Top
Best
New

Posted by lehi 8 hours ago

Google handed ICE student journalist's bank and credit card numbers(theintercept.com)
629 points | 248 commentspage 3
hsuduebc2 8 hours ago|
Just out of curiosity. Are there any companies today that are seen the way Google used to be seen, as a generally “good” corporation/companies that are also a important player? Maybe Mozilla Foundation?
jeffbee 1 hour ago||
By the way, perhaps your point of view on Google has evolved but on the question of the way Google is seen today by American consumers it is still right up there with Kleenex and Jesus. Furthermore, pretty much everyone, in America and abroad, views business as both more ethical and more effective than governments and non-governmental organizations.
rchaud 6 hours ago|||
There are no good mega-corporations, only a honeymoon period where they haven't grown large enough to start horse-trading for favorable treatment from the state.
InitialLastName 8 hours ago|||
Anthropic seems to be chasing that angle (c.f. their run of "AI that doesn't advertise to you" commercials).
skeptic_ai 7 hours ago|||
Come back in 2-3 years. I bet will be one of the worst if still around
nickthegreek 8 hours ago|||
They have contracts with Palantir.
InitialLastName 7 hours ago||
GP's question was about perception, not reality.
agilob 8 hours ago|||
Blizzard, Microsoft come to mind
passwordoops 8 hours ago|||
How far back do you have to go for Microsoft to be seen as "good" the way Google was?
agilob 8 hours ago||
Windows XP for me
cess11 7 hours ago||
.NET and VS Code gave some people the impression that MICROS~1 had become good and nice.
govideo 7 hours ago||||
yep re blizzard. they've gotten lots better since the msft acquisition, based on my (limited) experiences with the newer employees there.
AlexandrB 8 hours ago||||
Blizzard ~10 years ago, maybe. Microslop has always been one of the worst. I don't understand why anyone would have a positive disposition towards Microslop.
saubeidl 8 hours ago|||
Blizzard is a bunch of sex pests and Microsoft is the guys with the AI upsells on every inch of their OS...
agilob 8 hours ago||
Wasn't Blizzard pretty alright back when Diablo 2 was released? and then LoD?
SlightlyLeftPad 7 hours ago||
All that was Blizzard North honestly. So it depended on locality.
AlexandrB 8 hours ago|||
Maybe Valve?
SlightlyLeftPad 7 hours ago|||
Agreed. Nvidia too maybe? That said, Nvidia is highly competitive and has built a walled garden via their software so I have mixed feelings.
moogly 7 hours ago|||
Degenerate gambling company.
skeptic_ai 7 hours ago|||
Maybe proton, but even that… is not great.
jeffbee 5 hours ago||
There are exactly zero organizations that will refuse to comply with subpoenas and warrants. It isn't up to business to fix the national government.
fourseventy 5 hours ago||
"Google complies with federal warrant", more news at 11
philipallstar 5 hours ago|
Well, yes.
jmclnx 8 hours ago||
I left google search for duckduckgo a few years ago due to all the marketing drivel returned. I guess there is yet another, better reason, to avoid google.

As for gmail, it joined my old yahoo mail as a dumping ground. If some site wants an email, they get my gmail address, which I never go to these days.

But how did google get this person's info ? Are they spying on their emails, or worse yet, are they scraping data for apps you installed on your android phone ?

starik36 8 hours ago||
What do you think is going to happen when DDG or Fastmail gets a FISA warrant? You think they will stand their ground and go to prison to protect your info?

History (like the PRISM project) says no.

ceejayoz 8 hours ago|||
The article indicates even Meta pushed back on some of these:

> Unlike Thomas-Johnson, users in that case were given the chance to fight the subpoena because they were made aware of it before Meta complied.

inkysigma 2 hours ago||
I think those are two different orders: one with a gag order and one without.

In cases without gag orders, Google has pushed back or requested users fight the subpoena.

In this instance, Google got a gag order while Meta doesn't appear to have gotten one. I'm not sure how gag orders like this can be legal. I'm sure there's like Nat Sec defenses but it sure seems dangerous to say the target cannot be notified of such requests.

yborg 8 hours ago|||
Fastmail is Australian, though?
Forgeties79 8 hours ago||
Just wish I could get off gcal. Too many friends/family on it
JoshTriplett 7 hours ago|||
Fastmail's calendar works reasonably well. My two complaints with it:

- There isn't a convenient calendar widget; Google's calendar widget only works with Google's calendar. I'd like something exactly like Google's calendar widget but working with Fastmail's calendar.

- Sites that integrate with Google Calendar but not with arbitrary CalDAV servers.

I could live without the latter, but the former is a dealbreaker; I'd switch given a functional widget that is fully self-contained and doesn't require some separate sync app.

efreak 2 hours ago||
Widget for what? Mobile OS? Websites?
JoshTriplett 2 hours ago||
Android.
ceejayoz 8 hours ago||||
Google Calendar is pretty cross-compatible.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICalendar

bl4kers 3 hours ago|||
Huh? There is little to no lock-in
lingrush4 8 hours ago||
Google ought to rethink its policy of disclosing government subpoenas to users. Every time this happens, the media uses it to attack Google. They'd be better off leaving users in the dark about these legally required data disclosures. Even if most users don't go crying to the media when it happens, it's still not worth it.
Hizonner 5 hours ago||
Ever occur to you that it's good for Google if there's some public visibility of what Google is being forced to do?
jajuuka 6 hours ago||
Ultimately it's better for the public and users to be informed about this occurring though. If Google wanted to they could salvage it and explain their legal duties and how that applies to these situations. I don't think Google is worried though. They have multiple captive markets and have seen continued growth so it's obviously not affecting the bottom line.

It's a good contrast to Apple where any bit of bad news that makes headlines becomes priority one to fix. Which just creates a privileged class of users and makes the brand look fragile.

AlexandrB 8 hours ago||
Why the hell did Google even have his bank account numbers? I wish there was more information on which Google service(s) this data was pulled from.
ceejayoz 8 hours ago|
You can setup ACH for a number of Google services; Cloud, Workspace, the Play Store.
hsuduebc2 8 hours ago||
The famous "Don't be evil" ia more and more ironic. But to be honest, if they got the court order there is really nothing's they could do.

In this case you should blame the game not the player.

Anonbrit 8 hours ago||
Several companies have resisted these court orders successfully. Google can afford a lawyer to go over the order with a fine tooth comb if they wanted to - it's just easier to roll over and let the government rub their belly.

Trump has also repeatedly used government apparatus to illegally retaliate against companies and individuals for not going hos way, with no consequence, so it is hard to entirely blame corporations for behaving that way

agilob 8 hours ago||
They changed the motto to "do the right thing", because, apparently "evil" is too ambiguous. "Do the right thing" is more suitable motto for a company whos CEO was a buddy of Epstein. Tech CEOs helped get Trump elected and strengthen ICE regime to protect the billionaires, they were all involved.
hsuduebc2 5 hours ago||
That was really their argument?

Quite contrary, the "right thing" is the ambiguous one. I think that most people agree what is evil. Certainly much more than what is right.

throwaway613746 6 hours ago||
[dead]
789bc7wassad 7 hours ago||
[dead]
farceSpherule 7 hours ago||
[dead]
diggyhole 7 hours ago|
[flagged]
More comments...