies come to us hoping we can help them better manage their reputations through 'Get the Facts' or issue management campaigns. Your brand or corporate site may already have these informational assets, but can users easily find them? We can place text ads, video ads, and rich media ads in paid search results or in relevant websites within our ever-expanding content network. Whatever the problem, Google can act as a platform for educating the public and promoting your message. We help you connect your company's assets while helping users find the information they seek."

Comments

Dont be evil is just a slogan

[ghoul]

Just the fact that they are so marketing driven to have a slogan shows they are evil. After all all marketing is evil but waht more can you expect from what is basically an advertizing firm which happens to use tech a lot. I mean nothing besides ads makes money for Google.

Re:Mod Parent Up!

[larry bagina]

All of the reviews of Die Hard 3 are that it kicks ass. That doesn't mean it's factual. Michael Moore's facts are looser than goatse man's asshole.

Re:Not Evil

[Monsuco]

Let me repeat that, people who have been paying for the insurance their entire lives die because the insurance companies want to save a few bucks.

No, actually, most hospitals cannot legally turn someone down because they cannot pay. The reason insurance denys so many claims is because hospitals only will really bother to seek payment from insurance companies. Insurance companies can't afford to pay for both payers and non-payers, so they deny stuff. True, clinics can turn you down and insurance denying clinics can prevent you from seeing your primary care provider. People rarely die due to insurance denials because hospitals have to admit everyone. Actually, socialist systems can be a pretty big threat to your health, I hear far more about socialist systems killing people. True, everyone gets treatment, but many are unable to be treated in time or figure out their paperwork. There are people who die waiting for treatment in Canada. We need reforms on insurance laws to mandate insurance companies simplify, not cover everything. If I buy car insurance, I have the option to forgo collision, I think if you buy medical insurance, you should be able to pick and choose what you are covered for. If you don't want drug coverage, fine, if you don't want clinic visits fine, then you can have surgery and emergency only insurance. We also need tax incentives to help encourage people to pay for their own insurance. Reforming malpractice lawsuits would help a ton too.

Re:Not Evil

[bendodge]

"Universal health care" is a meaningless term. The correct way to identify if it is socialism or not is to see who pays for it. If the government pays for it through taxes, it is communism.

Slashdot now far over the ideological precipice

[Quiet_Desperation]

Yeah, because there can POSSIBLY be two sides to this issue. And a Moore can't POSSIBLY be lying in this new film like he has in all of his others.

So trying to make sure both sides of an issue get told is now "evil".

What the flying fuck has happened to Slashdot? It's like it's fallen off the Discworld into the inner circle of ideological hell.

Re:Not Evil

[starrsoft]

It is not evil of Google to help a corp get their message out. In fact, it doesn't matter what you believe about Sicko, the public is helped when both sides effectively present their case to the public. The public will decide.

Google have done this for a long time

[MindPrison]

It was evident to me that Google censors according to "business wishes" when I started to make some fan-art in 3D of a well known character.

Funnily enough - just about every image I've made gets scooped up by Google and placed to become searchable for everyone - which is perfectly fine with me, but when I became slightly suspicious about Googles business censoring where when my fan-art images dissappeared quickly while everything else remained.

Unfortunately - it doesnt stop there!

I really wish it was only protective of its own copyrights, fair enough - but what *REALLY* scares me is when Google censors information at will - even information Id consider perfectly legal and ok for eg. my country, but it actually censors a lot of pages (and I do mean A LOT OF PAGES!) from my Country which is a Democratic country and one of Americas allies, so this is very surprising to me, but research indicates that it absolutely censors. It censors pages with interesting knowledge about computer algorithms, chemical knowledge, electronics-pages with schematics - anything that Google or its customers may find inappropriate some way or another.

If you dont quite believe it and think that I am over the top paranoid - check out http://sethf.com/anticensorware/general/google-cen sorship.php. which incredibly enough isnt censored yet, but what it says - is clear enough and it has examples for you to try

Google became too big and too powerful - such powers could surely not stay innocent forever, dissapointing - but history proves its knowledge about power corrupts - time and again!

I have an easy fix.

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

Why don't all the people who are fed up with their health insurance start their own health insurance company? They can get the socialist healthcare people to join them as well as the poor who cannot afford their own healthcare and that's already a large group. They charge a low fee to be a member, and they guarantee to pay for anything you need.

I mean, it's a free country with a basically free market. Why not take advantage of it and open up competition if you hate all the existing companies so badly?

Moore could lead the funding with all the money he makes off of his lie- I mean movies.

Don't Be Evil!

[DragonTHC]

Google, this is evil.

Helping evil corporations (what a cliché) is just as evil as being evil.

There is little doubt of the consensus that health insurers are evil.

Re:Not Evil

[Cerberus7]

Yeah, but you're citing CNN as a source. They're the evil liberal pinko commies leading the charge against right-thinking conservative Americans. If you could find a source that's more fair and balanced, like Fox News, then you'd have my attention.(end sarcasm here)

Yes, I really have had a conversation that went just like that.

Re:Speaking of evil...

[IgnoramusMaximus]

The only problem is that I think you just described the ENTIRE human race, and not some sub-class within it. Oh sure, not everybody here would sell their money for cash (although many would if the price was right), the fact is that ALL humans are motivated by greed. That is why capitalism works so well in its inherently-imperfect way.

I would disagree that the entire race is afflicted, although I must admit that a signifcant portion of it indeed is, based on empirical evidence.

Please also take into account that by "greed" I do not mean a desire to create a comfortable life in exchange for labour or other contributions to society, but instead attempts to "get something for nothing" in their miriad of forms. That of course including a delusion of immense self-worth and thus pay completely out of proportion to labour performed, which afflicts many individuals, who would die arguing that they are getting only what they "deserve", i.e. $12300 an hour for playing golf with their socialite friends all day, or some such.

One might kill their mother for $1000, but I might only deprive her of a little happiness for $50,000. NOBODY reading this is really immune from selfishness - if you think you are then you are simply deluded. Some might not measure their success in dollars, but that doesn't change the fact that everybody is motivated by greed in some way.

I beg to differ. This is probably the very reason why I and many people like me seem to operate on a different wavelength alltogether. I would not do it for a billion dollars, as I do not see a point at all in desiring money beyond what I already have, thank you very much. I work so I can be comfortable and I do not need a lot to achieve comfort. You would be surprised how much nonsense you "desire" is actually completely psychological, induced by mindless advertising propaganda and indirectly by peer preassure. Once you wake up, it is like living in a world inhabited by marionettes. You can see all their strings out of a sudden, pulling them this way and the other, while you are free. It is quite an experience.

I'm not convinced that simply offering free health care without limit to everybody equally is going to work. Ultimately those who are paying for it will resent waiting in line behind those who aren't paying for it. And I don't mean the next door neighbor out of a job for three months. The issue is that not all work is equally valuable, and the reward for being a clerk at the local Walmart shouldn't be the same as the reward for managaing a 5000-employee business.

The reason why healthcare must be provided to all citizens with no charge (be it by the government, non profit mutual-corporations paid from taxes or what not) is that healthcare is not a business and thus does not fall into the realm of the marketplace. One cannot shop for a best doctor while one is unconscious in an ambulance. One cannot "return" a faulty abdominal surgery for a refund. Normal rules of competition, and thus capitalist marketplace, simply do not apply as they do with underware and plastic lawn chairs.

Helthcare, like roads, is one of the foundations of a civilized society, which must be provided to all in order for the society to function. The result of "private" healthcare is pretty much the same as having evey road being a "toll" road. Those who own the critical arteries i.e. the ones which cannot be circumvented, will choke the society with their greed, very much so as the US is being chocked by the "medical insurance" industry.

That is why every OECD country, other then USA, has universal healthcare. Every one.

Re:Depends on what your definition of "evil" is

[IgnoramusMaximus]

I don't necessarily think that will really accomplish what you want. All that would do is push everything back to privately owned companies with much less transparency and responsibility, and reduce the middle class of ownership. Rather than the rich owning most everything, they would in fact own everything.

My answer is an abolishment of corporate charter (and thus return to personal responsibility of business owners for the actions of their companies - a key element which you forgot to mention being circumvented by the corporate charter) but more importantly, return to 90+% tax brackets. We do not need large businesses and super-wealthy super-businessmen in any area. We need a lot of smaller businesses competing for everything. That is what ensures that the "invisible hand" of the marketplace remains working. Very, very, very steep progressive taxation (along with near 90% inheretance taxation in higher brackets) is what ensures that the capitalist game remains functional, by preventing consolidation and runaway (due to some market failure) fortunes. Otherwise, the removal of "tax friction" to unlimited consolidation of companies and unlimited acquisiton of wealth results in feudalism, which the USA is at this point far too close to for any comfort.

It is truly mind boggling why people carry this sense of helplessness.

Maybe because of the fact that most of the population in the US (and increasingly most of the West) has a negative savings rate?

Why do you feel you are owned?

Because we increasingly are owned. As an example, in an area we nerds find dear to us: where I live, all cell-phone service providers have merged into two cartels, who now charge identical rates of ~0.5$ per kilobyte for internet access on your phone, or roughly $21,000 for 4Gb. Your "consumer choice" is that of a Dick A up your ass, or Dick B up your ass. Same applies to land-based ISPs whose best uplink rate (in a densly populated city centre) is 384kbit/s for a mere $95 a month.

Because somebody else is making more money than you is jealousy not patriotism.

The problem is not that they are making money. It is the way in which they are making money. What I am pointing out is the total breakage of the basic, fundamental rules of the whole "capitalist" society!

If you feel owned start your own company, one that reflects your own ideals.

Oh yea! That will cure the problem! I will just hop on to my bank, get a loan for, say, $5 billion, get the government to sell me some radio spectrum presently used by someone else (I will have to buy a few politicians to do that, bribing them more then the other guy) and then I will start my own cell-phone company and I will never have to pay 50 cents a kilobyte again! That's the truly practical plan for all citizens in my area, surely .... not!

As an aside. I do own my own small business. This however is not a cure to what ails the society. We are discussing systemic, nation-wide problems, not what some more fortunate individuals are privileged to do for themselves. Not everyone can own a business. Not even 1 in 10 people can do so, for many, many reasons.

Yes there are problems in the US, just like there is everywhere else in the world. Most of the problems are caused by the choices of individuals, the structural problem such as medical coverage and access to higher education should be the focus. Not that CEOs make more money, and people are deciding to go into more debt.

Yes, apparently, as in the example above, we, the individuals (or more accurately our grand-parents), have sinned gravely by deciding to live in this area, no? And higher education will certainly solve the problem of oligarchies, cartels and duo-polies! That is of course righ

You people are pathetic!

[Newer Guy]

You people who have no empathy for your fellow man are pathetic! You are probably all young, single professional types, who went to college on daddy's dime and now are bummed because you only have ONE 60 inch HDTV and your car just turned two years old.

My health insurance payments made my family HOMELESS! We spent last year living in Extended Stays for 45 dollars a night. I didn't QUIT my job, I got LAID OFF. I didn't consult by choice, I consulted BECAUSE I COULD NOT FIND A JOB! It took me two years to find one and I STILL don't have health insurance because my employer doesn't offer it until you've been here 90 days.

NO ONE should have to choose between food, housing and their health. NO ONE!! None of you ASSHOLES do!

I'm 52. My only regret is that I wasn't YOUR father. You'd have grown up with a bit more empathy and a bit less hypocracy...and your butt would have been a bit pinker along the way too!

Re:Depends on what your definition of "evil" is

[IgnoramusMaximus]

Mom & pop shops can and do compete, just not directly with price. People will pay a little more for a burger that doesn't taste like cardboard, for goods that aren't mass market cheap plastic, and for good customer service at the repair shop.

That is untrue. The general public does normally prefer low price and is willing to mindlessly destroy their own livelyhood in its pursuit. But where low price alone is insufficient, it is scientifically proven that the public is also subject to mass scale media-based brainwashing, which in marketing circles goes by the name of "branding". That is why people will buy McCrap burger, even though a Mom & Pop store is offering much better cousine next door. They are simply inundated with incessant multi-billion psychological manipulation, from very young age onwards, for which very purpose the so called "mass media" exists. That is why the advent of "franchise" stores is so popular, as they do provide the mass-media centered mass-mind-warping mechanisms, which individual stores cannot even dream of. So the unholy duo of low price (at the expense of foreign slave labour and environmental destruction) and "branding" pretty much seals the fate of all locally owned opertions.

The approach is backwards in that it promotes cheap & less risky investment, rather than expensive & revolutionary development.

Really? What was the last time "expensive and revolutionary" development occured by a private company, not in any way stolen from the government-funded academia?

You contradict yourself. ... If there are these huge margins across the board, then mom & pop shops would be able to compete.

You forgot about the barriers to entry. If the barrier to entry (most of the time artifically created by the participants of the cartels) is so high that only a mega-bazillionaire multi-mega-national can enter, the mom & pop crowd is at a distinct disadvantage. Say a government demand that some spectrum be sold whole as a unit to the highest bidder (for a mere few billion dollars usually), instead of being managed by the government and small participants sharing in its use for a nominal fee. Same applies to city wide conduits, which instead of being privately own (and thus monopolized due to geography and building restrictions) should be managed by the government or a non-profit consortium, and leased at a nominal fee to small businesses competing on service delivery. Etc and so on.

Those were just brainstorming examples. The solution most likely is not obvious, but there is a solution - that's how companies are started.

And oft there is no solution, no matter how many try. Go check out the "perpetual motion machine archive" for examples. Raw willpower is not a substitute for reality.

On the flip side, telling a man he is free does not end his hunger. To quote Full Metal Jacket, "They'd rather be alive than free, I guess. Poor dumb bastards." Western countries do have erosion of freedoms, mostly in "Wars against [drugs, terror, etc]," coupled with organized special interest groups which have greater influence over government due to their ability to organize votes.

So I guess it is all right to be owned by our feudal betters, as long as the TV keeps playing and the bread is available, right?

Have you looked at the demographics for graduate school in engineering? Our highest levels of education are training those H1B workers because people in the US aren't attending.

See your own post above. The foreigners (particularly oriental where all the manufacturing and thus wealth is heading) have far more purchasing power then the locals, and the locals have been repeatedly burned by investing in useless education, only to become underpaid corporate drones, and so their lesson learned was that the educatio