Tag: Google

Google Video Leaked to Breitbart Confirms Tech Giant Wants to Destroy Trump Agenda

Anthony Gockowski

A new video leaked exclusively to Breitbart News Wednesday shows high-ranking Google executives plotting to use their tech resources to thwart the Trump agenda during an hour-long weekly rap session. The video, recorded during a 2016 “all hands” meeting at Google’s headquarters, features co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Vice Presidents Kent Walker and Eileen Naughton, CFO Ruth Porat, and CEO Sundar Pichai. At one point in the recording, Porat breaks down into tears and vows to “use the great strength and resources and reach we have to continue to advance really important values.” Naughton, meanwhile, assures Google employees in the audience that the company’s policy team in the nation’s capitol is “all over” the immigration issue and will continue to “keep a close watch on it,” later discussing options with employees who wish to leave the country. Brin, one of the company’s co-founders, states that “most people here are pretty upset and pretty sad,” saying she was “deeply offended” by President Donald Trump’s election, and adding that Trump’s agenda “conflicts with many of [Google’s] values.” “Fear, not just in the United States, but around the world is fueling concerns, xenophobia, hatred, and a desire for answers that may or…

Read the full story

Report: Google And Mastercard Strike Secret Deal To Track Customers In-Store Purchases

Admin

by Kyle Perisic   Google and Mastercard have reportedly struck a secret deal to monitor users’ in-store purchases, to collect data on what Google ads have resulted in purchases. After years of negotiations, Google paid Mastercard millions of dollars for its customer data, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing two anonymous sources. The two could be sharing ad revenue, Bloomberg added but also reported a Google spokeswoman denied that claim. “People don’t expect what they buy physically in a store to be linked to what they are buying online,” said advocacy group Electronic Privacy Information Center’s Christine Bannan. “There’s just far too much burden that companies place on consumers and not enough responsibility being taken by companies to inform users what they’re doing and what rights they have.” Knowing which ads have resulted in purchases would make targeted ads — specialized ads tailored to specific individuals — much more valuable. Thus far, it has been almost impossible to tell if an online ad has resulted in a purchase. “Before we launched this beta product last year, we built a new, double-blind encryption technology that prevents both Google and our partners from viewing our respective users’ personally identifiable information,” Google said in a statement, according to Bloomberg.…

Read the full story

Google, Microsoft, Facebook And Twitter Reveal ‘Data Transfer’ Partnership

Admin
Google, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft

by Eric Leiberman   Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Facebook are teaming up to provide users with the capability of transferring data across platforms and services, the latter two social media giants announced Friday morning. After heightened concerns over data utilization (even exploitation and manipulation), companies appear to be trying to give users at least a little more say over how their personal information is managed. The four U.S. tech giants want users to be empowered with the ability to seamlessly access their data across their multiple, respective platforms in an initiative known as the Data Transfer Project. “For example, you might use an app where you share photos publicly, a social networking app where you share updates with friends, and a fitness app for tracking your workouts,” Steve Satterfield, privacy and public policy director for Facebook, wrote Friday in a blog post. “People increasingly want to be able to move their data among different kinds of services like these, but they expect that the companies that help them do that will also protect their data.” Due to the inherent and proprietary differences of the companies’ technology, this wasn’t always an option. “Information that is housed on one platform can not be easily and securely…

Read the full story

California Congresswoman Says There’s No Bias Against Conservatives In Tech – Here’s Why She’s Wrong

Admin
Zoe Lofgren

by Kyle Perisic   A Democratic congresswoman said on Tuesday that conservatives and Republicans’ concerns over bias on the Facebook, Google, and Twitter platforms are unjustified. Here’s proof she’s wrong. Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California said at a hearing addressing political discrimination against conservatives and Republicans on Facebook, Google, and Twitter, which dominant Internet traffic, is “motivated by a sense of persecution, on the part of Republicans and conservatives that somehow they’re being unfairly treated when they have a majority in House, the Senate, the White House.” Despite the hearing specifically addressing discrimination against conservatives on the Facebook, Google, and Twitter platforms — not on their conservative news sites — Lofgren brought up “conservative news sites have three times more user engagement that liberals do.” “There’s been no evidence whatsoever that I have seen and that the majority has been able to provide that there’s any bias whatsoever,” she added. YouTube, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet, admitted in March it “may misapply some of our policies resulting in mistaken removals,” which in this case involved a number of conservative channels being removed from the platform, The Daily Caller News Foundation reported. Additionally, Google, utilizing Wikipedia, mislabeled a Republican candidate…

Read the full story

Commentary: Should Congress Break Social Media’s Stranglehold on Free Speech?

Admin
US Capitol at night

by Jeffery Rendall   Strolling towards the capitol on one of our recent trips to Williamsburg, Virginia, a thought struck me as we neared the reconstructed building; so much went on inside those walls but the people in the street had nary a clue about what was happening at the time. Sure, there were three newspapers in town (in the late 18th century), but they were somewhat crude enterprises by today’s standards, receiving and reprinting tidbits of intelligence from townspeople, passers through, other newspapers and let’s face it – plain gossip and hearsay. Just steps away great men were debating and deciding everyone’s future yet few common folk understood what was taking place except for what the men – or the royal governor and his council – chose to divulge. Not even the town crier was much help in this regard. Fast forward to today when practically everything that’s “official” is a matter of public record. Granted the government and its agents still keep plenty of secrets – the fallout from the Mueller investigation certainly revealed it – but we know a lot more than the Virginians of the 1760’s and 70’s did. Heck, they were about to sever ties with the…

Read the full story

Google Withdraws As Host Of Democratic Fundraising Event

Admin
Google withdraws from Dem Fundraiser

by Eric Lieberman   Google was set to rent out its D.C. headquarters to a progressive group running a fundraiser for top Senate Democrats, but canceled it Friday just days before. The group “Run For Something” cultivates up-and-coming Democrats for all levels of government. Its event, “Party For Something,” was supposed to occur June 6 at a location only disclosed if tickets ($100 to $1,000) were purchased. “Important note! Confirmation of the date, time, and venue will be in your donation receipt,” reads the website, which also says “Location available upon RSVP” elsewhere. “No need to print anything; just check in with ID when you arrive.” The venue likely shows up as something different now since Google confirmed to The Daily Caller News Foundation that the event was occurring at its offices in the nation’s capital, and subsequently that it was canceled since leadership had allegedly just become aware. “June 6th: Games, drinks and building the bench with Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand & Cory Booker!!” the invite states at the top. “Why? Because Run For Something set a goal of recruiting 50,000 new voices this year to run for office — and you want to help make it happen.” Google representatives declined…

Read the full story

Commentary: Good Riddance to ‘Net Neutrality’ That Was Anything But Neutral

Admin

by Jeffrey Tucker   At long last, with the end of “net neutrality,” competition could soon come to the industry that delivers Internet services to you. You might be able to pick among a range of packages, some minimalist and some maximalist, depending on how you use the service. Or you could choose a package that charges based only on what you consume, rather than sharing fees with everyone else. Internet socialism is dead; long live market forces. With market-based pricing finally permitted, we could see new entrants to the industry because it might make economic sense for the first time to innovate. The growing competition will lead, over the long run, to innovation and falling prices. Consumers will find themselves in the driver’s seat rather than crawling and begging for service and paying whatever the provider demands. Ajit Pai, chairman of the FCC, is exactly right. “Under my proposal, the federal government will stop micromanaging the internet. Instead, the F.C.C. would simply require internet service providers to be transparent about their practices so that consumers can buy the service plan that’s best for them.” A Fed for Communication The old rules pushed by the Obama administration had locked down…

Read the full story

Oil and Gas Industry Pushes Back: Google Asked to Label Anti-Fracking Websites as ‘Fake News’

Tennessee Star Staff

An oil and gas drilling advocacy group published an open letter to Google asking the search engine giant to consider “purging or demoting” websites spreading misinformation about hydraulic fracturing. Google rewrote its search engine algorithm to bury “fake news” websites in the wake of the 2016 presidential election. The industry-funded Texans for Natural Gas wants Google…

Read the full story

Here is How Google Celebrated Easter Sunday

Tennessee Star Staff

New media and search engine giant Google celebrated Easter Sunday 2017 the same way it has celebrated Easter for years. Not at all. A.J. Delgado, writing at Mediaite, remarked on Google’s disinterest in Easter Sunday back in 2013. Google’s homepage is known for its ‘Doodles‘ — temporary changes to its homepage logo to commemorate certain days. As defined by Google, its homepage changes are meant “to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, and the lives of famous artists, pioneers, and scientists.” But on Easter Sunday, a day celebrated by over one billion around the world and by the vast majority of Americans, Google’s homepage is mum on the holiday. Instead, Google chose to commemorate Big Labor icon Cesar Chavez. (In 2011, President Obama designated March 31 as Cesar Chavez day.) Google’s official position over the Easter Sunday-Cesar Chavez controversy in 2013  was “it’s difficult for us to choose,” as the Washington Post reported at the time. Among the holidays the company regularly celebrates with Google Doodles, other than Easter Sunday, are Earth Day, Martin Luther King Day, Lunar New Year, Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. The first Google Doodle, celebrating the annual Burning Man event, appeared in 1998. Since…

Read the full story