Google and Authoritarianism: Fear or Something Else?
August 7, 2018
I read “Without Sergey Brin, Google Has Lost Its Healthy Fear of Authoritarianism.” For me the main premise is that Sergey Brin has left the building. The loss or lack of Mr. Brin’s involvement has contributed to Google’s willingness to create a search system and method for the China market.
I noted this statement attributed to Mr. Brin published in an article in Der Spiegel:
“Having come from a totalitarian country, the Soviet Union, and having seen the hardships that my family endured–both while there and trying to leave—I certainly am particularly sensitive to the stifling of individual liberties,” he told Der Spiegel not long after the pullback.
The idea is that Mr. Brin was not comfortable with a foray into China.
This statement from the write up warranted a pink highlight circle:
Since Pichai took over, Google has made a number of overtures to China, including plans for an AI research lab in Beijing. Pichai last year also attended an annual internet conference China hosts, as did Apple’s Tim Cook, a rare confluence of top US tech leadership at the controversial tech event.
Thus, the idea is that Mr. Brin feared authoritarianism. Now Google does not fear authoritarianism. Maybe? Maybe not? Other fears may be motivating the ad supported search giant.
Stephen E Arnold, August 8, 2018
Understanding Google: Site Reliability
August 6, 2018
There are few mysteries we never thought would be answered: Did Lee Harvey Oswald act alone? What happened to Amelia Earhart? And how does Google marketing work? The first two will probably never find a satisfactory solution, but the third might, after we stumbled upon a recent page and book “The Site Reliability Workbook.”
According to the site:
“The Site Reliability Workbook is the hands-on companion to the bestselling Site Reliability Engineering book and uses concrete examples to show how to put SRE principles and practices to work. This book contains practical examples from Google’s experiences and case studies from Google’s Cloud Platform customers. Evernote, The Home Depot, The New York Times, and other companies outline hard-won experiences of what worked for them and what didn’t.”
While this doesn’t prove to be the Rosetta Stone we were hoping for, it’s always good to get a better understanding of the mechanics at play in these situations. However, the jury is out about whether it is a smart use of time. Some critics say Google is a mess that could experience an outage at any minute, while others are celebrating the search giant and its marketing chops. Either way, we’ll have a slightly better understanding about why after reading this workbook.
Patrick Roland, August 6, 2018
A View of the Google Employee Resistance Movement
August 5, 2018
I read “Googlers Bristle at Censoring Search for China.” The main idea is that Google is experiencing “widespread employee anger.” Call me old fashioned, but I thought that when a person accepted a job for money and benefits, part of the deal was to work on tasks one’s boss handed out. The write up states:
Google was scurrying to stop leaks and quell outrage inside the company over what had been a stealth project prior to a report this week by news website The Intercept.
I like the “scurrying” metaphor.
Unnamed sources allegedly said:
“Everyone’s access to documents got turned off, and is being turned on [on a] document-by-document basis,” a source told the news site. “There’s been total radio silence from leadership, which is making a lot of people upset and scared. … Our internal meme site and Google Plus are full of talk, and people are a.n.g.r.y.”
The write up reveals that Google has 700 employees in three offices in China.
Is it possible for China to direct its attention to these employees. Monitoring might communicate a hint that finding work at another company might be a good idea?
Of course, here in rural Kentucky, it seems possible, maybe likely.
Net net: Google has a couple of challenges to which to respond: Management and getting a chunk of what may be one of the largest markets in the world.
No big deal for an online advertising company selling Loon balloons and waiting for money to roll in from an investment in baby Segways.
But what about employee resistance? What about some actual sources?
Stephen E Arnold, August 5, 2018
Google and China: A New Management Approach to Silicon Valley Pragmatism
August 3, 2018
I read “While Pragmatist Pichai Ploughs into China, Google Workers Fume over Concession to Censorship.” The main point of the write up for me is that Google has a management challenge on its hands. I learned:
Co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin built Google to “organize the world’s information and make it universally available”. They viewed China as a threat to the company’s stance as a defender of the open web. Pichai, in contrast, sees China as a hotbed of engineering talent and an appealing market.
The only problem is that I think that the omission of money is a modest flaw in the logic of the quoted passage.
I noted this statement:
People trust Google to share true information and the Chinese search app is a betrayal of that, the employee said. The Google workers asked not to be identified because they are not permitted to discuss internal matters.
I assume the nifty buzzword “pragmatism” (possibly a metaphor for “governance”) embraces this disconnect between what one or more Googlers perceive, and what the GOOG actually does to deliver “relevant” results.
I highlighted:
Dragonfly [the code name for the new China specific search app] was a popular topic on Memegen, an internal online photo messaging board and cultural barometer at the company. One meme cited a popular Google slogan – “Put the user first” – with an asterisk attached: “Chinese users excluded, because we do not agree with your government.” A second post questioned the merits of American staff deciding global policies. Westerners debating Google entering China “feels somehow like men debating regulating women’s bodies,” it read.
Yep, relevant results. Pragmatic results too.
Stephen E Arnold, August 3, 2018
About Wanting China to Change
August 2, 2018
I read “Google Developing News App for China.” Interesting tactical shift at the GOOG. I won’t bring up the remarkable suggestion some senior Googlers floated years ago. Nope. I won’t write: “Google wants China to change.” No. I will not mention that the Middle Kingdom has not been a social construct ready to rush into the Brave New World. China is, well, China.
The main point of the write up is that Google employs some people who have probably figured out that China is a big market. In terms of market share, Google is looking at the Great Wall from afar. Where there is money, there is now a desire to become a player in what sure looks like one of the world’s largest markets.
Bottom-line: Google will do things the way China wants them done. That killing courtyard in Xi’an made it clear that once in that clever reception area, one did it China’s way or the clueless traders were in a position of strategic and tactical disadvantage. That’s a nice way of saying “trapped.”
Indexing information for China requires a basic tweak: Exclude content not on the Chinese white list.
What does this mean for the old “information wants to be free” idea?
It means that filtered information is what a person will see if Beyond Search understands the assertions in the write up.
Interesting stuff.
Google has learned a basic lesson at a cost of hundreds of millions, perhaps billions, in revenue: Companies are not nation states.
Beyond Search has learned that certain “ideals” are what one might describe as “flexible.” “Real” news and MBAs discussing ethics. As the Beyond Search goose knows, “Bend like the willow in a wind.”
Stephen E Arnold, August 2, 2018
Busy, Busy Google
August 1, 2018
It looks like catch-up time for Google. We suggest Amazon may be the one keeping it up at night. Whatever the case, an Inquirer article summarizes several recent Googley bragging points—“Google Is Going Heavy on AI Development and Hybrid Cloud.” Reporter Roland Moore-Colyer writes about developments the company shared at their recent Cloud Next conference. He surmises:
“Most notable is the search giant’s work with AI; it’s been doing a lot with making cloud-powered frameworks for developers to tap into to make killer robots clever software. At its cloudy conference, it took time to announce two fresh automatic machine learning tools. AutoML Natural Language lets devs automatically predict custom text categories specific to domains Google customers desire, while AutoML Translation allows translated language pairs to be uploaded so devs can create their own custom translation models. In short, the two tools are further ways Google has boosted its Cloud AutoML suite that gives people the means to get stuck into machine learning models without specialist smart software knowledge or coding. The firm also announced that third-generation Cloud TPUs are in alpha development – these custom processors have been specifically designed to power machine learning tasks and the third-gen promises more performance. Google also added more stuff to its machine learning APIs, such as the Cloud Vision API, which can now recognize handwriting and supports more file types. Yeah, Google is big into AI development for sure.”
Colyer goes on to share more news from the conference, like improvements to the G Suite of enterprise-level services that include AI-powered grammar suggestions and region-specific security features. As for the Google Cloud, we’re told most improvements lie in stack management. However, special mention is made of Google’s hybrid approach to its Cloud Service Platform, which combines cloud and on-premise deployment. We’re reminded that Microsoft had adopted a similar approach, so customers will be looking for that flexibility.
Cynthia Murrell, August 1, 2018
Google Reveals a Machine Learning Secret or Two
July 27, 2018
I read “Google AI Chief Jeff Dean’s ML System Architecture Blueprint.” Dr. Dean is a Google wizard from the good old days at the online ad search outfit. The write up is important because it reminds me that making software smart is a bit of a challenge. Amazon is trying to explain why its facial recognition pegged some elected officials as potential bad actors. IBM Watson is trying to reverse course and get its cancer treatment recommendations to save lives, not make them more interesting. Dozens upon dozens of companies are stating that each has artificial intelligence, machine learning, smart software, and other types of knowledge magic revved and ready to deploy.
The key part of the write up in my opinion boils down to this list of six “concerns”:
- Training
- Batch Size
- Sparsity and Embeddings
- Quantization and Distillation
- Networks with Soft Memory
- Learning to Learn (L2L)
The list identifies some hurdles. But underpinning these concerns is one significant “separate the men from the boys” issue; to wit:
Cost
What’s this suggest? Three things from my vantage point in rural Kentucky:
First, Google is spending big money on smart software, and others should get with the program and use its technology. The object of course is to generate lock in and produce revenue for the Google.
Second, make Google’s method “the method.” Innovation using Google’s approach is better, faster, and cheaper.
Third, Google is the leader in machine learning and smart software. Keep in mind, however, that these technologies may not be available to law enforcement, to governments which wish to use the approach for warfighting, or certain competitors.
Worth reading this Google paper. One downside: The diagrams are somewhat difficult to figure out. But that may not matter. Google has you covered.
Stephen E Arnold, July 27, 2018
Google: A Small Fine, Fuschia, and Maybe Some KaiOS
July 23, 2018
A modest fine from the EU and the buzz about a replacement for Android have not slowed Google’s innovative pace. With Android on most mobile phones, Google is seeking a way to refuel its mobile ad goals. The future may be Fuschia, but Google seems to want a Plan B.
The need to ensure internet access in emerging markets is one key factor in a recent financial decision by Google, we learn from the International Business Times’ article, “Why Is Google Funding Feature Phone Operating System KaiOS?” Writer Mike Luces reports that Google has made a Series A investment of $22 million in Kai Technologies, maker of an operating system that already powers some 40 million feature phones around the world. The article observes:
“,,, KaiOS stated that Google made the investment to ensure that new feature phones will have access to the internet, especially those sold in emerging markets. ‘This funding will help us fast-track development and global deployment of KaiOS-enabled smart feature phones, allowing us to connect the vast population that still cannot access the internet, especially in emerging markets,’ KaIOS CEO Sebastian Codeville said. KaiOS is currently powering the feature phones manufactured by TCL, HMD Global and Micromax. Google has already developed apps for KaiOS, so this new investment is seen as the tech giant’s way of ensuring its presence in the feature phone market without really developing and releasing hardware. Google is instead bringing its famous Android apps to KaiOS, including Google Maps, YouTube, Google Search and even its smart assistant, Google Assistant.”
Luces also observes that the moves takes place as the smartphone market in general appears to be slowing down. Another important item of information—KaiOS phones already outnumber iPhones in India, a huge market. We are interested to see what affects this investment will have. Founded in 2016, Kai Technologies is based in San Diego and maintains facilities in several cities. They are also hiring right now, in case anyone is interested.
The Beyond Search team assumes that Margrethe Vestager may be interested in KaiOS.
Cynthia Murrell, July 23, 2018
Insight into Google Image Search
July 22, 2018
I read “This Is What Happens When You Google the Word “Idiot.” The insight pivots on a query sent to Google Images for the word “idiot.” The results presented images of the US president. The same query fed to Bing generates a set of results without the image of Donald Trump. Here’s the explanation about the “why” of these results:
Google states that “[image search] analyzes the text on the page adjacent to the image, the image caption and dozens of other factors to determine the image content.” Added to that, Google uses sophisticated algorithms to remove duplicate images and ensure that the best quality images are presented first in your results. What this means is that whoever writes an article determines (mostly, there are other factors too) whether an image appears in Google Image Search results or not. This partly depends on the keywords they use adjacent or in the caption of the image, not necessarily the “content” of the image. Also, Google indexes the images on a website the same way it indexes web pages, by crawling across the Internet periodically. A quick investigation of the pages in the search results for the word “idiot” proves this to be true. In each of the links where Donald Trump’s image appears, the word “idiot” appears as a keyword and in most cases close to his image or sometimes in the caption.
Seems simple enough. Word plus image equals relevance.
Stephen E Arnold, July 21, 2018
Are Some Google Docs Exposed to Web Indexing Systems?
July 21, 2018
Recently, Russian search giant Yandex reported seeing Google Docs turn up in search results. Previously, this was thought to be impossible. However, this brings up a lot of questions that others have taken for granted: namely, how secure are documents on the cloud? This was looked at more closely in the Media Post story, “Private Google Docs Serve Up In Yandex Search Engine Results.”
According to the story:
“[O]ther search engines can only serve up Google documents that had either been deliberately made public by its authors or when a user publishes a link to a document and makes it available for public access and search… Saving and protecting users’ personal data is our main priority for search engines. A Yandex spokesperson said the search only yields files that don’t require logins or passwords.”
For its part, Google appears to deflect the Yandex observation. Regardless, the Yandex assert arrives near the muddy heels of other security woes like the idea that our Gmail messages and their content could be used by developers. With the Android matter behind it, the EU may look at access to certain Google content.
Patrick Roland, July 21, 2018
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