Anti-Google Video Runs In Times Square 346
Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times reports that Consumer Watchdog is running a 540-square-foot video billboard advertisement in Times Square, New York that shows Google CEO Eric Schmidt as an ingratiating ice cream truck driver who knows everything about everyone and happily offers free ice cream in exchange for full body scans. The group says its goal is to push Congress and the Federal Trade Commission to create a Do Not Track Me list, similar to the Do Not Call list developed to prevent telemarketers from aggressively calling consumers. 'Do you want Google or any other online company looking over your shoulder and tracking your every move online just so it can increase its profits?' writes the group's president, Jamie Curtis, at the group's web site. 'Consumers have a right to privacy. They should control how their information is gathered and what it is used for.' The FTC's consumer affairs group had no comment on whether the agency is considering creating a Do Not Track Me list."
Gmail (Score:2, Interesting)
while i've set up a Gmail account, i've never actually used it. partly because of all the other ways that Google has of data mining their users, the Gmail account would like icing on the cake to them. they'd have access to all of the people you associate with, on top of your interests and usual WWW practices. the latter is enough info already.
CAN WE FINALLY GET A NEW GOOGLE ICON? (Score:3, Interesting)
Google is far move invasive than Microsoft, which /. always puts the Gates Borg King visage on the articles for.
I think the image of Schmidt at the end of the video would be perfect.
The irony is that Consumer Watchdog is ... (Score:5, Interesting)
... tracking [businessinsider.com] you too. And that with Google Analytics. What a bunch of hypocrits.
Consumer Watchdog = troll sponsored by Microsoft. (Score:4, Interesting)
Consumer Watchdog = troll sponsored by Microsoft. More here: http://techrights.org/2009/05/04/consumer-watchdog-exposed/
Re:How much did Microsoft pay them to do this? (Score:3, Interesting)
The separation of the two is in the enterprise space -- think midsize businesses and larger -- and as your enterprise grows larger, Linux is easier to maintain and implement.
Personally, I maintain 10 Linux servers / VM's, a half-dozen SQL Server servers with 30 or so SQL Server DB's (the largest is just under a TB), 4 MySQL servers, and I find time to do enterprise application development, enterprise reporting, and some web development (I consider myself poor at that). I also serve as 3rd tier network and OS support for 300+ employees.
If you know what you're doing, it's not difficult... and I'm paid fairly given my experience and years in the business.
Just because you can get someone for $20K a year to be a server intern doesn't mean they will be the one planning the network or making large decisions. A good seasoned admin keeps things running in a predictable way, allowing the business to focus on its core functionality and NOT on system limitations or integration issues.
Re:How much did Microsoft pay them to do this? (Score:3, Interesting)
More FUD. Yawn.
Assuming you only care about a 3 month profit cycle, you'd never do any kind of investment or significant change to your business, including upgrading your Windows , not that that would guarantee support of your mission-critical system either. Plus that's a hidden premise that a businesses necessarily has one of those and that it's both not portable and so convoluted Wine won't work today. Big stretch there, cowboy.
Your premise that Linux systems actually require a full time sysadmin is patently false. I have several friends who run contracting businesses (doing both Windows and Linux) for a living and they've got many clients each. The complain about how much time the Windows work takes.
Your other premises are similarly anti-Linux adoption, assuming it's inferior for unreasonable reasons. Good luck getting me into an actual discussion with those assumptions.
And I want talking about, nor care about desktops. There's little difference between Ubuntu and Windows, and no compelling reason to change an existing deployment. The cost to change is too great once you bury yourself in that hole, but Windows fanboys assume we're making that silly argument. And yes, if I were starting a new business, I'd never start off wasting money on Windows desktops.
Your car warranty has expired (Score:2, Interesting)
similar to the Do Not Call list developed to prevent telemarketers from aggressively calling consumers.
I almost never used to get soliciting calls on my cell. Then I foolishly put my number on this "do not call" list that the article compares this to. Lo and behold, I got a call a few times a week telling me my car warranty is about to expire. Good list analogy guys - if I don't want to be tracked then I'm expected to submit some information (name, ip address, whatever) to some site that the government / public has access to? I'll get right on it!
Re:How much did Microsoft pay them to do this? (Score:3, Interesting)
I see you've never used Linux, nor configured a Windows server. Anyone can NOT set up a Windows server without training; at least, not a robust, secure one. It's no harder to set up an Apache server on Linux. And Linux with KDE is as easy to use as Windows (actually it's easier).
Not to mention the cost of training the Luddite employees on a new operating system, when it took them 10 years to get used to the last one.
XP wasn't out for ten years. Vista was only around a year or two, Seven is still shiny-new, and moving from one version of Windows to another is no different than moving from Mac or Windows to Linux. I've been computing for 30 years and it took me a month or so to get used to my new netbook and Win 7. OTOH it took all of maybe two days to get comfortable moving from Win 98 to Mandrake.
Re:Consumer Watchdog = troll sponsored by Microsof (Score:5, Interesting)
1. There's no privacy in third world America - (anti-google article, no mention of bing)
2. Top trustbuster says DOJ watching search industry
3. Advocacy Groups Ask Facebook for More Privacy Changes
4. Critics Call on Feds to Squelch a Google Monopoly
5. Data Show Google Abuses Search Role, Group Contends
6. Watchdog Backs Google Antitrust Complaint with (More) Data
7. Google's Wi-Fi Data Harvest Facing More Probes, Lawsuits
8. Google Using Search Engine To Muscle Into Internet Businesses, Study Finds
9. Google Worth $1 Billion to Pa. Commerce
10. Google Raises Its Game In Washington
11. Google shows the way on search engine encryption; others must follow
12. FTC Clears Google Purchase of Mobile Ad Service
13. White House Reprimands Ex-Googler After Consumer Watchdog FOIA Request
14. Few Hardballs from Shareholders at Google's Annual Meeting
15. Google's Growth Markets Include Lobbying
16. Consumer Watchdog Targets Google
17. Privacy Groups, Business Firms Firing Warning Shots on New Online Ad Privacy Bill
18. Boucher's Privacy Bill Scolded by Consumer Groups
19. Google Spent $1.3 Million on Lobbying, What Are They Buying?
20. Consumer Group to Call for Google Break up
Damn, that's a lot of google mention for a search on microsoft. Hell, even on a search on facebook [consumerwatchdog.org]has "google" in 6 of the top 10 results returned! Facebook doesn't appear until the 11th result, and is in 5 of the headers. What a joke, this site makes fox news looks fair and balanced.
This is what we want! (Score:3, Interesting)
Having the retailers tracking us, tailoring their products to our interests, it is part of our dream. We want robots to fetch us beer from the fridge and chairs that adjust to our bodies. How is retailers only showing stuff we're interested in any different? The chances of me clicking on an ad for tampons is vanishingly low, so why waste my time and their money to show me a tampon ad? Heck, I'd love for bricks-and-mortar stores to work like this. It seems like every time I go to buy new clothes, I have to walk through a mile of women's clothes. Do they really buy that much more clothing?
I admit, the tracking sometimes can be a disadvantage. I looked at some socks online, about a week ago, and that is all my ads are since. All showing different types of socks.