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Mistrust of Google and Facebook is a 'Contagion' That Could Spread To Every Tech Company, Says Box CEO Aaron Levie (recode.net)

Posted by msmash on from the domino's-effect dept.

Aaron Levie isn't worried about his company, Box, being regulated -- but he is worried about what happens if the government has to do something about Facebook. From a report: "It's a contagion because it's going to reduce trust in these types of platforms," Levie said on the latest episode of Recode Decode, hosted by Kara Swisher. "The worst-case scenario for us is that Silicon Valley gets so far behind on these issues that we just can't be trusted as an industry," he said. "We rely on the Fortune 500 trusting Silicon Valley's technology, to some extent, for our success. When you see that these tools can be manipulated or they're being used in more harmful ways, or regulators are stamping them down, then that impacts anybody, whether you're consumer or enterprise."

4 of 190 comments (clear)

  1. Mistrust of major companies isn't new by Z00L00K · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Earlier the mistrust was for IBM and Microsoft. Then Oracle was added. And now Facebook and Google.

    Also realize that the list just grows, the only way to get off the list is a liquidation.

    What's worse is that the mistrust against the top companies is just the tip of an iceberg - you have a large number of companies that aren't visible the same way like doubleclick, cxense, ioffer etc that probably are even worse since they don't provide any benefit at all.

    --
    If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
  2. Good? by nitehawk214 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I see no reason why any company holding any personal data should be trusted. They are the ones that resist any regulation of personal data. They are the ones that profit off of it.

    You have to earn trust. Since when has any company done that?

    --
    I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
    1. Re:Good? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Agreed. Look at how this CEO builds a strawman of "trusting our technology", when the real issue of trust concerns human beings. As if their own technology is out of their control and makes decisions, like stalking and recording people, with a mind of its own.

  3. Contagion? by caution+live+frogs · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Mistrust of the companies is not contagious. Abuse of user privacy by big companies IS contagious, apparently. If they don't want us to distrust them, they should start acting like trustworthy companies. You can't blame users when the root problem is shitty corporate policy.