Google and the Problematic MACs
April 30, 2010
The article “Google Defends Street View Wi-Fi Data Collection” has a killer passage. This is the segment that made it into my handwritten notes:
Peter Fleischer, global privacy counsel for Google, countered this in a blog post, saying that the firm does not believe that collecting Wi-Fi network information is illegal. “This is all publicly broadcast information accessible to anyone with a Wi-Fi enabled device. Companies like Skyhook have been collecting this data for longer than Google, as well as organizations like the German Fraunhofer Institute,” he wrote.
The key words for me are “believe” and “anyone with a Wi-Fi enabled device.” But the context in which I snarfed down this sound bite was the flashback from Google’s stance on China. Navigate to “Baidu’s First-Quarter Profit Soared 165% on Google Exit.” The point of the story is that Google’s “belief” is costing its shareholders money and giving Baidu an implicit okay to sew up the world’s largest market. But even more remarkable is that Baidu has a deal with AliPay, which could strangle Google’s competing service in the world’s largest market.
Yep, believe and beliefs. Running a company is supposed to generate value for shareholders, not these public relations, legal, and financial dust storms. Will Google be able to hang on to the number one rank in top brands?
Stephen E Arnold, April 30, 2010
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