Alphabet Google Faces a Secret Foe
September 21, 2016
I thought indexing the world’s information made it possible to put together disparate items of information. Once assembled, these clues from the world of real time online content would allow a person with access to answer a business question.
Apparently for Alphabet Google it faces a secret foe. I learned this by reading “Secretive Foe Attacks Google over Government Influence.” I learned:
Google has come under attack by a mysterious group that keeps mum about its sponsors while issuing scathing reports about the Mountain View search giant’s influence on government.
The blockbuster write up reported:
So far, only Redwood Shores-based Oracle has admitted to funding the Transparency Project, telling Fortune it wanted the public to know about its support for the initiative.
Yikes, a neighbor based at the now long gone Sea World.
The outfit going after the lovable Alphabet Google thing is called the Transparency Group. The excited syntax of the write up told me:
The Transparency Project commenced hostilities against Google in April, gaining national media attention with a report tracking the number of Googlers taking jobs in the White House and federal agencies, and the number of federal officials traveling in the other direction, into Google. Project researchers reported 113 “revolving door” moves between Google — plus its associated companies, law firms and lobbyists — and the White House and federal agencies.
Okay, but back to my original point. With the world’s information at one’s metaphorical fingerprints, is it not possible to process email, Google Plus, user search histories, and similar data laden troves for clues about the Transparency Group?
Perhaps the Alphabet Google entity lacks the staff and software to perform this type of analysis? May I suggest a quick telephone call to Palantir Technologies. From what I understand by reading open source information about the Gotham product, Palantir can knit together disparate and fragmented data and put the members of the Transparency Group on the map in a manner of speaking.
I understand the concept of finding fault with a near perfect company. But the inability of a search giant to find out who, what, when, where, what, how, and why baffles me.
It does not, as an old school engineer with a pocket protector might say, compute.
Stephen E Arnold, September 14, 2016
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