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Google: Good or Evil?

The Google story

"I fear someone in a garage who is devising something completely new."

Bill Gates, 1998

The internet had been used in a limited way in defence and academic circles for about 30 years, before Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989.

Technological solutionism

This week we're going to examine a modern, skeptical account of the growth of major technology companies, technological solutionism.

The term technological solutionism was coined in 2013 by Evgeny Morozov, a Belarusian writer and academic. He argues that the promise of technology to drive progress and solve problems has been over-estimated.

Morozov accuses tech advocates of burying the debate over the internet in "obscure and unproductive McLuhanism that seeks to discover some nonexistent inner truths about each and every medium under the sun." (2013, p19)

Morozov says this leaves us looking for solutions to problems that aren't really there, and that could cause other unforeseen issues.

For example, Morozov is critical of self-tracking devices, such as Fitbits or Telematics boxes.

What are the solutions that Fuchs provided to demonopolize Google and make it less exploitative?

Reading:

Social Media: A Critical Introduction

(Fuchs 2014)

Chapter 6 - Google: Good or Evil Search Engine?

Are you aware of google's vision of Artificial Intelligence? (How is a form of biopower?)

How do social media platforms turn our personal data into a commodity? (p.163)

Does Google pay taxes?

* 2015 This is larger than 124 countries' gross domestic product in the same year.

Part of google was it was the right time and we had a great technology, but the other parts was we worked really, really hard...it was 130 hours per week. People say, 'there's only 168 hours in a week, how do you do it?' Well, if you are strategic, about when you shower, and sleeping under your desk, it can be done." (Marissa Mayer, Former Google VP).

Internet Live Stats

How does Google accumulate capital?

What is Alphabet?

Google Street View

Larry Page (38.5 billion) and Sergey Brin (37.5 billion)

The DotCom crash

Flickr/Husky

Google's Political Economy

Did google benefit from the 2008 financial crisis?

Is google an egalitarian company? Shared wealth and power?

How does google accumulate capital?

Class Activity

Class Activity

Read Google's latest terms of Services and ask yourself:

  • What rights does Google have in relation to the content that you create on its services?

  • If you feel treated is an illegal manner by google, how can you hold it legally reliable? Which court is responsible?

  • Try to find more on how national regulations (the ones in your home country) work for a global system like the Internet?
  • Select a specific internet or social media company. Try to find out how company presents its working conditions of its employees in public discourse.
  • register at glassdoor.com (you have to write a review if an employer to get full access to other reviews).
  • collect reviews about a specific job category at the company.
  • Assess what the working conditions are like at this company.

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