Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Ex-Google Employee Warns of 'Disturbing' China Plans (bbc.com)

Posted by msmash on from the tussle-continues dept.

A former Google employee has warned of the firm's "disturbing" plans in China, in a letter to US lawmakers. BBC: Jack Poulson, who had been a senior researcher at the company until resigning in August, wrote that he was fearful of Google's ambitions. His letter alleges Google's work on a Chinese product -- codenamed Dragonfly -- would aid Beijing's efforts to censor and monitor its citizens online. Google has said its work in China to date has been "exploratory." Ben Gomes, Google's head of search, told the BBC earlier this week: "Right now all we've done is some exploration, but since we don't have any plans to launch something there's nothing much I can say about it."

A report by news site The Intercept last week alleged Google had demanded employees delete an internal memo that discussed the plans. Google has not commented on the staff row, but said: "We've been investing for many years to help Chinese users, from developing Android, through mobile apps such as Google Translate and Files Go, and our developer tools." It added: "We are not close to launching a search product in China." Mr Poulson's letter details several aspects of Google's work that had been reported in the press but never officially confirmed by the company. It was submitted to the Senate Commerce Committee, which held a hearing on Wednesday in Washington DC. Google's chief privacy officer, Keith Enright, faced questions from Senator Ted Cruz about the company's intentions to launch a new search engine in China. He confirmed the existence of the project.

92 comments

  1. But it's Google we're talking about here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They can't seem to do anything right.

    1. Re:But it's Google we're talking about here by mstrash · · Score: 0

      NEITHER CAN TRUMP

    2. Re: But it's Google we're talking about here by aaronb1138 · · Score: 2

      Not sure about that. Recently rolling out revocable and expiring emails seems like exactly the right thing to do if you're wanting to sell out ethically questionable services and not sure your employees will comply with an order to destroy evidence.

  2. Repeated bad behavior.... by commodore64_love · · Score: 5, Interesting

    - Jack Poulson says "I was compelled to resign my position on August 31, 2018, in the wake of a pattern of unethical and unaccountable decision making from company leadership."

    Note he used the word "pattern", so in his opinion Google is making mistake after mistake.

    --
    "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    1. Re:Repeated bad behavior.... by CanHasDIY · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I would argue that acting unethically is rarely a mistake - Google execs know exactly what they're doing.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    2. Re:Repeated bad behavior.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Since Google went public, they have a duty to maximize shareholder value. This means balancing the benefit of entering a huge market (China) vs losing some employees and customers over ethics.

      I think that having to maximize shareholder value sucks, so going public sucks. Why did they do it? "Raising money" makes sense for a long-term project like nuclear fusion, but it doesn't seem needed when you're already making huge profits.

    3. Re:Repeated bad behavior.... by sarren1901 · · Score: 1

      What happens to their market value when the US government takes an interest in them, beyond what they already do? If Google starts selling a software solution to help the Chinese government essentially round up undesirables, how is this much different then IBM helping the Nazis?

      Both are companies putting profits before people. Our government might possibly try and stop that.

      On the other hand, US government will probably just want access to all the data anyway and just let it happen.

    4. Re:Repeated bad behavior.... by vivian · · Score: 1

      The problem with Google developing a search engine that is specifically designed to comply with what the chinese government wants, is that it is a very small step for China to then use that as a lever against Google to use that same search engine for the rest of the world - China could for example, insist that Google change search results about the South China Sea to be more friendly to Chinese policy - and then later want that filter applied to the search results for the rest of the world, or they will block Google's access to the massive Chinese market. As Google's CEO, directed to protect shareholder's profits, what are you going to do?

    5. Re:Repeated bad behavior.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course they made a mistake. They got caught. So, they had to pay a token fine. You see, the US government doesn't give a shift if companies do horrible things. They just want them to be secretive enough about it that the politicians don't look bad for inaction. That's why they drag baseball and now social media before Congress. They don't like it when they're so bad at managing their own evil that it shines through.

    6. Re:Repeated bad behavior.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Agreed. Thing is, it's cumulative. Each additional insight into the user, provides Google with extra power to negotiate for anyone wanting to target consumers on a narrowly defined basis. Think of how valuable that is, to ensure that your ad gets placed in front of someone who is, for example, actively searching for a fridge!

      So not only is Google not getting fined enough just on each individual breach of privacy, but they are ALSO not being fined enough for the cumulative effect. Knowing that Johnny has a medical appointment is one thing (it's in his calendar), knowing that he has a medical appointment, drove to a drug store, was at a brothel a month ago, let's you know he might have an new STD.

      Each breach alone won't provide a level of certainty, but together their cumulative insight into a life adds up to 95% or what not certainty, and that's what advertisers pay for.

      So, fines need to be increased a THOUSAND or MILLION fold per incident.

      Of course, what Google is doing is barely illegal. This is why the EU is passing all sorts of insane laws, because while their politicians are .. well .. politicians, they do have smaller representative democracies, and size makes a difference. A community of 1000 people, with a mayor is going to have almost everyone on a first name basis with that mayor, and that mayor is going to live along side of you.

      And European countries also have a smaller divide between rich and poor. And denser populations, with less car use. Meaning, those politicians live closer to the people they serve.

      All this blather means, that those politicians are reacting, whilst US politicians are not. Well, they are, but much slower... and are being influences more heavily by the very people that they are to police.

  3. Sounds like China needs some Freedom by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Freedom and Democracy(TM)

  4. Be Evil by BigFire · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's but a dry run for when we do this in America.

    1. Re:Be Evil by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's not advertised in America, but what makes you think they're not already doing it in America?

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    2. Re:Be Evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because you can find a lot of stuff TPTB don't like on Google.

    3. Re: Be Evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But you will find nothing Google doesn't like on Google.

    4. Re:Be Evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      What do you mean "when we do this in America"?

      DCMA takedown notices are already doing exactly this.

    5. Re:Be Evil by sarren1901 · · Score: 1

      Except the US government doesn't round up citizens for reeducation. We don't (yet) have a citizenship score that can greatly restrict our ability to travel or buy property.

      China on human rights really does make us look great, even with the bullshit at the boarder.

      Don't think so, you go live there.

    6. Re:Be Evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It's not advertised in America, but what makes you think they're not already doing it in America?

      That's what Gamergate was about, if you look into it. And if you look deeper, the government was part of it.

    7. Re:Be Evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It is already done in America. Prominent dissenting political websites are being pushed down or censored in search results right now, and the government gets a log of everything you do with Google. How can it be much worse in China?

    8. Re:Be Evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What do you think the NSA programs were that Snowden was reporting on?
      Why do you think FBI, NSA and congress keeps trying to get backdoors into messaging applications with encryption?
      GHCQ? BND?

      China is not the only one spying.

    9. Re:Be Evil by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Have you been on YouTube lately?

      If Google is trying to be the leftist thought police then why haven't they removed the literal Nazis, the homophobic religious nuts, the Pizzagate conspiracy theorists..?

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    10. Re:Be Evil by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      Because the profit motive in the US isn't to be leftist thought police.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
  5. Re: Repeated bad behavior: for YEARS & YEARS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Googleâ(TM)s illegal âoewi-spyâ program of collecting user data over home wi-fi hubs using its Street View cars has led to investigations and fines for violations of the law in countries around the world. Investigators were outraged when they reviewed the downloaded data and found Google had collected massive amounts of personal emails and data revealing everything from peopleâ(TM)s medical histories to their sexual preference to marital infidelity. (Googleâ(TM)s defense that that it was all okay because they never looked at the illegally collected data is eerily similar to the NSAâ(TM)s).

    When challenged on its illegal data collection, the company lied and stonewalled investigators around the world, with the Federal Communications Commission finding the company guilty of âoewillfullyâ ignoring subpoenas to delay investigations into the scandal, fining the company in a 25-page condemnation in April 2012 that concluded âoeGoogleâ(TM)s failure to cooperate with the Bureau was in many or all cases deliberate.â

    Both Google and Facebook were charged with violating privacy laws in launching their social media networks and both had to agree to 20-year consent decrees to monitor their privacy policies. But a year after entering its consent decree, the Federal Trade Commission found Google had secretly placed âoecookiesâ to track the online activities of people using the Safari web browser, despite having publicly âoetold these users they would automatically be opted out of such tracking.â Google had deliberately found a vulnerability in Safariâ(TM)s âoedefault cookie-blocking settingâ in order to collect the information for its advertising data collection purposes, while publicly misrepresenting to users that it was not doing so. The company paid a $22.5 million fine for this illegal data collection operation.

    FROM:

    https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/3530296

  6. single-bit error by Thud457 · · Score: 2

    "do mo evil"

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

    1. Re:single-bit error by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      m->n is two bit flips
      good joke otherwise

  7. Last two criminal news I noticed something by Gabest · · Score: 1

    In both cases they backed the accusation with search history. Could be from the browser's history, could be Google. I'm in the EU.

    1. Re:Last two criminal news I noticed something by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Interesting for sure. Thanks for sharing.

  8. SO MUCH WINNING! (like Charley Sheen) by Thud457 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I dunno, seating Judge "Chad rapey McDateRape" sounds bigly historical to me.

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  9. The Left is being Played by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Google strokes the Left with platitudes about diversity, equality, and hate speech with one hand and with the other are building an information infrastructure that amounts to a totalitarian control application.

    When like minded individuals are elected in the US, they will have a ready platform available to squelch speech and control the distribution of news, all in an unofficial manner and evade constitutional issues.

    1. Re:The Left is being Played by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Totalitarian control is a good when it's "your guys(female)" in power, especially when you need to stamp out cisgendered bigots.

    2. Re:The Left is being Played by cunina · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That's not a contradiction at all, since these days the Left is totalitarian in nature.

    3. Re:The Left is being Played by sarren1901 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Totalitarian or authoritarian is neither left or right. Both Fascist and Communist can be and typically are totalitarian.

    4. Re:The Left is being Played by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Google strokes the Left with platitudes about diversity, equality, and hate speech with one hand

      But they are fighting hate speech...as it's defined in China.

      One day the definition could change here too. That's why you might want to think twice before setting the precedent that banning "hate speech" is a good thing.
       

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    5. Re:The Left is being Played by Aighearach · · Score: 2

      *Newsvertainment Flash!*

      Fox News isn't telling you what "the Left" is. They're not even on the left.

      It is the same as if I went to hippie bookstore to ask, "Who is the Right? What do they believe in?" It would be a different answer than if I asked people actually on the right.

      I know it is hard, but it is also really important.

    6. Re:The Left is being Played by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Almost half of the Democratic nominees in competitive 2018 house races are "retired" from the CIA or other intelligence agencies. The Dems have utterly, overwhelmingly embraced the deep state, and seek to reinforce it.

      As citation, I offer the following article from the World Socialist Web Site. I trust they are sufficiently far from "right-wing" to pass your muster?

    7. Re:The Left is being Played by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Huh, my country is centre left (at the moment), and yet, compared to the USA:
      We have less crime
      We have a LOT less violence
      We have better education
      We have equal health outcomes for less than 1/2 the price
      We have universal healthcare
      We have better welfare
      We have greater freedom of speech
      We have greater freedom
      We have lower corruption
      We are more democratic
      We are "happier"
      We have greater equality

      From OUR perspective, the right is as bad as the left.

    8. Re: The Left is being Played by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Blue becomes black, but it's still extreme Right. It starts with lobbying. In a way Blacks are more honest about it.

      It's silly to be ignorant of this, the corporations that aided and collaborated and how Russia was part of saving the day. But it seems people want to forget, excuse and easily misled.

      Right vs Left is just BS to dazzle your mind anyway. When many claim Right, they often just idolize Libertarianism unwittingly.

    9. Re:The Left is being Played by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Who was even talking about Fox News? Where'd that come from? You just invent a strawman so you could knock it down?

      You've got to admit, the liberal left are few and far between these days. People like Johnathan Haidt or Jordan Peterson are banished into the dark web. The authoritarian left is ascendant. One need only look at our universities to see what they desire for the rest of society. Dismantling fundamental rights like being informed of the charges against you or the ability to confront your accuser. The right didn't do any of that shit.

      By their deeds ye shall know them. it's the so-called "tolerant" leftists that engage in censorship, whether it's overt censorship through the deletion of content and banning of users/customers, or whether it's causing indirect self-censorship through threats of harm to the reputations or bodies of anyone they disagree with.

      It isn't right wingers who want to limit what people can express thanks to "political correctness". It isn't right wingers who want to block content they dislike. It isn't right wingers who want to ban users who they disagree with. It's leftists who engage in such behavior.

      The political right promotes free and open discussion of all ideas. The political left tries to shut down all expression that doesn't conform to their very narrow world view and narrative.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    10. Re:The Left is being Played by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I also suspect your country is primarily monocultural, as well as no bigger than a midsize U.S. state. This is almost always the case when someone says they have low crime and low violence.

      Violence is almost always less among groups that are effectively related to each other, and are effectively from a single tribe.

      As soon as you add multiculturalism to the mix both violence and crime go up, because people are always more ready to impose violence and take stuff from people who aren't like them.

    11. Re:The Left is being Played by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Funny, I tried a test to see if hate speech was banned here, using the string "i only love N**ger Fa**ots"

      and i got this:

      Filter error: Lameness filter encountered

    12. Re:The Left is being Played by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      You're right, but the authoritarian left is ascendant because the authoritarian right is in control.

      This is the problem with pushing people to extremes and ditching centrism (i.e. Tony Blair style centre right, or Obama era centre left) - if one wing goes extreme, the other will go extreme to counter it.

      However:

      "It isn't right wingers who want to limit what people can express thanks to "political correctness". It isn't right wingers who want to block content they dislike."

      This is patently untrue, we've seen plenty of cases over the last few years of the right doing exactly this, even to the extent of someone driving cars into protesters to try and silence them. If you don't recognise that both left AND right have tended to extremes and you're just calling out one or the other then you're part of the problem - you've gone to the extremes yourself but falsely believe your extreme is somehow right, and you lie to yourself and tell yourself that your extreme isn't doing things that it most definitely is.

      Meanwhile us sane minded centrists who want to pull both of you back to rationality are patiently waiting for shit to hit the fan so that both of you are forced to wake up. Time is on our side because humanity for thousands of years has consistently tended towards ever greater liberalism, with jumps back to authoritarianism on the right and left as we're seeing now being mere blips in history. Hopefully this one won't end violently like others have.

    13. Re:The Left is being Played by novakyu · · Score: 1

      You forgot:

      We are protected by USA military

    14. Re:The Left is being Played by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Google strokes the Left with platitudes about diversity, equality, and hate speech

      Well they are shit at it then. They get a lot of criticism for hate speech on YouTube in particular, and their diversity efforts are not going that well compared to some of their competitors.

      Then there is the mass false flagging of left leaning channels and the total impossibility of reaching a human being to sort it out. Where censorship of hate speech is practised it tends to be against the wrong targets.

      Most of the people I know on the left of the political spectrum are not at all impressed with Google's efforts in these regards.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  10. Even Googler's have had enough by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Lot of this was trending for awhile now, but we got it in bits and those have grown into a pattern of what Google is up too. Kudo's to those who have spoken out about what Google is up to. The troubling part of all of this is that we know what China is all about, or at least we should. So when Google is working with China you know exactly what the Chinese government wants which is total control and command. Knowing that Google appears OK with this is more then just disturbing.

  11. Do any of these people by bobstreo · · Score: 2

    ever sign NDA's? Either during the hiring process, or while terminating their employment?

    1. Re:Do any of these people by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      ever sign NDA's? Either during the hiring process ...

      NDAs are a barrier to recruitment. Some people refuse to sign them, and they tend to be the best people who have plenty of other options.

      ... or while terminating their employment?

      In this case, he quit. So he isn't getting any severance either way.

    2. Re:Do any of these people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ever sign NDA's? Either during the hiring process ...

      NDAs are a barrier to recruitment. Some people refuse to sign them, and they tend to be the best people who have plenty of other options.

      ... or while terminating their employment?

      In this case, he quit. So he isn't getting any severance either way.

      This is not true. People sign them all the time, except when you're hired, it's not called an NDA. It's called a Confidential Information and Invention Assignment (CIIA) Agreement. And yes him talking about this is a violation of it.

    3. Re:Do any of these people by AtomicSymphonic · · Score: 1

      He may be sued soon by Alphabet for forcing them to reveal their plans, but this has blown up to the point of having an Senate Inquiry that they would look extremely foolish to sue a whistleblower...

      Sure, they would win, but it'd be a pyrrhic victory. They make themselves look like data-hungry geeks, chasing after potential scientific discoveries/advertising money at any cost.

    4. Re:Do any of these people by BlueStrat · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's called a Confidential Information and Invention Assignment (CIIA) Agreement. And yes him talking about this is a violation of it.

      In this case the point is moot.

      Google won't press this issue against him in court.

      They'd open themselves to pre-trial discovery.

      The very last thing Google wants is more investigation, publicity, and press around this topic.

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
  12. Re:The problem with Capitalism vs Don't be Evil by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Informative

    As a public company, Google is required to build as much value for its shareholders as possible

    No they aren't. This is a myth.

    Corporations are not required to maximize profits or shareholder value

  13. Re: KAVANAUGH is one sick mofo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Democratic lying scum. But I repeat myself thrice.

  14. The solution is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Break âem up! All these tech companies should be sued to oblivion by the US government. Not gonna happen, though, since theyâ(TM)re actually doing the governmentâ(TM)s dirty work.

    But the dystopia we live in will continue to get worse. I sincerely hope we nuke ourselves out of existence soon.

    1. Re:The solution is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Speak for yourself. If this is a dystopia, it beats pretty much any other point in human history. My life is just fine thanks. So what if I have to work my job and only own a condo. I have a wonderful wife and great family and friends. I'm in good health and have great medical coverage with the job.

      I really can't say I care that much about the Chinese at all. Or anyone that is really out of my sphere of existence. It just does not really matter that half the planet over bad things are happening. I don't wish them ill but frankly it is beyond anything I can do to make a difference for them anyway.

      Life's actually pretty fucking great and I don't even make six figures. My household makes less then 100k. Life is still great, thanks.

      So go blow yourself up and leave those of us that would rather keep on living to do just that.

      P.S. No Google shouldn't be doing this and yes our government should break them up, but we all know it won't happen. Life is still fucking great.

    2. Re: The solution is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      First they came for the Chinese but I was not Chinese so I ignored it....

      Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Your children have pretty good odds of serving as literal slaves by the time they die.

  15. I've said it before by WindBourne · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sundar Pichai is destroying Google. He has been busy shutting down a number of projects and then creating new ones elsewhere.
    In particular, he is turning over a LOT of AI R&D that America actually paid for, over to China.
    This current project is simply an extension of the rest of what he has done.
    China is going to gut Google like it did GE and IBM.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    1. Re:I've said it before by AtomicSymphonic · · Score: 1

      My feeling is if somehow Congress forces Alphabet/Google to abandon their China plans, Pichai may revert all their R&D back to US again...

      I can get their execs' feeling though... That China money looks *so* damn good... "What (further) harm could it do to the Chinese people?"

    2. Re:I've said it before by Rick+Zeman · · Score: 2

      "China is going to gut Google like it did GE and IBM"

      There's an old Irish saying: "Touch the devil and you can't let go."

    3. Re:I've said it before by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He has been busy shutting down a number of projects and then creating new ones elsewhere.

      That's his job.

      You racist fucker, why shouldn't Chinese people be allowed to do research?

      China isn't gutting Google. Google is doing it to itself, same as GE and IBM. Which is why those 2 companies are now out of business and bankrupt. Aren't they??

    4. Re:I've said it before by NettiWelho · · Score: 1

      He has been busy shutting down a number of projects and then creating new ones elsewhere.

      That's his job.

      You racist fucker, why shouldn't Chinese people be allowed to do research?

      China isn't gutting Google. Google is doing it to itself, same as GE and IBM. Which is why those 2 companies are now out of business and bankrupt. Aren't they??

      Chinese communists killed over hundred million of their own citizens, that regime should not have access to any modern anything.

    5. Re:I've said it before by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who said anything about stopping Chinese from doing research?
      You are the racist fucker to even read that in there.

  16. Re: The problem with Capitalism vs Don't be Evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "their motto"

    That was removed some time ago.

  17. No, it's not a myth. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    What Ms. Stout, JD at Cornell doesn't understand is that the argument she refers to came from not just the economists she alludes to but also the finance people on Wall Street that used that argument to justify their actions when they raided pensions, buried the acquisitions in debt, paid the investors the bounty, and then crashed the company. That's how Mitt Romney made his millions at Bain Capital - sleazy motherfuckers.

    So, spare the outlying cite and let's stick to what everyone else knows to be the excuse, shall we?

    Corporations use the maximizing shareholder wealth excuse to do what they want.

    Poison water. Poison children. Emit shit into the atmosphere. Kill people.

    I mean, if I were a serial killer, my dream would be to own a consumer products company and I could kill with impunity until the FTC or something eventually caught up to me after a few million deaths and then - what? My corporation takes the hit because it's a person and I walk away scott free.

    Or if I'm a banker, I'd get a 8 figure bonus on top of it.

    1. Re:No, it's not a myth. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It is most definitely a myth that officers of a company are legally obligated to do so. The idea that they are is a lie propagated by Friedman and fans to cover for bad behavior. Even SCOTUS said it isn't required, in the Hobby Lobby case. Dodge v Ford was similar although it the Friedmans of the world will often twist it into supporting their side. Anti-corporate (except as it benefits themselves, as always) types like Al Franken trot it out as a scare tactic also.

      There is always a lot of pressure from activist investors, and they sometimes get a little traction in lower courts such as the Ebay v Craigslist thing, but the reality is far from the picture painted by the above. There are plenty of companies that have and still do resist the pressure. Timken, for instance, split up the company rather than cave.

  18. Blow their heads off by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Enough with internet bitching

  19. It's a Beta. by Zorro · · Score: 1

    Coming soon a country you might be in.

    Big Brother Buisiness is profitable.

  20. Re: KAVANAUGH is one sick mofo by sexconker · · Score: 1

    You repeated yourself twice. The first instance isn't a repetition.

  21. Paper TIgers: what China/Google live on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject & a "paper sun" (burn up paper tigers - I'm wildcat) https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

    * LISTEN TO THE WHOLE THING & TELL ME I AM WRONG.... funny THIS exact post was downmod hid last time I posted it https://tech.slashdot.org/comm...

    * Enjoy Def Leppard's BEST music @ their end (or near to it, & I remember hearing it FLYING past a lake @ 130mph 1st time)...

    APK

    P.S.=> Great band I heard 1st time in YEARS outta them but sings of today worldwide... apk

    1. Re:Paper TIgers: what China/Google live on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why don't you go fist your own asshole instead of posting your incessant babel here.

  22. Re: Repeated bad behavior: for YEARS & YEARS by Aighearach · · Score: 2

    Googleâ(TM)s illegal âoewi-spyâ

    You lost me at "âoewi-spyâ"

  23. So by NicknameUnavailable · · Score: 1

    They're creating censorship tools they tell their developers are "for China" when they don't actually have plans to deploy to China?
    They've effectively made censorship tools and implemented them in the US by tricking their devs into writing the code for it.

  24. Good point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do you mean Google paid for, or various branches of the US government paid for? Because, if he is allowing China to steal Google paid tech, he risks the emergance of a rival company. Now, Sundar being an Indian, he won't care if the USA govt financed R&D gets stolen by China, or India for that matter.

  25. Re: Repeated bad behavior: for YEARS & YEARS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    character set fuckery is the surest sign of a toaster

  26. What about Google disturbing US plan? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Since google already helped the NSA to monitor US citizen? Or did we somehow all pretended to forget all about it?

  27. Re: Repeated bad behavior: for YEARS & YEARS by Rick+Zeman · · Score: 1

    "You lost me at "Ãoewi-spyÃ""

    I think that's FInnish....

  28. Remember when.... by MacColossus · · Score: 1

    Googleâ(TM)s motto was âoeDo No Evilâ and then they quietly swept it under the rug? Pepperidge Farms remembers....

  29. Ok, I'll bite by rsilvergun · · Score: 2

    google's platform is it's own, and they're free to do with it what they will. You as a consumer are free to stop using their services as well.

    If you don't like Americans doing business with China because the Chinese oppress their people then vote people in that will do sanctions like we do to Venezuela and Iran. As it stands the folks running our country and it's media are overwhelmingly pro corporate. Me? I'm already voting for the likes of Bernie Sanders and similar candidates when I can get them. I voted for several Bernie like candidates in my primary (red state, so they lost, but still voted).

    The key is always pro worker candidates. None of this is about hate speech, social justice, oppressing white men or anything of the sort. It's always, always about money. About figuring out what distracts voters from economic issues long enough to rob them blind. And the Mega corps are all about identity politics. Don't fall for it.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re: Ok, I'll bite by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Even if I never used a google product or service they stil track me and collect data from other sources outside y knowledge or control. They have become the pervasive all seeing eye. You can not live in a modern western country without having a detailed google profile. Impos.

      Your libertarian ideas are cute but based on ignorance. I want the government to break them up and throw a few execs in jail or good measure and I am a libertarian. Google has gone too far and grown too big. Break em up. They are violating anti trust law big time in addition to pervasive privacy violations and generally immoral behavior such as helping China track and oppress 2 billion people.

  30. I don't think they'll bother by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    the ruling class' got much, much tighter control of the American population. China's problem is their population is over educated and largely secular in the cities. That makes for a population that's tough to control since you don't have the usual levers. They've also got big factories full of people that could Unionize. The US doesn't have those since, well, we shipped them to China. Finally the mega corps already own all the media that matters and use it to push their agenda. The occasional youtube video isn't really a problem since they don't get any real traction. e.g. nobody in America changes their vote based on a youtube video. Americans are too Balkanized to be a problem.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:I don't think they'll bother by Highdude702 · · Score: 1

      nobody in America changes their vote based on a youtube video.

      You're right only Facebook and Twitter posts make people change their votes! /s(is that needed even? Lol)

  31. Re: Repeated bad behavior: for YEARS & YEARS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No wonder, I was feeding it into an Elvish translator.

  32. Re: Repeated bad behavior: for YEARS & YEARS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We found the google shill here to divert us from the endless crimes google has committed with some trivial character set bullshit.

  33. Re: Repeated bad behavior: for YEARS & YEARS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think it's supposed to be "wi-spy" like a combination of wifi and spying.

    Someone should make a web site where we can read Slashdot and it translates this garbage automatically for us.

  34. It's not China. It's our own politicians by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I definitely know our minister of interior, Seehoofer, regularly creams his pants when reading the surveillance tech being deployed in China.

    Now Google wants those weasels to *buy Google*, not Weibo or something. Thus they have to showcase prior tech.

    That's the real reason for their China stint, if you ask me.

  35. No denial by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Google didn't deny anything, they just didn't confirm anything.

  36. Attention Google! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Please don't disturb China, they are trying to sleep. It's inconsiderate and mean to wake them up unnecessarily.