[jazz_guitar] The New Ruling Class of Silicon Valley
akmbirch
America's New Oligarchs—Fwd.us and Silicon Valley's Shady 1 Percenters
Americans love their tech gurus, but the feeling isn't mutual. Joel Kotkin on the new ruling class that's gaming the system and jerking the rest of us around.
http://j.mp/11GbtZV
---------------------------------
The TriChordist commentary
http://j.mp/YNZ2an
"Google, with a market cap of $215 billion, is about five times larger than GM yet has just one fourth as many [PAID] workers.
It occurs to us in the new exploitation economy of loser generated content that many people are "working" for Google and other tech companies supplying endless hours of consumer created content from Facebook posts to Instagram photos. That's just the stuff that people are willing to give away by consent (although we don't know how much privacy they are actually consenting to give up in the process).
But the larger truth is even more scary. Google and other internet businesses profit greatly by avoiding paying for the cost of the goods they are monetizing (primarily by advertising). YouTube is a company built on infringement and theft as a business model.
In other words, it's a lot easier to make money when you don't have to pay for the labor or fixed costs of developing and producing a product. You know products like music, film, books, software, etc.
Obviously if all of these creators and producers were paid fairly in the value chain to which their work is creating revenue, than there would be less profit for the distributor. What we have now is a distribution mechanism that profits without paying the creative producers. Which is exactly how a company like Google can earn such extraordinary wealth, essentially through stolen labor."
| Reply via web post | Reply to sender | Reply to group | Start a New Topic | Messages in this topic (1) |
<*> File Archive: http://www.jazzguitarfaq.com/filearchive/
<*> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JazzGuitarGroup
akmbirch
Is this the record of a trustworthy company? Check Out Google's Consolidated Rap Sheet
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Sun, 2013-06-16 22:33
Google Inc. has a rap sheet longer than any Googler's arm. See it here. It shows:
142 incidents in 13 countries and the EU, involving 6 continents;
34 official actions against Google: 1 criminal, 7 fraud, 4 theft, 11 antitrust, and 11 privacy;
6 near-record fines in 3 countries;
11 nations and the EU have Google under antitrust investigation;
11 official privacy sanctions in multiple countries;
12 different industries have sued Google for theft; and
20+ cyber-security lapses have surfaced in the last 2 years.
This evidence shows Google to be the worst corporate scofflaw in modern American history.
More:
http://j.mp/14GfgVj
<*> File Archive: http://www.jazzguitarfaq.com/filearchive/
<*> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JazzGuitarGroup
