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62% Positive

Analyzed from 2006 words in the discussion.

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#google#data#america#isn#don#tech#lake#long#judge#company

Discussion (87 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

sensanaty2 minutes ago
> Google’s ad tech business brought in $30 billion last year, or about 8 percent of the revenue for its parent company, Alphabet. Its ad tech revenue has declined for 16 straight quarters, and analysts estimate it accounts for less than 1 percent of the company’s profit... “This is a business no one cares about"

Uhhh, what? What kind of colorful accounting is this that they're pulling off?

xp848 minutes ago
> Google’s ad tech business brought in $30 billion last year, or about 8 percent of the revenue for its parent company, Alphabet. Its ad tech revenue has declined for 16 straight quarters, and analysts estimate it accounts for less than 1 percent of the company’s profit... “This is a business no one cares about"

Can someone closer to GOOG explain this? The phrase "ad tech" seems to have a very specific meaning here. Does this 1% include all advertising around the Web? Basically all ad revenue outside of Google's own properties? The number is surprisingly low.

jordanbabout 2 hours ago
That "Lake America" is doing a hell of a lot of work for Google
strictneinabout 2 hours ago
The judge was appointed by Clinton, so they've been in their role for decades now. It seems unlikely that someone who has served that long in her position would rule based on making the child in the White House happy.
JMiao16 minutes ago
we got rick grimes over here walking into atlanta
bigyabaiabout 2 hours ago
To the contrary, the entire DOJ understands that FAANG and the three-letter-agencies are one revolving door. Any judge that attempts to defang Google's data collection may well run afoul of the American surveillance system, which this administration will fight tooth and nail to defend.

Not very different from how federal protectionism keeps Apple's App Store centralized despite trillions of dollars in ostensible market damage. Anyone trying to loosen America's grip on software distribution is crossing an ugly national security line that we're all too ashamed to admit exists.

rootsudoabout 1 hour ago
100% glad someone states the obvious. Sometimes here people think these tech companies are on truly altruistic missions on making “the world a better place!!1” or truly making an impact by being an IC in their role and having access to perks which, have largely been taken away as the market matures to data collection and surveillance.

If you want to have some fun, go on LinkedIn and see how many former military people, proud of their service, boast how they are at x or y tech company in director esque roles.

Then bookmark them and see the pages disappear in the future. Boy I’m glad it’s legally 100% ok to scrap LinkedIn data because it truly is a revolving door.

roosterIllusi0n2 minutes ago
RCS is google's foothold. It forces everyone to share with google and currently, there is no carrier option for RCS. You have to pick google or apple or go without.
JMiao20 minutes ago
agree with you but including netflix is becoming hilarious
vascoabout 2 hours ago
Since you are getting no replies but getting downvoted I'm adding source from 2016 corroborating what you mention: https://www.techtransparencyproject.org/articles/googles-rev...

251 individuals in such detected instances just in google. And that report is 10 years old, I'd bet it's 10x that by now.

strictneinabout 2 hours ago
The DOJ isn't part of the Judiciary branch, it's part of the Executive.

> FAANG and the three-letter-agencies are one revolving door

Most of the NSA is active duty service members and former military. Did you mean other three letter agencies, excluding the most powerful one dealing with surveillance?

> Any judge that attempts to interfere with Google's data collection may well run afoul of the American surveillance system

The judge in this case put the final nail into Trumps slush fund. But now she's doing his bidding. Is that what you're claiming?

Not everything is a conspiracy. You don't have some special insight into this.

bitpushabout 2 hours ago
Isnt that updated by some national database and google just pulls that data? Apparently Apple Maps will also get it in a few days, since they get the data from them as well.
jvolkmanabout 2 hours ago
Yes. We had the same comments about Gulf of America.

Edit: I don't know that there's an actual database served up by the US Gov, but governments control the naming of these things within their own jurisdictions. All of the big mapping products have the ability to serve up different names based on where you're viewing from.

And Apple just renamed: https://apnews.com/article/apple-lake-ontario-america-google...

TazeTSchnitzelabout 2 hours ago
https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/searc...

GNIS, Geographic Names Information System

(Which still shows Lake Ontario for me as I write this. The body of water along the US's southern coast is Gulf of America however.)

wblabout 1 hour ago
The government does not control the words you or I use to refer to things.
j2kunabout 1 hour ago
It would be nice if Maps would prefer data from government DBs that have localized versions of foreign place name data (e.g., Germany's BKG) when available.
biophysboyabout 1 hour ago
It makes perfect sense that govs control names within their jurisdiction - I am eyerolling at both the name change and the reaction.

I am curious though - is it convention to leave the data as is, or is it illegal to modify it?

Regardless, itll just be changed back in 2 years; as long as I can type "lake ontario" and get directed to Lake Ontario, I do not care at all what the gov database calls it currently.

ericmayabout 2 hours ago
I too remember last year when everyone really cared about that and it was the end of the world and then we got on with our lives because at the end of the day it not only doesn't matter, the naming of these things is arbitrary, and anything that a president can change the name of a subsequent president can modify yet again.

What do they call the South China Sea, is it the East Sea or is it the West Philippine Sea? What do the French call the English Channel? Is it Le Manche d'anglaise?

spogbiperabout 2 hours ago
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/apple-maps-changes-name-lak...

Apple updated it yesterday. If I were Google I'd turn down that refresh rate and let someone else take the bad PR next time

lotsofpulpabout 1 hour ago
There is no bad PR, 99% of people don’t care.
bee_riderabout 2 hours ago
Seems like something that should be user-configurable (like DNS servers). While the recent annoying renamings have drawn attention to the issue, landmark names have basically always been political.
avs733about 2 hours ago
I have been wondering this as well. I cannot imagine having this be autoupdated without review from a centralized database is a good idea. This is a process that needs to be frangible and have some friction in it.

In this day and age, GPS mapping tools have major implications for societal function, safety, economics, national security, healthcare, etc. I'm struggling to think of an industry where a sudden absence/subtle changes of named GPS mapping data would not have an effect.

If everyone relied on the same data base which could push changes to the map in the pocket of every resident of a nation that would be the first thing I would think to hack. Probably easier than actually jamming or spoofing GPS/GNSS over a huge area.

bpodgurskyabout 2 hours ago
There are thousands of small street changes across the country each day. New subdivisions, road expansions, lane changes, new traffic lights. Of course the vast majority should be auto-updated without manual review, what would a person add to the process? The public database is the system of record in the first place.
2OEH8eoCRo02 minutes ago
We will find out if it's doing work. The way this admin works is that they don't enforce laws against their friends. They hang it over their heads to intimidate.
hn_throwaway_9931 minutes ago
To all the people pissed about the "Lake America" stuff: why in the actual fuck do you want Google of all organizations to be arbiter of geographical info, instead of federal institutions that are (at least nominally) operated under democratic principles?

Don't you understand the horror of what you're suggesting: "I want Google to impose it's own personal value judgments over the government's."

Yes, I think it's incredibly stupid, 3rd grader childlike to call this "Lake America". But the problem is not Google, the problem is the ass hats we (collectively, even if not you/me personally) voted for. The problem is especially with our Congressional reps who have just neutered themselves in service to this stupidity. And I get it, our federal institutions have definitely showed their frailty lately, but I can't fathom then why people think the proper solution is to give more decision-making authority to Google.

mpalczewski7 minutes ago
I do wonder how many people that criticize the renaming, were criticizing Obama when he rename Mt McKinley. What are the principles here? Or is it just names I like vs names I don't like.
tdb789314 minutes ago
Democracy works best as a diffuse institution and is more than just voting. People are supposed to have rights and power themselves and I want them to try to make things better (whether I agree with them or not) and "corporations" are just groups of people. Needing to just go with the government, especially on something so clearly within their rights, is counter to the ideals of the system.

I can understand Google somewhat here (if I was running a business I wouldn't be happy wading into a political issue like this) but the idea that they are above criticism for just falling in line still doesn't resonate with me.

dragontamer16 minutes ago
Yeah it's meaningless to fight. Except not really. If the powers that be are corrupt we can simply keep calling it Lake Ontario across the board, and use the difference to find who is or isn't on my side on that issue.

The only people calling it Gulf of America or Lake America are hardcore MAGATs in my social circle. Even former Trump voters in my social circle are annoyed and not using the new names. So it's an effective way to figure out who is or isn't going along with the Administration today.

okdood64about 2 hours ago
You mean by Judge Leonie M. Brinkema who was appointed by Clinton and has ruled against Trump policies/agenda regularly?
owebmasterabout 1 hour ago
... proving the point that protecting big tech is a bipartisan work.
bunderbunderabout 1 hour ago
More information on the specific remedies in the USDOJ announcement: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-wins-signi...

Sounds like it's not nothing, but also not much.

bsimpson9 minutes ago
> said Attorney General Pamela Bondi.

That must have been in drafts for a while.

kerblang37 minutes ago
I wonder if it would help to revoke patents that help google maintain its monopoly, assuming that's the case and it's doable by a judge/congress/someone?

What exactly is the nature of its monopoly that moots competition? I was of understanding that it's more than just ads on google search results, isn't it?

JMiao26 minutes ago
twenty billion walkin out the court buildin woo woo!
GreenVulpineabout 1 hour ago
https://archive.is/rlAbY

Non-paywalled link

CrzyLngPwdabout 2 hours ago
So, essentially, a nothing burger.

As usual.

paulpauperabout 2 hours ago
what shocker . google has a long history of prevailing in court
strictneinabout 2 hours ago
The ACLU has a long history of prevailing in court, as does the NRA.

Courts should regularly issue rulings you don't like. Their job isn't to make people happy.

cjabout 2 hours ago
"long history of prevailing in court" is another way of saying "Google isn't being punished as much as they deserve"

> Their job isn't to make people happy.

Sure, but I think we can all agree the US legal system very, very, very rarely issues any ruling that materially punishes a corporation. Even the worst of the worst typically get off very easy.

Do you disagree with that?

strictneinabout 1 hour ago
> "long history of prevailing in court" is another way of saying "Google isn't being punished as much as they deserve"

Those two things are completely different and have very different meanings. For the most part, the courts aren't the ones that fine businesses.

> There have been more than 180,000 corporate fines issued in the US between 2020 and 2024, totaling more than $345 billion

> 3M Company has been issued with the costliest fines, adding up to $18.6 billion

$345 billion over 4 years seems like a lot to me. Maybe it should be higher? I don't know.

ocdtrekkieabout 2 hours ago
What an incredible miscarriage of justice. Make enough money and pay off enough politicians, and you can pretty much shoot people on the street in broad daylight.
strictneinabout 2 hours ago
Assuming you read the ruling, what do you disagree with the judge on?

What politicians were paid off to make a judge in a lifelong position who has served for decades rule in Google's favor?

shaknaabout 2 hours ago
What ruling? It isn't released yet. We have declining to breakup, based on behavioral remedies, and zero details.
strictneinabout 2 hours ago
Kind of my point. How does one know something is a miscarriage of justice if you haven't read the ruling? Because you don't like the outcome?
pampasabout 1 hour ago
It's the modern "Never argue with a man who buys ink by the barrel". I think it's why outdoor advertising is so rife. It's hard to fight something when you rely on it to keep your position.
colincowardlyabout 2 hours ago
Destroying a great US institution is not in the national interest. Cases like these should never be permissible in the first place.
krunckabout 2 hours ago
> a great US institution

So, too big to fail, but to small to be a monopoly that abuses it's power?

btmiller24 minutes ago
> colincowardly

Appropriate last name. So any institution that lies, cheats, and steals their way to top is absolved of all wrongdoing just because they got to the top?

johndhiabout 2 hours ago
I'm more on your side than most but surely you don't think zero antitrust enforcement is best for our country?
CincinnatiManabout 1 hour ago
I kinda somewhat reluctantly agree with you, and I think other commenters are missing the point that breaking up Google may allow non-US competitors to rise up and take Google's place on the world stage. Thus, breaking them up is not in the national interest of the US.
Georgelementalabout 1 hour ago
As long as there are many competitors, that's better than a monopoly, even if some of the competitors are foreign. Powerful monopolists restricting our freedoms is not in the interest of Americans long-term.
CincinnatiMan15 minutes ago
> As long as there are many competitors, that's better than a monopoly, even if some of the competitors are foreign

How do you prevent another monopoly from forming from a different country than your own?

bigyabaiabout 1 hour ago
If Alphabet allows a non-US competitor to replace them, isn't it their fault for failing to compete? The threat of replacement is supposed to be what motivates Alphabet to innovate.

It could also be argued that allowing Alphabet to sustain anticompetitive damages is exactly what creates the opportunity for them to be replaced. Alternatives to AdSense and YouTube can only succeed in America if Alphabet rests on their laurels and is artificially defended from natural price competition.

svachalekabout 2 hours ago
Ah yes, the great US institution of ad tech. Mass privacy intrusion in the service of selling clicks for a nickel.
Natfanabout 2 hours ago
Stalin wishes he had this much reach
al_borlandabout 1 hour ago
Capitalism requires some level of regulation to avoid eating itself.
deatonabout 2 hours ago
So because Google monopolizes on a big enough scale, suddenly they are too important to break up? I would argue that if any single company is big enough to where if it were to break up it would be "against the national interest," then it is too big and must be broken up.
cyberaxabout 2 hours ago
Companies like modern Google should not be permissible in the even firster place.
2OEH8eoCRo0about 2 hours ago
Bring back Ma Bell and Standard Oil they were great US institutions!
wblabout 2 hours ago
Standard Oil was sued for keeping low prices thanks to vertical integration prompting the classic quip about antitrust litigation.
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