In the spirit of not being evil, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) started a layoff spree yesterday at recently acquired DoubleClick. According to The New York Times, Google will cut 300 employees from DoubleClick's American workforce of 1,200. As for the remaining overseas employees, the Times reports that Google CEO Eric E. Schmidt says they're-a-comin' for you too, so sit tight.
Now. Nobody likes to hear about layoffs, but other recent news suggests we may have to cut Google some slack.
Sure, Google may be laying off scores of unsuspecting, hard-working employees and crushing their wills to live for its own selfish, ad-purveying, money-eating purposes – but give these guys a break. At least they're using some of that aggressive energy to help fight Al Qaida and protect our national security... right?
A recent article on SFGate, entitled "Google has lots to do with intelligence," reported that Google has contracts with some of America's top intelligence agencies – as well as the U.S. Coast Guard – providing internal computer networks for sharing sensitive, secret agent-style data. Additionally, Google licenses Google Earth to agencies and provides servers for Intellipedia – or the Wikipedia of the CIA. (The CIA agent quoted in the story declined to assess the quality of Google's products...)
Some of these government contracts can be highly lucrative: The article cites the National Security Agency as paying over $2 million for four search applications.
"Agencies can use the devices to create their own mini-Googles on intranets made up entirely of government data," says the writer, Verne Kopytoff. (Really. Kopytoff.) You got that? Frosted Mini-Googles. With government data. Three cheers for national security!
So, you nit-pickers you, before you go slandering Google for cutting jobs across the DoubleClick board, take a moment to salute our freedom fighting friends in Mountain View. Google may not be able to create a successful social networking site, or follow through on any viable ideas besides "search" and "making money," or emerge past Web 1.0... but, hey – they sure can secure our nation against terrorism!
Glad you included the link Nicole. Perhaps evolution will include increased Google teaming with companies, governments, pros and public... perhaps they will be proven to be a great help in advancing the usage of software, technology and information for good (e.g., to increasingly help with high purposes to overcome some of the greatest challenges of our time... for a couple related posts see i & ii).
Don't hold your breath for that response from Google, RPR, they only like to read blogs written by their own employees: Google's Exclusive Bloggers Club
When one considers the potential role of social media (and excellent search engine capabilities) in facilitating new approaches to improving the effectiveness of government, at all levels worldwide, increased partnering seems a good idea.
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We hope you can tune in for an IE Radio interview today with a true industry innovator, Jeff Jonas, chief scientist at IBM. We're talking to Jonas today at 3:00 p.m. ET. Do. Not. Miss. It.
Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL)'s recent unveiling of its "magical" iPad may have fanboys counting the days until March, but if a recent poll on Internet Evolution is any indication, not everyone is buying into the hype.
We do a lot of grousing here on Internet Evolution, and usually for good reason, considering the amount of nonsense that keeps this industry afloat on its cloud of hot steamy air!!!! But... we can still happily acknowledge those titans who have succeeded in leading the way or paving new ground in their respective fields and, in turn, give credit when it is well deserved.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been working with Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) to look into the attacks on its Chinese servers.
Smarter Collaboration: How to Thrive in a Challenging Business Environment Market conditions are changing faster than ever, and organizations need to improve their agility and adaptability in order to provide better service and improve processes. The ability to work with customers, business partners, and employees as effectively as possible - while at the same time holding down costs - is a key to success. READ THIS eBOOK
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In the final episode of this series about the death of Internet anonymity, Saunders describes how the Internet of the future will start to attain a level of intelligence that requires no human intervention. Scary.
What can users today do to protect their online privacy? The simplest and most obvious option is to not use the Internet – at all. However, once all digital information is consolidated over the Internet, trying to protect digital identity by simply unplugging from the Internet becomes impossible – a fact that has manifest implications for civil liberties, Saunders says.
By 2011 the number of Internet-connected sensors will exceed 1 trillion, making your chances of doing anything or going anywhere unnoticed pretty much zero. Saunders talks about how the 'sensortization' of the Internet is eliminating the traditional divide between online and offline populations.
The 20th Century Internet was characterized by the ability to interact with other people and information on the Internet largely without anyone knowing who you were. The Internet of this century, conversely, will be defined by identity. Saunders explains how Internet users are unwittingly contributing to the demise of the anonymous Internet.
Steve Saunders talks about the risks inherent in uncontrolled, widespread profiling of Internet users, and how one day this practice could form the basis of a new industry, the Outernet, which in economic terms will have outgrown the commercial value of the Internet itself.
Search companies and social networks are collecting incredibly detailed information about their users, says Steve Saunders, who predicts that these 'profiles' could one day become commodities to be bought and sold by companies on 'profile markets' or 'identity exchanges’ – the digital DNA equivalents of the financial and commodities exchanges on which stocks, oil, and gold are traded.
One of the most important Internet issues of all time is being ignored by the media. In this three-part video series Steve Saunders explains how search companies are turning the tables on their users by creating user profiles for financial gain, and how soon this trend will explode into full scale profiling.
More companies are trolling social networks to find and vet potential job candidates. Beware the pitfalls of blurring the line between personal and professional lives.
Research shows that the youth of today like Facebook – but not blogging or Twitter. Does that mean Facebook has won, or just that it's not yet out of favor? Will all the services we see today fade into Ovaltine-or-Wheaties status in just a few years?
What kinds of companies are doing the most innovation in the data center? Turns out it's midtier enterprises that are taking the "Just Right" approach.
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