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Google Mulling Video Ads In Search Results

Bombula writes to let us know that Google is "finally succumbing to the power of the almighty dollar" and getting ready to implement image and video ads in sponsored searches.

52 of 269 comments (clear)

  1. Not "evil" by gbulmash · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Finally "succumbing to the power of the almighty dollar"??? They gave in to Mammon quite a while ago.

    Google displays video ads within a few different AdSense units. I've regularly seen video ads filling 336x280 ad spaces. Putting video ads in search results requires no technical advances. It's more a matter of laying out the search results to achieve the best balance of ad screenspace and content screenspace. So far, Google has done that pretty well with text ads in their search results.

    If there's any news in this, it's watching the semantic argument that should result. People love to quote Google's tenet of "do no evil" and accuse Google of violating it wheneverGoogle opens up a new avenue for earning money. But it's not necessarily evil. It's just something they disagree with. And it's interesting, from a sociological perspective, to see how people can regard the opposing party viewpoint, in what are essentially minor disagreements, as "evil".

    - Greg

    1. Re:Not "evil" by Gnostic+Ronin · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I'll agree with you. Absolutely not a good move. I don't want to see little movies playing all over my computer screen when I search for something. And judging by other adverts online, not only will they be large, but obnoxious. They'll loop every 30 seconds. All I want is to get the links I'm looking for without being hounded by obnoxious ads.

    2. Re:Not "evil" by CastrTroy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The difference between "Evil" and "Not Evil" is only a matter of opinion. Some people would say all ads are evil. Others, text ads are acceptable. Others, would say images with no video. Some would say video is fine, as long as they don't display it overlayed on the content. Other people would have no problem with any ads.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    3. Re:Not "evil" by gbulmash · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Intent can be as important to determining the degree or label for a crime as the act. Think about it, most American state penal codes have 6-8 different crimes you can be charged with when you kill someone... First through third degree murder, first and second degree manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, etc., etc.

      In fact, if you're defending yourself, you can kill someone and not be charged with a crime. But the action is always the same... you killed someone.
      Furthermore, "evil" is a moral judgement, so, even if you're not buying into a societal definition, such as exists in a penal code, you're basing it on a religious definition. And the fun part is that the religious definition isn't based on a holy book, it's based on how your particular sect interprets that holy book. There are Muslims who think strapping a bomb to yourself and setting it off inside a school full of children is "evil", but there are others who think that this is what God wants. And, according to most moral codes, what God wants is inherently good.

      So, actions are not good or evil in and of themselves. We interpret them as good or evil based on our value sets. Quite often we ascribe those value sets to God, because "God says this is right and this is wrong" carries a lot more power than "I think this is right and this is wrong, but it's just my opinion." Much as it is with beauty, Good and Evil can be in the eye of the beholder too.

      - G

    4. Re:Not "evil" by NickCatal · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If they are anything like the adsense ones they won't be too intrusive at all...

      Google isn't filled with idiots who think that they can just put an ad box on the side of their results and not loose respect (and market share)

      Personally, I like the sponsored results... I find that a lot of the time the sponsored results are more what I am looking for than the search results. I probably cost those advertisers a fortune by checking out every single one of the ads until I find one I like, but still...

      I found my latest printer cartridge via adsense... the store I bought it from had a listing on the top and they were also the most competitive in the way of price... so they got my money thanks to an adsense ad. Of course, now I get emails every week from the store about printer cartridges... bah... stupid "opt-in-by-default" system

      --
      -nick
    5. Re:Not "evil" by clarkkent09 · · Score: 3, Informative

      If there's any news in this, it's watching the semantic argument that should result. People love to quote Google's tenet of "do no evil" and accuse Google of violating it wheneverGoogle opens up a new avenue for earning money. But it's not necessarily evil. It's just something they disagree with. And it's interesting, from a sociological perspective, to see how people can regard the opposing party viewpoint, in what are essentially minor disagreements, as "evil".

      You can blame google for that. From Google Philosophy page on their site: ahref=http://www.google.com/corporate/tenthings.ht mlrel=url2html-17653http://www.google.com/corporat e/tenthings.html>

      : Number 6 You can make money without doing evil.
      ...Google has also proven that advertising can be effective without being flashy....

      So they are associating not having flashy ads with not being evil. Now that they will have flashy ads that means they are evil. :)

      --
      Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
    6. Re:Not "evil" by bmo · · Score: 5, Funny

      "The difference between "Evil" and "Not Evil" is only a matter of opinion."

      No, the difference between "evil" and "not evil" is the bubble on the output of the gate.

      --
      BMO

    7. Re:Not "evil" by Lumpy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Incredibly bad move. Every privoxy proxy I help maintain (20 of them, 15 at businesses with 15 -100 employees) allows google ad's. the second a customer reports a video or photo ad they get added to the privoxy global block on all customers.

      I gave google a free pass because of the text ad's and the minimal bandwidth they consume. Video and image ad's are not allowed as they consumer too much bandwidth and go away.

      Google, guess what? you are about to permanently lose several hundred pairs of eyes ever seeing your adverts. Hope it's worth it.

      and you will lose more daily as I add installations. All it takes is a single demo to a customer and they want it installed.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    8. Re:Not "evil" by heinousjay · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Anyone who says ads are evil has a whacky moral compass, and they're diluting the term.

      --
      Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
    9. Re:Not "evil" by sanyasi · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Furthermore, "evil" is a moral judgement, so, even if you're not buying into a societal definition, such as exists in a penal code, you're basing it on a religious definition. I have to disagree. Morality can exist independent of religion. Many religious people make this mistake of assuming that only religious people have morals.
    10. Re:Not "evil" by bladesjester · · Score: 2, Interesting

      If all good comes from God, and God is omnipotent, then nothing that happens in God's realm can be evil

      This is a logical fallacy based on the mistaken assumption that because one has the power to do something, one must do it.

      Being omnipotent means that you *can* do anything; not that you *will* do anything. It is completely logical for an omnipotent being to allow something outside itself to exist which also causes things that the omnipotent being itself would not do.

      --
      Everything I need to know I learned by killing smart people and eating their brains.
    11. Re:Not "evil" by ozmanjusri · · Score: 3, Insightful
      It is completely logical for an omnipotent being to allow something outside itself to exist which also causes things that the omnipotent being itself would not do.

      Not if the entity is the definer of all that is good.

      The entity would then be permitting evil to occur despite having the power to prevent it. That in itself is evil (see Luke (10:25-37). Allowing evil to occur makes God an accomplice in vile acts, and therefore not pure good.

      --
      "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
    12. Re:Not "evil" by l33t+gambler · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Two words: "Firefox" and "Adblock"
      What about a plugin that only disables gif/svg animations and flash plugin?
      If many people block everything they will just add more ads, and more annoying ads. Like ads that refresh every 10 seconds (I encountered that today at www.techarp.com actually.). Better to have tolerant ads than no independent websites.
      --
      Teasing the nobles, and rightfully so!
    13. Re:Not "evil" by walt-sjc · · Score: 4, Insightful

      First off, I agree to a large extent...

      False dichotomy. Maybe you're too young to remember, but there was a time when most sites didn't have ads.

      And there was a time before web sites existed at all too, but someone is paying for a site in ALL cases.

      Heck, there are still many sites that don't rely on ad revenue.

      Sure, but SOMEONE is paying for it. The question is WHO is paying for it? There are sites paid for by "good will", such as a company hosting an open source project, and marketing sites, which is just an advertising expense (the entire site is a giant ad,) but every site costs something, and someone is paying.

      The reality is that the content consumers really want isn't free to deliver. Because so many people want it, the site needs some sort of revenue stream to pay for itself due to the hosting costs.

      Also, web hosting is getting cheaper and cheaper every day.

      Yes, but the number of users is increasing faster than hosting is getting cheaper. It's still fairly expensive to host anything that gets any significant traffic at all. Yes, you can get $5 / month hosting, and no, you can't run YouTube off $5/month hosting.

      If a site is really that valuable to me, I'll pay (micropayments?) for the content.

      There we go. That IS the ultimate solution - however, we don't have a viable micropayment system right now. Instead, all we have are sites want some sort of monthly / yearly subscription. The situation sucks. Like you however, I found some of the ads out there so intrusive that I now block all ads, and all javascript / cookies by default.

    14. Re:Not "evil" by LordSnooty · · Score: 2, Informative

      Advertising is the art of convincing people to buy things they didn't know they wanted.

    15. Re:Not "evil" by marcello_dl · · Score: 2, Insightful

      > The entity would then be permitting evil to occur despite having the power to prevent it.

      Preventing it would lead to injustice. /mode maxwell_smart on
      The old "let's change rules halfway the game as we're winning" trick. /mode maxwell_smart off

      An universe without a god is always fair: what happens is the result of some kind of rules the universe is stuck with (for whatever reason, it's irrelevant), evil and good being only rationalizations of some living species.

      When the christian God idea enters the picture, it says justice will be made, but in one particular moment, the judgment.

      Which adds to the inherent fairness of the universe, if such god exists (which is not the objective of my criticism)

      Blaming god or consider the concept impossible for lack of intervention to stop evil makes two logical mistakes:

      1) Continuous justice as the only form of justice, instead of the justice at the end which also settles things. See the parable of the weeds (Matthew 13).

      2) Asking god for injustice: If you want continuous justice from a god you want an universe that is either inconceivable, or hasn't life in it, because life is not a continuously just process (heck natural selection or, in intelligent design wacky theories, the race for the faster sperm cell to the egg are deeply unjust, the other sperm cells didn't choose to be slower, poor 'em). Or it's asking a god to maintain a threshold by which it's ok for unjust events to lead to the creation of you, and it's not ok to see you suffer. Changing the rules halfway the game, as I said.

      OT Another thing i don't usually get: "the christian god is omnipotent and fair" doesn't constitute proof of the existence of god. It's theology, that is, it assumes god has revealed itself and proceeds to try and rationalize things about it. What implication does trying to disprove the fair assertion have? You don't disprove god through it, you just assert you have a different opinion of the universe than a possibly existing god. Which is independent of the existence of him. Yet many atheists go to great lengths to build on such arguments.

      --
      ---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
    16. Re:Not "evil" by blahplusplus · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "Anyone who says ads are evil has a whacky moral compass, and they're diluting the term."

      You obviously have no idea what you're talking about, ads have HUGE influence on culture. This doesn't mean all ads are evil, but I've worked with girls who have serious body image issues due to a lifetime of being bombarded with unreal images of beauty. Saying we have a "wacking moral compass" is ignorant. We a right to criticize ads and ad messages since they are cultural creation / pollution centers just as much as anything else.

    17. Re:Not "evil" by blahplusplus · · Score: 2, Interesting

      "True, but isn't this a case of shooting the messenger? ie, the evil thing is not the ad itself but the company who put it there.."

      Actually ad's have the "Evil artifact" effect, but they are really more like say environmental pollution, once you put an add up it's like adding smog to the air. While the company is technically responsible for the "smog" it doesn't make the smog itself any less a health hazard.

      Now you might think I'm "splitting hairs" or "being anal" (and if I did not qualify my statement you'd have a point) but if we think about it, we are impressionable at certain times depending on our mood and repeated exposure. Hitler was correct in that: "The great masses of the people will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one."

      We pick culture and attitudes up by osmosis just as much in other areas of our life as we do consciously.

      We see this everday, and ads are a ubiquitous force.

  2. Cool for them... by ect5150 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Cool for them, now can someone recommend me my new search engine?

    --
    I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
    1. Re:Cool for them... by langelgjm · · Score: 5, Funny

      Google recommends AltaVista: Do "I'm feeling lucky" for "search engine".

      --
      "Anyone who [rips a CD] is probably engaging in copyright infringement." - David O. Carson
    2. Re:Cool for them... by d3ac0n · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I use Ask.com myself. The search results are just as good, and the additional search tools like the page preview and optional search terms bar make my searching much more efficient. Oh, and it has a much cleaner and more attractive interface than Google's.

      --
      Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory
    3. Re:Cool for them... by martinX · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Freaky. It's almost as if this thing that is aware of so much in the world has no self awareness. Or someone screwed up the coding.

      --
      When they came for the communists, I said "He's next door. Take him away. Goddam commies."
    4. Re:Cool for them... by regular_gonzalez · · Score: 2, Interesting

      ask.com has made significant advances since the time it was askjeeves.com.
      They are using Teoma's algorithm. In a few head-to-head comparisons I've done with Google, the results differed slightly but were about equally accurate and useful.

      --
      Due to circumstances beyond my control, I am master of my fate and captain of my soul.
  3. Awesome! by brxndxn · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now we can be notified about special offers and promotions that are disturbingly close to what we actually want!

    --
    --- We need more Ron Paul!
    1. Re:Awesome! by gbulmash · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Now we can be notified about special offers and promotions that are disturbingly close to what we actually want!

      This may be tongue-in-cheek, but it's disturbingly accurate too. Part of their AdWords algorithm is to start incrementally raising the price on cost-per-click ads that aren't performing well. And they break this down by keyword. So if your ad is getting a really poor clickthrough from a certain keyword, they'll make you pay more and more for the keyword until you either drop it or improve your ad's clickthrough rate.

      While that business method optimizes/maximizes CPM for Google, it also means that people who just bid on 500 loosely related keywords are going to gradually whittle that down to just those keywords that are are actually performing in terms of CPC and conversion. It stands to reason that if an ad is generating more clicks and more conversions for a specific keyword, that ad is more appropriate for it. In a way, it's almost Darwinian. Ads die off in keywords where they don't succeed and flourish in ones where they do.

      - Greg

    2. Re:Awesome! by d3ac0n · · Score: 4, Funny

      In a way, it's almost Darwinian. Ads die off in keywords where they don't succeed and flourish in ones where they do.


      Headlines in 5 years: Google Execs charged with child endangerment because "ads now display nothing but porn"
      --
      Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory
  4. Linux users might be doomed...! by bogaboga · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I am afraid Linux users might be doomed if Google goes through with this development. You see, most distros will not install Adobe's flash player by default...and even when it's installed, it chokes on web videos because it is not that up-to-date. Sometimes, it's because of conflicts within the Linux product itself.

    On a personal front, I will be pissed if I have to watch a video just because I searched for my favorite item.

    1. Re:Linux users might be doomed...! by elyk · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If they do implement video ads in their search results, they will probably do it in the same way as the adsense units do, where it doesn't play until you click on it. So its unlikely that you will be forced to watch a video. However, this is still a huge step for google, because it would be the first time that they have had any sort of graphical ads in their search result. This was hinted at as a possibility when they bought 5% of aol, and they denied it then, but I wonder if that influence has finally broken through. Of course, this could all be hype and nothing come of it. All I have to say is that if google does do this, they had better move really carefully, or risk alienating a lot of users.

      --
      MS-DOS: Most Severe Denial of Service
      Free Online Backup
    2. Re:Linux users might be doomed...! by ross.w · · Score: 2, Funny

      So you get a little jigsaw puzzle piece instead of an ad? Did you really want the ad?

      --
      If my call is important, why am I talking to a recording?
  5. A more accurate title by Digital+Vomit · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Here's a more accurate title for this topic:

    Google Mulling Over Giving Up Its #1 Search Engine Spot

    Seriously: video ads? WTH?!

    --
    Modern copyright is theft of culture from everyone and it retards the progress of the useful arts and sciences.
    1. Re:A more accurate title by moderatorrater · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What are you talking about? Slashdot editors, especially kdawson or zonk, would never, ever misquote an article and give it a sensational title when it's not warranted. If they started doing that, they'd lose mindshare to digg.

  6. oh well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If they put flash ads in, the only result will be another result in my adblocks blacklist.
    text adverts are fine - they are unobtrusive most of the time ( apart from those linky popup-ads which i dont think google do ). Image ads are reasonable if static. animated ads are a no-no and video ads you can just forget about.

  7. Ironic by edwardpickman · · Score: 3, Interesting

    They both figured out how to speed up searches and slow down the speed for search pages to load. I guess that's what passes for progress these days, two steps forward and two steps backward.

  8. Google sends tiananmen square down a memory hole. by MacDork · · Score: 2, Interesting

    That's evil. The rest is icing on the cake.

  9. The almighty dollar by Technician · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Google is "finally succumbing to the power of the almighty dollar"

    The dollar is quite the temptress and very deceitful. Following the money has led many to the path of destruction. The record companies have tried to collude and through artificial scarcity kept CD prices way above reasonable. Sales have fallen as a result of completion even though i Pod sales skyrocket.

    Google has command of the advertising market. If they follow the temptress and try to follow the money, then Google will become just another search engine.

    It would be sad to see Google become another ad-laden site with no special attraction to the users. Is Google stupid enough to ditch tons of eyeballs to get a slightly higher price per ad?

    Others are ditching the overburdening pages and imitating Google's success. Most of these pages now don't load their page with banner advertisements anymore and for good reason. They lost major market share to Google because of it. They have modeled Google.

    http://www.altavista.com/
    http://www.dogpile.com/
    http://www.live.com/?searchonly=true&mkt=en-US
    http://search.yahoo.com/
    http://www.hotbot.com/

    If Google gets tempted by the money, they may find themselves quickly in the company of almost dead search engines that they stomped. They know how the other search engines dropped to obscurity. Why are they even interested in putting on that well known way to the bottom of the search engines.

    --
    The truth shall set you free!
    1. Re:The almighty dollar by Kelz · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Well my only suggestion would be to save the rant until after you've seen how they implement it.

  10. What do you mean finally??!! by kiwioddBall · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Google are a listed company - their main purpose is to succumb to the power of the mighty dollar - I'm pretty darn sure that the shareholders weren't under the impression that they were donating to a charity!

    There is some impression that having better than average PR -ie writing intelligent blog entries / Apples Steve Jobs writing smart open letters means that they are genuine and open and not out to make lots of $$$ - this isn't the case!

  11. Use Opera by l33t+gambler · · Score: 3, Informative

    Use Opera and add an "enable plug-ins" and "enable GIF/SVG animation" buttons at a convinient spot. I can't really understand why websites use flash or gif animaitons in their articles or news, it makes everything look very messy and unprofessional. Feels like a Tabloid magazine with TV-shop running in the background.

    --
    Teasing the nobles, and rightfully so!
  12. Adblock time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful
    From TFA:

    "You could think of a local butcher. Maybe a 10-word text ad explaining that local butcher's business probably is not going to be enticing and get the user to click on the ad. But if you could have a video of the butcher explaining his business and showing all this fresh meat...then maybe the user would get much more value out of that. And the advertiser would also get more value as well."



    I haven't blocked google's ads yet. I will block any flash ads.


    Web pages are static content, like newspapers. They are not TV. You put these things at the top of a page, they make it very difficult to read a page. I used to have to put my hand over them because it was so difficult. Can you imagine trying to read a newspaper with the ads blinking and moving?

  13. Can't be as bad as Slashdot by QuantumG · · Score: 5, Insightful

    who take money from Microsoft and play anti-Linux FUD on the front page.

    Thing is, most Slashdot users don't even see it.. thanks Adblock.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
    1. Re:Can't be as bad as Slashdot by quantaman · · Score: 2, Interesting

      who take money from Microsoft and play anti-Linux FUD on the front page. I actually enjoys those ads, I mean how often is it that Microsoft sponsors its own bashing!! (well other than funding vista of course...)

      --
      I stole this Sig
  14. Re:Not "evil", just slanted. by VGPowerlord · · Score: 3, Interesting

    No, disrupting my web browsing is evil, no matter whom the source is.

    I consider all of the following disruptive:
    1. In Your Face animated ads (subtle ones are OK)
    2. Anything that makes sounds.
    3. Flash Ads. I especially hate the Intel "follow the cursor" ads.
    4. Ads that pop up when my mouse moves over a word. Chances are if your site does that, I put it on my personal blacklist.

    --
    GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
  15. Re:Not "evil", just slanted. by VGPowerlord · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Oops, I forgot to list the one that may actually be relevant in this case.
    5. Any search result that looks like a normal search result, but is in reality a paid search result.

    --
    GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
  16. News Release: Lynx becomes world's top browser by EmbeddedJanitor · · Score: 2, Funny

    According to traffic analysis by Google Inc there has been a remarkable resurgence in the use of Lynx. In unrelated news, GOOG trading down.

    --
    Engineering is the art of compromise.
  17. Re:Google sends tiananmen square down a memory hol by Thorrablot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That's evil. The rest is icing on the cake.
    It's OK to be importing an unprecedented amount of Chinese goods and exploit the cheap labor for every other aspect of the western economy, but Google is evil because they set up a satellite search service that institutes the required Chinese national policies?

    Since the suppression of information is happening regardless of Google's presence, that should clarify that the root of the suppression is not due to U.S. companies agreeing to Chinese government demands, but is the Chinese government itself.

    Frankly, it's also better for U.S. interests to have a "bubble" of Google servers that have a set of blacklisted/censored material for the time being, instead of watching Google lose out entirely in the fastest growing economy to the Chinese domestic engines (e.g. Baidu)

    These politicians who (while it was a popular subject) wanted to crucify Google don't have any qualms about continuing to support China by importing their cheap goods and exploiting the cheap labor costs.

    Hypocrits.
    --
    Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo. -- James Klass
  18. you will not be distracted by ads on Google by dulitz · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm the product manager responsible for the way ads look on Google. You will not be distracted by image ads or video ads on Google search results pages. Period.

    Just because other companies use image ads and video ads with the _purpose_ of distracting users doesn't mean Google will do that. Images and videos can be useful and entertaining, if you see them when you want to see them. It's taken us a long time to figure out how to do it right.

    BTW, how many _years_ do we have to be in business before people learn Google isn't motivated by short-term greed? Yes, we want to make money. We want to make money 10 years from now. The only way to do that is to build great products that people want. I think we've done a pretty good job of that so far, and we're not planning to stop.

    1. Re:you will not be distracted by ads on Google by 5pp000 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Don't forget the story about the early days of Google when the developers would occasionally receive a mysterious email message containing only a number. I've forgotten the exact number, alas, but it was always the same -- 31, let's suppose. Eventually they figured out that whenever they put more than 31 words on the Google home page, they would get a message with this number 31. I don't know if the sender was ever identified, but at least at the time, Google evidently took the message to heart.

      I hope this story is still part of the company culture.

      All that said, your post is reassuring. I hope you really mean the part about "if you see them when you want to see them".

      --
      Your god may be dead, but mine aren't!
  19. Re:Not "evil", just slanted. by watchingeyes · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If you consider something that "disrupts" you to be "evil" than you sure have a fucked up sense of morality. I tend to reserve evil for things like, you know....murder, torture, rape, oppression. Interrupting you, or even myself, for a few seconds is pretty far down on my "evil" list. Annoying, sure. Evil? Give me a fucking break.

    Evil has become the new Web 2.0...a completely meaningless word that is used at the most inappropriate times.

    --
    http://watching-eyes.blogspot.com/
  20. FOSS Solution by Warbringer87 · · Score: 2, Informative

    As with many things, there is a FOSS solution, http://www.mozdex.com/

  21. Fine but... by EddyPearson · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Thats all well and good, we've all got to earn a living. However, I hope they give the option to turn off video ads and replace them with images/text. Otherwise you'll see a big migration toward Yahoo from the dial-up users (and no, a lot of the world still uses dial-up, look at the 3rd world countries)

    --
    You feel sleepy. Close your eyes. The opinions stated above are yours. You cannot imagine why you ever felt otherwise.
  22. Re:Not "evil", just slanted. by catbutt · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Do you seriously think Google meant "evil" as in Hitler or Jeff Dahmer or Vlad the Impaler? They used it in a very common way, which in their case "don't be evil" basically meant "don't be a bad internet citizen."

    Language changes, deal with it.

  23. So you don't mind if American corps make a profit by MacDork · · Score: 2, Interesting

    at the expense of the rights of people?

    It's OK to be importing an unprecedented amount of Chinese goods and exploit the cheap labor for every other aspect of the western economy, but Google is evil because they set up a satellite search service that institutes the required Chinese national policies?

    Strawman argument. You brought up cheap Chinese goods and labor, not I. I am in no way defending the exploitation of the chinese worker.

    Since the suppression of information is happening regardless of Google's presence, that should clarify that the root of the suppression is not due to U.S. companies agreeing to Chinese government demands, but is the Chinese government itself.

    Fact: Google actively filters information on behalf of the Chinese government. The great firewall of China was built with American technology. Google is a part of that.

    Frankly, it's also better for U.S. interests to have a "bubble" of Google servers that have a set of blacklisted/censored material for the time being, instead of watching Google lose out entirely in the fastest growing economy to the Chinese domestic engines (e.g. Baidu)

    If you'll refer back to the link I posted, you'll see that at least a few members of the US Congress do not believe Google's behavior is in the best interest of the US. Chris Smith went so far as to propose a law to make Google's actions there illegal here. (Of course, his hypocritical solution allows for the filtering of content in the United States to continue, yet would make filtering the exact same material in China illegal.)

    In game theory, it seems you would consider the situation a deadlock. I would consider it a prisoner dilemma. I believe human rights are more valuable than money. You must consider money to be more important than human rights. The mods seem to agree with you. Perhaps you and the mods would like to sell your rights... or is it only the rights of other people that you consider to be less important than money?

    These politicians who (while it was a popular subject) wanted to crucify Google don't have any qualms about continuing to support China by importing their cheap goods and exploiting the cheap labor costs.

    You can thank almighty capitalism for that. Chinese currency manipulation is largely to blame for the "cheap" goods and labor. What follows that is inevitable in a free market. Spineless politicians are more deserving of blame in regards to "one way" free trade with China. In effect, China is exploiting loopholes in a debt based global economy in an attempt to dominate said global economy.