Google: Nosing into US Government Consulting
April 4, 2022
I spotted an item on Reddit called “Google x Palantir.” Let’s assume there’s a smidgen of truth in the post. The factoid is in a comment about Google’s naming Stephen Elliott as its head of artificial intelligence solutions for the Google public sector unit. (What happened to the wizard once involved in this type of work? Oh, well.)
The interesting item for me is that Mr. Elliott will have a particular focus on “leveraging the Palantir Foundry platform.” I thought that outfits like Praetorian Digital (now Lexipol) handled this type of specialist consulting and engineering.
What strikes me as intriguing about this announcement is that Palantir Foundry will work on the Google Cloud. Amazon is likely to be an interested party in this type of Google initiative.
Amazon has sucked up a significant number of product-centric searches. Now the Google wants to get into the “make Palantir work” business.
Plus, Google will have an opportunity to demonstrate its people management expertise, its ability to attract and retain a diverse employee group, and its ability to put some pressure on the Amazon brachial nerve.
How will Microsoft respond?
The forthcoming Netflix mockumentary “Mr. Elliot Goes to Washington” will fill someone’s hunger for a reality thriller.
And what if the Reddit post is off base. Hey, mockumentaries can be winners. Remember “This Is Spinal Tap”?
Stephen E Arnold, April 4, 2022
The Art and Craft of Sending Document Copies to Legal Eagles: The Googley Method
April 1, 2022
Not joke. I read an allegedly accurate write up. It is called “Justice Department Accuses Google of Hiding Business Communications.” The idea is that in the US communications between a lawyer and his/her/them clients are privileged. I am not attorney, but the idea is to allow the lawyer to discuss sensitive issues with the his/her/them paying the bills.
The write up states:
The DOJ writes in its brief that Google teaches employees to request advice from counsel around sensitive business communications, thereby shielding documents from discovery in legal situations. Once counsel is involved, the company can treat the documents as protected under attorney-client privilege.
My view is that Google is just being “Googley.” When people who perceive themselves as entitled and really smart, those his/her/thems get advice from bright, often lesser individuals. The Googlers process the advice and when a suggestion measures up to Googzilla’s standards, the suggestion just sorta maybe becomes a way to handle certain issues.
Those who are Googley understand. Individuals who are not Googley — presumably like those in the Department of Justice — don’t understand the Googliness of the action.
Laws. Rules of the road. Those are often designed for the non Googley. The Googley must tolerate the others. But having the cash to throw legal cannon fodder in the path of the lesser lights who would do the Google harm is a useful tactic.
Stephen E Arnold, April 1, 2022
Google: The Quantum Supremacy Turtling
April 1, 2022
Okay, Aprils’ Fool Day.
“Google Wants to Win the Quantum Computing Race by Being the Tortoise, Not the Hare” explains that the quantum supremacy “winner” which captured “time crystals” has a new angle:
it’s clear that Google — or, to be more accurate, its parent company Alphabet — has its sights set on being the world’s premiere quantum computing organization.
Machines? Nah, think cloud, gentle reader. Google has it together, but the non Googley may struggle to get the picture. The write up says:
Parent company Alphabet recently starbursted its SandboxAQ division into its own company, now a Google sibling. It’s unclear exactly what SandboxAQ intends to do now that it’s spun out, but it’s positioned as a quantum-and-AI-as-a-service company. We expect it’ll begin servicing business clients in partnership with Google in the very near-term.
But? The write up says:
We can safely assume we haven’t seen the last of Google’s quantum computing research breakthroughs, and that tells us we could very well be living in the moments right before the slow-and-steady tortoise starts to make up ground on the speedy hare.
Maybe turtle? An ectotherm like Googzilla? Eye glass frames with a relevant Google product review? So many questions.
Stephen E Arnold, April 1, 2022
Do Amazon and Google Shape Information to Advance Their Legislative Agenda?
March 31, 2022
The meeting in which it was decided to fund the Connected Commerce Council must have been fun: High fives, snorts of laughter, and derogatory comments perhaps? CNBC, a most interesting source of real 21st century news, published “How Google and Amazon Bankrolled a Grassroots’ Activist Group of Small Business Owners to Lobby Against Big Tech Oversight.” This is not a high school essay about “How to Make a Taco.” Nope. If true, the write up explains how two companies funded an information management campaign. I would describe this a weaponized propaganda, but I live in rural Kentucky and I am luck if I can remember where I left my bicycle. (Answer: in the garage.)
The write up explains:
The Connected Commerce Council, which pitches itself as a grassroots movement representing small business owners, is actually a well-financed advocacy group funded by tech heavy hitters Google and Amazon.
Interesting.
Here’s the newsy bit:
Lobbying watchdog group the Campaign for Accountability called 3C an “Astroturf” lobbying organization, thanks to the tech giants’ financial support. That’s a bit of Washington slang for a group that claims to represent grassroots entities, but in reality serves as an advocate for big industry. It’s a tactic used in Washington to push for specific legislative or regulatory goals using the sympathetic face of mom and pop organizations. The Campaign for Accountability described 3C in a 2019 report as an “Astroturf-style front group for the nation’s largest technology companies.”
Let’s think about the meeting or meetings which made it possible for two big outfits conclude that weaponizing content was a peachy keen idea. Some questions:
- When will the regulators emulate their European brothers, sisters, and thems and make meaningful steps to deal with cute weaponizing plays like this one?
- Why do executives sign off on such content manipulation — excuse me, I mean public interest messaging? Confidence in their ability to let loose flocks of legal eagles, a “hey, why not” attitude, or a belief in their own infallibility. (CNBC is not exactly Bellingcat, right?)
- Is it a disconnect between ethical behavior and high school science club insouciance?
These are good questions, and I don’t have answers.
The write up includes this remarkable quotation from a Connected Commerce big wheel:
In a statement to CNBC, Connected Commerce Council Executive Director Rob Retzlaff said all of the group’s members “affirmatively sign up – at events, online, or through a personal connection – and thousands have opened emails, responded to surveys, attended meetings and events, and communicated with legislators.” Retzlaff said, “I sincerely hope you do not (a) mischaracterize our efforts or the views of small businesses by suggesting we are an astroturf organization that puts words in people’s mouths, or (b) use outdated membership information to distract readers from legitimate concerns of small businesses and their engagement with policymakers.”
I like the “sincerely hope.”
Read the original. I think the article is a thought starter.
Oh, one more question:
Why didn’t Google just filter search results to add sauce to the Max Miller recreation of Genghis Khan’s fave little meat cakes? Low profile and the perfect explanation: The algorithm makes its own decisions.
Sure, just like the people in the meeting that concluded disinformation and propaganda to preserve the nifty cash machines that make astroturfing useful.
Stephen E Arnold, March 31, 2022
Google: Grade A Search Baloney
March 31, 2022
I have been involved in online information for more than 50 years. Yep, folks, That’s more than half a century. Those early days involved using big clunky computers to locate a word in a Latin corpus. Then there were the glory days of commercial online products like Business Dateline, the Health Reference Center, and others. The Internet was a source of online craziness that trumped the wackiness of Ev Brenner and his vision for petrochemical data. Against this richly colored tapestry of marketing fabrications, overpromising and under delivering, and the bizarre fantasies of the “old” Information Industry Association I read “Google Search Is Actually Getting Better at Giving You What You Need.”
The write up channels a marketing person at the Google and mixes the search wizard’s recycling of Google truisms with some pretty crazy assertions about finding information in 2022.
Let’s take a look at three points and then step back and put these online advertising charged assertions in a broader context; namely, of the outcomes of a a system which is a de facto information monopoly.
Here are the points I noted in the write up:
Big, baby, big.
The first idea is that Google processes a great deal of information. Plus, Google tests to tackle the challenge of “search quality.” By the way, what does “quality” mean? What happens when you combine big with quality, you get really good outputs from the Google system. Just try it. Do a search for pizza via Google on a mobile device. See what you get? Pizza information. Perfect. So big and quality means good. Do you buy that?
The second idea is that Google like little beavers or little Googzillas works to improve quality. The idea is that yesterday’s Google was not bad; it needs improvement. Many improvements mean that quality goes up. Okay, let’s try it. Say you want information about a loss of coolant accident. You know. Chernobyl, Fukashima, et al. Type in loca and you get Shakira’s video. Type in “nuclear loca” and you get links to a loss of coolant accident. Type in site:nrc.gov loca and you get results specific to a loss of coolant incident. Note what’s needed to get Google to produce something about loss of coolant accident. The user must specify a context; otherwise, Google delivers lowest common denominator results. One can use Google Dorks to work about the Shakira problem, but let’s face it, very few people are into Google Dorks. (I include them in my OSINT lecture at the National Cyber Crime Conference in April 2022, but I know from experience that not even trained investigators are into Google Dorks.)
The third idea is that Google is embracing artificial intelligence. That makes sense because there are not enough people to process today’s flows of information in the old fashioned subject matter expert way. One must reduce costs in order to deliver “quality.” Does that seem an unusual pairing of improvements and search results? Think about it, please.
Now let’s step back. Here are some observations I jotted on a 4×6 notecard:
- Google uses people looking for online information to generate revenue from ads. That which produces more ad revenue is valued. The “quality” is a repurposing of a useful concept to the need to generate revenue. Shakira is the correct result for the “loca” query. That’s quality.
- The notion of testing is interesting. What’s the objective? The answer is generating revenue. Thus, the notion of testing is little more than steering or tuning search results to generate more revenue. The adjustments operate on several levels: Shaping understanding via filtering and producing revenue from search results. Simple, just not exactly what a user of an ad supported system thinks about when running a query for pizza.
- Smart software is the number one way for Google to [a] reduce costs, [b] deflect legal challenges to its search result shaping with the statement “The algorithm does, not a human”; and [c] create the illusion that Google search results are really smart. Use Google and you will be smarter too.
Believe these assertions? You’re the ideal Google user. Have doubts? You are not Googley. Don’t apply for a job at the Google and for heaven’s sake, don’t expect the Google outputs to be objective, just accept that some information is unfindable by design.
Google Dorks exist for a reason? Google has made finding relevant information more difficult than at any time in my professional career. And every year, the Google system becomes more detached from what most people believe fuels Google’s responses to what Google users need.
Yep, need. Sell ads. Reduce costs. Generate feedback into the system from user’s who have biases. Why are government agencies pushing back on outfits like Google? The quest for qualilty? Nope. The pushback reflects a growing awareness of disinformation, manipulation, and behavior that stifles options in my opinion.
Stephen E Arnold, March 31, 2022
TikTok: Search and Advertising
March 29, 2022
If life were not tricky enough for Amazon, Facebook, and Google, excitement is racing down the information highway. I read “TikTok Search Ads Tool Is Being Tested Out.” I learned:
This week, the famous short video application began beta testing for TikTok search ads in search results, allowing marketers to reach the audience utilizing the keywords they use.
Yep, a test, complete with sponsored listings at the top of the search result page.
Will this have an impact on most adults over the age of 65? The answer in my opinion, “Is not right away, but down the road, oh, baby, yes.”
Let’s think about the Big Boys:
- Amazon gets many clicks from its product search. The Google once dominated this function, but the Bezos bulldozer has been grinding away.
- Facebook or as I like to call it “zuckbook.” The combined social empire of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp has quite a bit of product information. Don’t you follow Soph Mosca’s fashion snaps on Instagram? Will TikTok search offer a better experience with search, ads, and those nifty videos? Yep.
- And Google. Now the GOOG faces competition for product search ads from the China linked TikTok. How will the company respond? Publish a book on managing a diverse work force or put out a news release about quantum supremacy.
The write up explains that the ads, the search angle, and the experience is in beta. Will TikTok sell ads? Okay, let me think. Wow. Tough question. My answer, “Does President Gi take an interest in the Internet?”
The write up includes a link to a Twitter post which shows the beta format. You can view it at this link.
I want to point out that TikTok is a useful source of open source intelligence, captures information of interest to those who want to pinpoint susceptible individuals, and generates high value data about users interested in a specific type of content and the creators of that content.
Now TikTok will be on the agenda of meetings at three of the world’s most loved companies. Yep, Amazon, Facebook, and Google. Who loves these outfits the most? Advertisers!
Stephen E Arnold, March 29, 2022
Google: Managing with Flair
March 24, 2022
I had forgotten there was a Google employee survey. I read “Googlegeist Survey Reveals That Google Workers Are Increasingly Unhappy about Compensation, Promotion, and More.” Unhappy employees suggest that the Google zeitgeist is out of joint if the information in the write up is accurate.
I noted this passage:
In the latest Googlegeist or the annual Google survey, the company noticed that there was a growing trend of “increasingly unhappy” workers over compensation and other key issues.
How could those admitted to the Walt Disney Wonderland of technology and doing good be unhappy? How could the senior managers craft an artificial environment at odds with the needs of humanoids?
Is there a silver lining to the clouds hanging over the Google? Yes. I learned:
The survey which took place two months ago, yielded the most desirable results when it comes to advertisements, cloud, and searches. Moreover, the highest score came from the values and mission of the company. However, it should be noted that the lowest remark tackled the context of execution and compensation on the part of the labor force.
And how did the management of the firm respond? According to the write up:
Addressing the survey results is considered to be “one of the most important ways” for evaluation, as CEO Sundar Pichai said during an announcement via email. This would help the company assess the willingness and desirability of the workers to work inside the firm.
There you go. Management insight. Be happy or begone.
Stephen E Arnold, March 24, 2022
Google: Cheeseburgers, Fried Rice, and Gluten Free Pizza Cravings?
March 24, 2022
I have no idea if the write up in Ars Technica is accurate. The story is called “Google Hijacked Millions of Customers and Orders from Restaurants, Lawsuit Says.” The article does not use the word “predatory” or any other metaphorically rich language. The focus is that something called Left Field Holdings which operates Mexican restaurants has alleged that the Google is in the bait-and-switch game.
The idea is that Google allows an order online function. A restaurant creates a Google business profile and has the option to allow ordering from the Google page. But what if the restaurant doesn’t sign up. The lawsuit, based on the information in the article, activates the function.
Here’s the passage I find fascinating:
It’s not clear when The Ordering App or the “Order Online” button changed tack or if it ever did—there’s very little information about the acquisition or the product that’s public—but the lawsuit alleges that at some point Google decided to market it to food delivery companies instead of restaurants.
Gee, I wonder if a developer implemented a feature in order to get a bonus or qualify for a position upgrade?
Here’s another interesting passage in the write up:
f restaurants haven’t completed the setup, Google appears to create a page anyway. It’s unclear how that happens, though it’s possible that a restaurant’s appearance in a delivery app is what triggers it. That isn’t always a sign of a business relationship between the restaurant and food delivery company, though. Many food delivery companies have been sued for adding restaurants without their consent.
Like Google’s new buy a car or other click here and Mother Google will make your life easier functions, is it possible that years of zero regulatory oversight and a “hey, we’re Google and we can do anything, even solve death” mentality is at work.
We love the Google and know that none of its management team, with skills honed in high school science clubs, would play fast and loose, get commissions, and abuse outfits which don’t spend big bucks for Google advertising.
Our ethically minded Google could not behave in this manner. We are believers in the one true way for online behavior. Aren’t you? Obviously the owners of the Mexican restaurants are unlikely to be deemed Googley.
And if you are not Googley, exactly what are you? Do you even exist?
Stephen E Arnold, March 24, 2022
Google and Microsoft: Are Your Wizards Really Innovating Again?
March 23, 2022
I scanned my headlines this morning and noted two different companies which have revealed their latest innovations. These are big outfits, and one expects each company to come up with big plays. Little plays won’t move the revenue needle, and money is important to these estimable enterprises.
What’s Google’s most recent innovation? I think it is ad supported video streaming of 4,000 old TV shows and about 1,500 old movies. “YouTube Makes Thousands of TV Show Episodes Available to Stream for Free” reports:
For the first time, YouTube is letting users in the US stream thousands of free, ad-supported TV shows like Hell’s Kitchen, Heartland and Unsolved Mysteries, it announced. That will put it into competition with OTA (over-the-air) TV and streaming services with ad tiers including Peacock, the Roku Channel, Tubi and others.
To me, Google’s “play” is a me too, not a “first time.”
What’s Microsoft’s most recent Eureka! moment? “Microsoft Looks Poised to Dominate the Quantum Computing Industry” states:
Microsoft Azure recently announced that its quantum computing research teams had invented “a new kind of qubit” based on elusive, never-before-demonstrated properties of physics. According to the Redmond company, this will allow it to build scalable quantum computers capable of solving the hardest problems facing humanity.
Hopefully Microsoft’s quantum efforts have not pulled resources from the company’s security initiatives.
For me, the Google announcement is another step in a long, somewhat confused video journey. The channeling of Peacock and Roku is interesting. Instead of confronting TikTok, Google wants to take on incumbents recycling old content. YouTube’s new content initiatives did not achieve orbital velocity in my opinion. There’s content on YouTube, but it is non directed. TikTok takes a different approach. Old TV shows are not a response to a competitive challenge.
The Microsoft quantum play is another attempt to demonstrate that Microsoft has something really big up its sleeve. Years ago, Microsoft was into search and contact lenses that worked like Google Glass. Now the future is quantum computing, and it is like general artificial intelligence going to be the next big thing after Teams I suppose.
Stepping back, these two “innovations” illustrate the me-too approach to generating excitement, appeasing stakeholders, and capturing mindshare. Am I quivering with excitement yet? Nope. Marketing and PR are bummers for me.
Stephen E Arnold, March 23, 2022
Google: Admitting What It Does Now That People Believe Google Is the Holy Grail of Information
March 21, 2022
About 25 years. That’s how long it took Google to admit that it divides the world into bluebirds, canaries, sparrows, and dead ducks. Are we talking about our feathered friends? Nope. We are dividing the publicly accessible Web sites into four categories. Note: These are my research team’s classifications:
Bluebirds — Web sites indexed in sort of almost real time. Example: whitehouse.gov and sites which pull big ad sales
Canaries — Web sites that are popular but indexed in a more relaxed manner. Example: Sites which pull ad money but not at the brand level
Sparrows — Web sites that people look at but pull less lucrative ads. Example: Your site, probably?
Dead ducks — Sites banned, down checked for “quality”, or sites which use Google’s banned words. Example: You will have to use non Google search systems to locate these resources. Example: Drug ads which generate money and kick up unwanted scrutiny from some busy bodies.
“Google Says ‘Discovered – Currently Not Indexed’ Status Can Last Forever” explains:
‘Discovered – Currently not indexed’ in the Google Search Console Index Coverage report can potentially last forever, as the search engine doesn’t index every page.
The article adds:
Google doesn’t make any guarantees to crawl and index every webpage. Even though Google is one of the biggest companies in the world, it has finite resources when it comes to computing power.
Monopoly power? Now that Google dominates search it can decide what can be found for billions of people.
This is a great thing for the Google. For others, perhaps not quite the benefit the clueless user expects?
If something cannot be found in the Google Web search index, that something does not exist for lots of people. After 25 years and information control, the Google spills the beans about dead ducks.
Stephen E Arnold, March 21, 2022
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