Don't worry.
President Trump will build a Washington wall to keep Google out.
A new project to uncover the symbiotic relationship between Google and the US government has uncovered some mind-boggling details. The Campaign for Accountability (CFA) this week launched the first two of its Google Transparency Projects. One of the projects – a visualisation of the revolving door between Google, the White …
Apple spends far less money lobbying than Google does, and there has been almost no revolving door between Apple and government like there with Google. Microsoft spends more than Apple but less than Google (despite having undergone that whole FTC suit back in the 90s, which is the only reason they started lobbying the government at all) and has seen a bit more revolving door but still nothing compared to Google's.
A much better comparison to Google's lobbying spend and revolving door is Goldman Sachs.
Shocking "the government" "Google" are both big companies. You could do the same chart with Google and GE or Google and GM or Google and Apple or Google and Amazon and see lots of people moving all over.
The number of companies that oversee databases as huge as the ones Google runs are fairly limited. Ergo, there will be a relatively small circle of companies competing for the same resources. For example, one of the leaders on the Microsoft side for their CRM not that long ago quit and went to Salesforce. I'm sure at least one person has quit Salesforce for Microsoft, or Oracle, or SAP, etc.
And why does having a meeting with a government official say ANYTHING about whether the meeting was intended to cause evil, prevent evil, or had nothing to do with evil?
Why is it odd, or even vaguely odd, that a large and successful company often meets with officials? It would be extremely odd if they didn't.
People with expertise in an area continue to work in that area. Amazing.
There's absolutely nothing mind-boggling in any way here, since all the information completely lacks context. OK, 22 people who used to work for the White House now work for Google. How many government staff are there in total? How many now work for other companies? What time scale are we looking at anyway? Without some idea of both the scale and how this compares to other companies this is just a meaningless jumble of numbers.
Of course, some of those numbers are easily available. For example, Google has in the region of 50,000 employees. Over the last decade that means they must have had something like 70-100k in total, depending on churn. And we're supposed to worry that just 60 of them now work in government roles? The government being one of the largest employers in the country, with an obvious need for the same skills and knowledge that tech companies need. I wouldn't be in any way surprised or concerned if that number was an order of magnitude higher.
Or what about those 5 ex-Google employees who now work at the state department. That would be the state department with 69,000 employees? And only 5 used to work at Google? And we're supposed to be somehow shocked and worried about this? Oh, sorry, that's not actually 5 ex-Google staff anyway, but 5 people who might have had some association with Google at some point including maybe having worked for a law firm used by Google in some capacity.
And that "associated in some capacity" is even more relevant for the other direction. 171 staff haven't actually left the government to join Google. Since they're including lobbyists, that presumably includes the 81 out of 102 lobbyists hired by Google in 2014 who previously worked for the government. Assuming the trend holds for other years, that means that pretty much the whole category consists of lobbyists and not Google employees at all. And anyone surprised that people with knowledge of government workings are favoured as lobbyists is simply an idiot, since that's the whole bloody point.
This really is one of the most pathetic attempts at smearing I've ever had the misfortune to see. There are plenty of entirely sensible things Google can be criticised for, such as being one of the biggest spenders on lobbying in the US. But having less than 100 people out of tens of thousands of employees and even more "associates" who happen to get some kind of government job after leaving Google? And hiring lobbyists who actually know what they're doing? With no indication of how it compares to any other company? How can anyone possibly think this is any kind of meaningful "revelation"?
And exactly the same kind of 'logic' can be used in an attempt to justify how many ex Goldman Sachs people are now in positions of power around the world.
Doesn't make either company or its (ex) employees or supporters decent or moral though.
In itself, he number of people jumping from one to the other is not very meaningful. I understand that there are thousands of employees who have left Google for Facebook, and Facebook for Google. Google and Facebook are still at each other's throats, and I doubt that anybody suspects the allegiance of people who switch.
Even when people in high position switch, it doesn't always turn the way you'd expect. Tom Wheeler used to be a cable company CEO, he switched to head of the FCC, and he is a goddamn pain for the cable companies today. In fact, he is acting exactly as if he was working for Google; go figure.
But Obama was always friendly with Google. If I remember correctly, they were doing analytics work for him on his campaign trail. I guess we only need to wait for Obama to get a seat on Google's board.
After Civis Analytics worked on the Healthcare.gov website, it emerged that personal data was being sent to “to advertising and Web analytics sites”, including Google.
This is perhaps the most "interesting" tidbit. What was/is being sent and what's being done with it? Was it test data or live data from real people?
And exactly the same kind of 'logic' can be used in an attempt to justify how many ex Goldman Sachs people are now in positions of power around the world.
Ditto McKinsey and Company.
Mind you, the UK McKinseyite was William "Tory Boy/14 pints" Hague.
@Cuddles - i stopped trying to fight Orlowski's FUD, i suggest you stop wasting your time too...
Look, again: " Electronic Frontier Foundation ... as receiving Google cash"! It's been pointed out to him repeatedly that EFF got that cash as part of settlement in Google Buzz privacy class action suit.
His gems also include: "How can you tell Jimbo is lying? His lips are moving", that's Jimmy Wales, Wikimedia Foundation...
Doubt this comment will make it through - my last 5 comments to Orlowski story were taken down.
How's this guy still employed by Reg?
@vgrig_us: Hey, look. Your post still hasn't been taken down. I don't know what you wrote in your last 5 comments, but I very rarely see comments deleted by moderators that didn't merit taking down.
Ignoring your comment about Wales, which is completely beside the point here, let me offer a different angle: If ten thousand programmers leave Google to work in the government (or vice versa), it doesn't matter at all. They were never in a position to obtain significant benefits from the other party, such as a job offer for services rendered while working for their then current employer.
However, if an executive, lobbyist, high level legal counsel, etc., goes to work in the other party, this is suspect precisely because that job offer may have been an illegal deal. There may be no supporting evidence, it may even be a false accusation, but there are laws against this because the suspicions alone are enough to question true motives. Smaller companies ran into trouble only on the basis of unconfirmed suspicion, whereas Google is free to do as they please.
@toughluck - yeah, just wait for it: someone a Reg is asleep... here is the example of posts taken down...
"yep - my post got deleted to... strange - happens only to my comments to Orlowski stories. :-P"
"so, that's your excuse for removing my post? "particularly sticky legal story" - you mean the part where Orlowski implied Google and EFF support under-age prostitution?"
yep - those two were taken down... as was this one...
"Another day - another 2 Orlowski FUD articles : the other one is so bad it has comments turned off...
BTW - if you want to read something useful on freedom of panorama or moron Mississippi AG: read techdirt... or ars... Don't read Orlowski: he hasn't yet met a copyright he doesn't love...
Seriously - what does it take to get kicked out of theregister staff?"
I agree with your assessment. It is obvious he dislikes Google, fair use, and net neutrality. He is certainly entitled to his opinion but it almost seems like all his articles should be filed under an op-ed section. At this point I can read an article title and with a 99% accuracy predict if he is the author or not.
Very Spirograph-y. Just counting the hours till Pub O'clock like the lot of you!
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