Google going Neo-con?

[garybeck]

Google hires neo-con headbanger

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/24/google_neocon/

The company that prides itself on "Doing No Evil" isn't taking any chances with its latest executive appointment. Dan Senor, the company's new Global Communications and Strategy VP, has a CV guaranteed to have Register columnist Otto Z Stern firing a celebratory fusillade skywards from his compound in New Mexico.

A former Senior Associate at the Carlyle Group, Senor was briefly Scott McLellan's deputy as White House spokesman before becoming head of the the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq's information department. The White House web site bills him as Senior Advisor to Presidential Envoy L. Paul Bremer III. Fox News hired Senor as a panelist in February. While in Iraq Senor showed his loyalty by going jogging in a Bush-Cheney '04 tracksuit.

full article:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/24/google_neocon/

I can just imagine, how, with the will and the means, they could control access to information by controlling search results on Google.


Scary thought.


Notice, once again we have to go to a foreign news outlet to get this story.

[swimmernsecretsea]

1. Sheesh.

Remember the hacker/geek mantra, "information wants to be free"? Well, I hope it can stay that way.

[kaygore]

2. I am very disappointed in Google

I feel betrayed. I thought that they were the good guys!

[salvorhardin]

5. They are a publicly traded company

From the instant they made their IPO, they (Google's founders) lost the abilitiy to be good guys. Now, by law, they are required to maximize profit for the shareholders -- whatever that takes.

[kaygore]

19. Costco is a public company

and the CEO fights Wall Street at every turn, pointing out that being fair to employees and customers IS good business.

[gratuitous]

3. I think Google's going neocon

I did a search earlier today on someone (can't remember who right offhand, some Democratic elected official), and over to the right, in the featured box, one innocent mouse-click away was an article by Little Arfin' Annie on said official. Needless to say, I didn't click on the article, but it was a little jarring to see Ann Coulter featured as an official Google link without any external indication that it was a paid advertisement.

Ick. I have to go wash my hands again. Every time I even type that skank's name, the overpowering odor of rancid tuna fish pervades my space.

[salvorhardin]

6. Those are not feature boxes

those are advertisements. Ann Coulter (or her promotion company) paid for that adv.

[gratuitous]

11. Well, there wasn't any indication of that

I might have missed it, though. But my cursory glance at the box didn't say that it was a paid advertisement.

[salvorhardin]

13. It says

'Sponsored Links' right above them.

[gratuitous]

20. I musta missed it, then

Eugh. Just remembering . . .

[ConfuZed]

4. During the election didnt they filter anti-war websites? n/t

[DoYouEverWonder]

21. Yes, they definitely filter all kinds of things

there's info that would pop up easily a few years ago that is no where to be found any more then a few months later they pop up again.

[Stand and Fight]

7. Thanks for posting. (Please pay attention to forum rules though.)

I'm shocked to hear that Google is choosing to go this direction...

Also, please be aware of Rule 4 when posting in this forum:
4. When posting articles, always use the published title of the article as the title of the discussion thread. Additional information may be included in a thread title (in parentheses) if it helps to make the title more clear.

[ConfuZed]

8. Next time post the actual headline and this is not breaking news! n/t

[go west young man]

22. I would beg to differ....

this is definently breaking news as these days "the news is the news". If Dan Senor is in a leadership position at Google that news is definently valuable to us as Democrats who don't want to support Republican causes. This info needs to get out so others can know who is controlling the flow of information in our mixed up world.

[snot]

34. Neocon info bottlenecks EXTREMELY impt

Since Nov. 2, it's become obvious that even the most liberal traditional outlets have been co-opted by one means or another, to an extent I'd never dreamed of. As a result, I've become very dependent on the internet for the news, much of which I can't get elsewhere.

The most powerful position on the net is that of the search engine or curator, because they control WHICH information & disinformation is available to the rest of humanity.

Us liberals need our own search engine! Something that works similarly to Google, but is controlled by no one but us. We needn't cover whole net, but we make clear that ANYONE can submit their site to us, and then our software wd perform a similar popularity-test function in ranking those sites. We would screen out nothing. The safety function would consist in the fact that anyone could send us their URL, and and we'd throw it up in search results without the kind of "screening" that Google's evidently doing.



It seems to me that if there's a lesson to be taken from the "EPIC" video, which I thought was brilliant, it was that the future for reporting of impt facts lies in PAID subscriptions, even if more expensive, for those who do care to know more than what the neocons want us to know. There might be some funding from countries willing to cooperate or kick in, but the funding might mainly come from individuals. I would expect many of the powerful to subscribe, to the extent they understand that power comes from real knowledge.

This wd definitely be world-wide in extent and operation.

I believe something like over 50% of funding for public radio comes from individuals--gives me hope there might be a way to make it on individ. contr'ns plus funds from those gov'ts & nonprofits willing to contribute. No matter what your cause is, getting your info about it out there is crucial, so even other non-profits might think it worth supporting. I think we need to take commercial sources out of the funding altogether.

If "Epic" is correct, the message seems similar for institutions like the New York Times. If they continue to accommodate or pander, they will be simply be completely superseded, for they will no longer have any unique product. In 2014, the only thing they might be able to offer uniquely is real facts that have been investigated, reported AND SELECTED objectively, based NOT on what some neocons' distraction agenda might be but rather on what really does substantively impact most folks' decisions about things that actually affect their lives, like who to vote for, etc. If necessary, I would pay a lot more for that service than what I pay for the NYT now. In fact, if there's a limit on what I'd pay now, it's definitely influenced by the fact that I no longer expect to find covered in the NYT much of the news that's most important to me.

I think we should point all this out to the NYT et al who have something to salvage--i.e., who have people and structures in place that enable them to investigate, select and report on what SHOULD matter most to most people.

To the extent that institutions like the BBC are now under vicious attack (cutting jobs nearly in half, privatizing parts of corp.), I wonder if there are any liberals with sh-t sufficiently together to scoop up those employees.

Knowledge is power--we simply cannot afford further contractions in the info available to us; we have got to get proactive.

[Pachamama]

9. Got another search engine to reccommend?

This is scary...I thought about this months ago as something that would be a strategic move I wouldn't put past these people....and there you have it folks...a guy from the Carlyle Group and associated with the White House and Fox....

Scary... :scared:

[Cha]

15. Yeah, we need a

search engine that doesn't have a swarmy "new Global Communications and Strategy VP"in its lineup.

Are they hiring anyone from the more credible Left to balance this bag of shit?

[DrDebug]

18. scroogle

http://www.scroogle.org/cgi-bin/scraper.htm

It is google as well, but without cookies, no search-term records (because google keeps the search terms and the IP indefinitely), access log deleted after 7 days (google always keep a permanent record)

I switched after I had a http://www.google.com/url? in front of all the results. It turns out that this assigned random per IP, but I don't like search sites knowing which option you select. It's none of their business actually. Luckily it was only on for one day but still...

[truthseeker1]

10. Darn, I just signed up for Gmail too!

What's the next best search engine to use? No way will I support Google with Senor in the house.

[niyad]

12. mamma, askjeeves, and dogpile are some of the best (unless something is

going on with them I haven't yet heard.

[Kolesar]

16. Teoma.com is making a run for it

www.teoma.com

I am sure Microsoft will never withdraw from competing for the search engine action, but I don't have that link.

[Zorra]

14. This is really, really bad. What is the best alternative to Google?

Obviously, the only reason that this fascist was hired is to control outgoing information and place surveillance on Google users.

[Cha]

17. And

we have to let google know why we are abandoning their infamous search engine.


[email protected]

[kaygore]

29. I always liked Webferret

I used it a lot before Google became so popular

[garybeck]

23. damn, this means froogle, gmail, and all that other stuff too

is going down the toilet

I just finally got my products listed on Froogle and now I may have to take them down. I suppose that since I'm not paying Froogle any money for it I could keep them there. But this just makes me sick.

:puke:

Gary Beckwith

-------------
Solar Bus Election Justice Center
http://election.solarbus.org

[MelissaB]

24. I'm supplying the third nominatin to spread the word.

This scares the shit out of me. I use google exclusively when searching for election reform news stories.

:scared:

[understandinglife]

25. "Notice, once again we have to go to a foreign news outlet to get this ...

.... story."

So, so very true. Wonder if google will block it.

Peace.


Mr Lucas, it HAS happened


www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[kaygore]

26. This may be why

http://oak.psych.gatech.edu/~epic/

[oxbow]

27. Let's all write google and let them know why we're leaving

it may be more effective than just switching

[kaygore]

28. Great idea

Did you watch the piece on the url?

[ailsagirl]

30. We really ought to just FLOOD them with emails...

Here's the contact link

http://www.google.com/contact/index.html

I just fired off an email, chiding them for their neocon ways and telling them I'd be using a different search engine from now on.

Anyone have any suggestions??

Thanks

[oxbow]

32. Suggestions

Tell them to take their own advice: and DO NO EVIL. Tell them you just don't feel comfortable using their services when they employ people with a history of abusing peoples' personal information.

Tell them you won't use GMail, the Google toolbar or any other of their services until they start taking their own advice.

[mopinko]

31. i KNOW they censor

i am a google advertiser, and MANY strange things have happened to me. including being booted when i first signed up. even thought they changed their policy, and took my money, it has been a pain in the arse, and a scary freakin experience.

[Mnemosyne]

33. kick

[freesqueeze]

35. Google.com is 20% of the referrals

for my little liberal web site. This could be equal to having a store along the old highway when the new highway bypasses liberal land.

[soundhead]

36. Very bad news

I cannot believe Google is hiring this effing piece of shit. Because of him and his cronies hundreds of thousands of people are dead for no good reason at all, not to mention the probably millions that have had their lives ruined with related physical and psychological death and destruction.

The world is moving down a very dangerous path when lying neo-scum like this guy is allowed access to the control desk of a company like Google. Does anyone doubt he is going to work tirelessly to promote the neo-scum agenda in all the ways possible with a megaphone like Google?

[ailsagirl]

37. self-delete

[newscott]

38. Everybody go on GOOGLE now and search these two words

"miserable failure".

:evilgrin:

[ElectroPrincess]

39. Oh yeah, but the Freepers are trying to unseat The Chimperor with

Jimmy Carter.

They're like roaches - they're everywhere! :P