"Don't be Evil" wasn't a motto --- it was a warning.
A peak into their mindset that foretold what they were thinking and where they were headed.
They sell you and your privacy to their "associates" --- aka, anyone willing to pay in some way. Their concern for your interests only extends to the level required to invade your privacy.
The thing I find most disappointing is the fact that it took so many so long to realize this.
>The thing I find most disappointing is the fact that it took so many so long to realize this.
The lure of "free" useful things is greater than most's concern/understanding of the capabilities of tech. Gmail is useful. GDocs is useful. Search is useful. Googs has been very smart on exactly the tools they've brought to market so that the lure is maximized.
As I recall the phrase was originally a comment from a new employee who had previously worked in the hardware industry.
Still baffled by the ambiguous name given to this secretive, exploitive set of companies, "tech". What the heck is it. Its everything and nothing, IMO. A cover.
The company is an intermediary, what many in other industries refer to as a "middleman". HN commenters have tried to attack this term in the past, but I just saw it a few months ago being used in a marketing slogan on the side of a company van. People outside of HN know what it means. Perhaps those who argue it is ambiguous on HN are "tech" workers who are aware of its accepted connotation in the real world. Otherwise why be concerned with the term.
A peak into their mindset that foretold what they were thinking and where they were headed.
They sell you and your privacy to their "associates" --- aka, anyone willing to pay in some way. Their concern for your interests only extends to the level required to invade your privacy.
The thing I find most disappointing is the fact that it took so many so long to realize this.