Google Foot in Mouth -- Redmond Channel Partner

Barney's Blog

Google Foot in Mouth

I took a couple of days away from Redmond Report and immersed myself in the topic of datacenter efficiency. You can reap the fruits of my labor in the March issue of Redmond magazine. And if you have datacenter efficiency/green tips and experiences, please e-mail me at dbarney@redmondmag.com.

This distraction meant I couldn't take Google's Eric Schmidt to task for his inane, insane, imbecilic, illogical, insipid and idiotic comments (and no, I didn't look up those words on Google).

Even though the story is old, I've got something to say. Schmidt is a technical genius -- or at least nearly so, I'm not sure. But he is clearly socially inept. His take on Internet privacy is summarized by this inconceivably clueless recent quote: "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place." Who is the guy, Jimmy Swaggart?

Let's face it: Google pries into our lives, takes pictures of our homes when the kids are playing in the yard, and indexes much of our personal information. Google is the Patriot Act on steroids. First, we're supposed to give up our privacy for national security. Now, we should give it up for the greater glory of Google. Dang, I might have to go back to a typewriter and hand-delivered letters.

Are you as steamed as I am? Let 'er rip at dbarney@redmondmag.com.

Posted by Doug Barney on December 15, 2009 at 9:42 AM

Share this Page

Reader Comments

Thu, Dec 17, 2009 Taryn Redwood City, CA

Sentilla has some data center efficiency tips in a white paper titled, Three Steps to Sustainability. They list some good ideas and outline an energy management strategy for sustaining efficiency in the data center. It's an ongoing thing, not a do-it-once-and-forget-it-thing. http://www.sentilla.com/download/Sentilla-Three-Steps-to-Sustainability.pdf

Tue, Dec 15, 2009 Jim42 Western USA

Google is like the US Government, why should any law abiding citizen need worry about their private life with saying how they will protect it. Google + US Government = 1984

Tue, Dec 15, 2009 MEB Redmond

If Bill or Steve had said that the black helicopters would be coming over the cascades!

Tue, Dec 15, 2009 Ed

For once I agree with you. Just because you're a Microsoft "fanboy" doesn't mean Google isn't evil. What happened to their corporate mantra? All large entities should be considered evil. Oh, but when it comes down to it, I trust Google more than Microsoft.

Tue, Dec 15, 2009 KC West Coast

OMG! I thought I was alone! Paranoid - NO! Private - YES! Conspiracy - MAYBE! Privacy needs protection or you will be mis-quoted and taken out of context with premature exposure to forming concepts and brainstorming. I like off-line tools primarely for this reason. I do not trust online social sites that want you to spill it all. I keep my private data as off-line as is possible in this age and am still appalled at how much of my private life can be Googled! Most of the content without persmission. New citizens from foreign lands are amazed at how much freedom they have, while us old timers are amazed at how much freedom we've lost. I sometimes wonder if part of the agreeable nature of congress for supporting H1-B and aggresive immigration is so they can have a constiuent populace that will let congress shave away our freedoms, only because they know no better! Now I bet I am posted into some database somewhere with a yellow flag for posting this!

Tue, Dec 15, 2009

I agree and Google just seems to want to get more information from us, Google Search, OS, DNS small URL, Mail, Chrome, Chrome OS, Android, all designed with one goal of assumlating your information. One company that knows everything about you and is willing to give/sell that information to anyone.

Tue, Dec 15, 2009 Dan Iowa

" At least with Google I know where my information is." - Really? Where? I thought the whole point of what Eric Schmidt said was, your information is public. How can you possibly know where it is if it's public. I think what you're saying is, it's OK if your information is leaked out to who knows where as long as Google is the one that's doing the leaking. To me, that's a high price to pay just to be a Google fan.

Tue, Dec 15, 2009 2livecrue

it may not be that you use office, but how you use ms office that in comparrison to open office. the intregrations between office, exchange, and sharepoint are key to understanding why some believe MS Office is better. if I just needed a standalone, I would go to open office.but since I use the others..msoffice is better

Tue, Dec 15, 2009

Just because Schmidt searches for nefarious stuff when he's by himself doesn't mean the rest of us are just like him. People need privacy for many legitimate reasons. For instance, some desire privacy while they research issues related to their personal health (e.g., someone who has been diagnosed with cancer but isn't ready yet to frighten his family with the news) or because they are looking for help in areas of their lives that are very, very confidential--e.g., substance addictions, advice on counseling their teenagers. Most people don't want their current employers to know they're looking for jobs on career sites. Any one of these items I've mentioned above could personally ruin someone if their searches were somehow made public. Other people simply want privacy while they shop for their family's Christmas presents, for Pete's sake! What's the deal with Schmidt? Give me a break!

Tue, Dec 15, 2009

I rather have Google be the one that openly gathers our information rather than more closed and sinister institutions like the credit reporting agencies or the US Government. At least with Google I know where my information is. If you want complete privacy, don't sign up for anything, destroy all your credit cards, close all your bank accounts, sell you car and house, and live in a cave.

Tue, Dec 15, 2009 nkvd jax

I love open office.I love google (because it finds everything). I started out as a mac repair man. but I hate when people assume that because it isnt microsoft that its better. I also hate the cult of personality surrounding the CEO's who seem to think they really matter. We take their product seriously, not the CEO's.

Tue, Dec 15, 2009 LT Gainesville Florida

The United states was founded by businessmen and smugglers.Yet today many "big business" people have no idea about ethics, community, reason, Morality. They are bigger than government, and I think if the American revolution were to happen today...it would fail. Its all about the money and the cult of personality of business. ask not what you can do for your country, but what you can do for google.

Tue, Dec 15, 2009 vicden

I started reading this mag, because, quite frankly, my predecessor at work subscribed for the college I worked for. At that time it really did seem to be the "Independent Voice of the Microsoft IT Community" What happened, did they buy you out? Now Google and Apple are the evil axis, and only Microsoft products (plus their selected add-ons) are any good. I have used office since Win 3.1, it's ok, but it's no better than Open Office. I've tried Bing, and 9 times out of 10, I get exactly what I get in Google. The 10th time, what I am searching for doesn't even make the list. Is this ever going to be the Independent Voice again?

Add Your Comments Now:

Your Name:(optional)

Your Email:(optional)

Your Location:(optional)

Comment:

Please type the letters/numbers you see above

Partner Resources

Hot Topics

More Resources

Barney's Blog