Interesting, I had no idea Google and Facebook were the top tech lobby spenders.
I would have thought it would be Microsoft and Apple.
Thinker
January 26, 2016 11:29 am
Anon, it’s all about big data now, not hardware or software. That’s why Google and Facebook are at the top; the data they collect on users is worth a fortune, and they want to protect their ability to gather and sell it.
Of course, the government is all too happy to help.
Fiatman60
January 26, 2016 11:48 am
@ Thinker
NAILED IT!!!!!!
Capn Mike
January 26, 2016 1:45 pm
To be contrary, (I have no real love for these guys) but a lot of lobbying is self – protection from the gummint itself, or better connected competitors.
starfcker
January 26, 2016 3:33 pm
A lot of the expense that companies like this have for lobbying is required. They don’t need it, they don’t want it, but if they don’t pay the freight, they are on the outside looking in. So it’s just easier to write the check, than fight the system.
JIMSKI
January 26, 2016 3:44 pm
Taxes.
Westcoaster
January 26, 2016 4:18 pm
I once owned a business that partially relied on FCC rules for cable systems to operate. When one of the cable operators wouldn’t follow the FCC rules, my recourse was to file a “Petition for relief” with the FCC, which took forever to process. My D.C. Communications attorney suggested that I might want to arrange a meeting with FCC staff to “help speed up the process”. The cost for such a meeting (paid indirectly)? $50,000, I shit you not!
I declined the offer and decided to wait it out.
VietVet
January 26, 2016 7:44 pm
Who do you think builds the code that provides the indexing and search interfaces for the fusion centers to track ‘the bad guys’ in all that mass data?
It all sits on MS backend databases and servers.
Get real
Thinker
February 8, 2016 10:19 am
Scary New Ways the Internet Profiles You
Facebook, Google, and the other Internet titans have ever more sophisticated and intrusive methods of mining your data, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The success of the consumer Internet can be attributed to a simple grand bargain. We’ve been encouraged to search the web, share our lives with friends, and take advantage of all sorts of other free services. In exchange, the Internet titans that provide these services, as well as hundreds of other lesser-known firms, have meticulously tracked our every move in order to bombard us with targeted advertising. Now, this grand bargain is being tested by new attitudes and technologies.
Consumers who were not long ago blithely dismissive of privacy issues are increasingly feeling that they’ve lost control over their personal information. Meanwhile, Internet companies, adtech firms, and data brokers continue to roll out new technologies to build ever more granular profiles of hundreds of millions, if not billions, of consumers. And with next generation of artificial intelligence poised to exploit our data in ways we can’t even imagine, the simple terms of the old agreement seem woefully inadequate.
Anybody lobby for the American Citizens?
Interesting, I had no idea Google and Facebook were the top tech lobby spenders.
I would have thought it would be Microsoft and Apple.
Anon, it’s all about big data now, not hardware or software. That’s why Google and Facebook are at the top; the data they collect on users is worth a fortune, and they want to protect their ability to gather and sell it.
Of course, the government is all too happy to help.
@ Thinker
NAILED IT!!!!!!
To be contrary, (I have no real love for these guys) but a lot of lobbying is self – protection from the gummint itself, or better connected competitors.
A lot of the expense that companies like this have for lobbying is required. They don’t need it, they don’t want it, but if they don’t pay the freight, they are on the outside looking in. So it’s just easier to write the check, than fight the system.
Taxes.
I once owned a business that partially relied on FCC rules for cable systems to operate. When one of the cable operators wouldn’t follow the FCC rules, my recourse was to file a “Petition for relief” with the FCC, which took forever to process. My D.C. Communications attorney suggested that I might want to arrange a meeting with FCC staff to “help speed up the process”. The cost for such a meeting (paid indirectly)? $50,000, I shit you not!
I declined the offer and decided to wait it out.
Who do you think builds the code that provides the indexing and search interfaces for the fusion centers to track ‘the bad guys’ in all that mass data?
It all sits on MS backend databases and servers.
Get real
Scary New Ways the Internet Profiles You
Facebook, Google, and the other Internet titans have ever more sophisticated and intrusive methods of mining your data, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The success of the consumer Internet can be attributed to a simple grand bargain. We’ve been encouraged to search the web, share our lives with friends, and take advantage of all sorts of other free services. In exchange, the Internet titans that provide these services, as well as hundreds of other lesser-known firms, have meticulously tracked our every move in order to bombard us with targeted advertising. Now, this grand bargain is being tested by new attitudes and technologies.
Consumers who were not long ago blithely dismissive of privacy issues are increasingly feeling that they’ve lost control over their personal information. Meanwhile, Internet companies, adtech firms, and data brokers continue to roll out new technologies to build ever more granular profiles of hundreds of millions, if not billions, of consumers. And with next generation of artificial intelligence poised to exploit our data in ways we can’t even imagine, the simple terms of the old agreement seem woefully inadequate.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/08/scary-new-ways-the-internet-profiles-you.html