Google’s “Don’t be evil” slogan is a pile of shit

Most techies LOVE Google. They’ve taken on Microsoft, flipped the bird to Apple, and given away superior service for F-R-E-E. (With the exception of premium level Google Apps and a few other things.) On the other hand, most hardcore techies who were around to see Microsoft rise to the top, albeit illegally at times, will agree with me and say that Google’s slogan isn’t just a pile of regular shit, but full on bullshit. (I believe I’m paraphrasing Steve Jobs when I say that.)

That’s not to say that Google doesn’t have awesome stuff. I love the search, Gmail, analytics, and many of their other services, but when it comes to cloud computing, and storing ALL of our search data — and I do mean all of i t– Google has an ulterior motive. They leave the public completely in the dark about their snafus. Until just recently, Google had openly censored search because China just didn’t like the truth about their dark history to get out. So much for not being evil.

What does this have to do with Assault.it? You may have heard that as of about 16 hours ago Google decided to shut down several popular music blogs on their blogger and blogspot services. It’s understandable that Google would take down sites violating their terms of service, and they should do so. The only thing that is most surprising about the move is that no notice was given, and there was no opportunity for the site owners to backup their sites and old data. That’s years and years of archived work down the shitter.

Google’s response to the ordeal was basically, “Sowwy! Thanks for your cooperation!”Now it’s easy for everyone to love Google and not ask questions because of the quality of service they offer, but when we start trusting our network infrastructure to them, and trusting them with masses of search data, and with our cellular phones, and with our social networking, and email, and friendships, and ad services, well you can see where this starts to look less like a vague conspiracy theory and more like complete and total control of everything you do online.

One mention that I didn’t see from any of the posts about yesterdays, “musicblogocide 2010″ is that Google has started including Lala playlists directly in search results. I’m not entirely sure, but I have to believe that they are getting some sort of money out of having those songs indexed directly by the search engine.

Did no one make the connection between these sites offering mp3s and Google’s recent decision to include the ability to buy songs through their search? (Most of the mp3s were promotional, aka completely legal mp3s.) One would think that if they’re willing to put their commission on Lala music sales ahead of their hosted blogging platforms then why wouldn’t they remove Assault.it from their search directory because we’ve now posted a negative dissenting opinion about them? If we decided to turn Assault into an online mp3 download service who’s to say they wouldn’t revoke our Ad Sense account because we’ve gone in direct competition with them?

The one quote that makes the most sense to me in the article:

Decouflet sounds weary. “Google is treating bloggers like Big Brother,” he said. “Shoot first, ask questions after.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself, and I’m not the only one saying, “Fuck You” to Google.

My advice: get off of Blogger and Blogspot

That’s right, download and install WordPress on a hosting account that you pay $20 bucks for a month like Media Temple, or Host Gator and import your old Blogger and Blogspot posts–Wordpress does all of the above–it’s free and easy. That’s my advice to sites like Gorilla vs. Bear and anyone else still on hosted Google blogging platforms.

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About the Author

Tim is the co-owner of Assault, and tends to think he can party twice as hard as anyone. Follow him on twitter @assault

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