Bonum Certa Men Certa

Google Built an Empire -- Mostly a Proprietary Empire -- on Top of Free Software, But Now It Helps Spread FUD Against Such Software While Mishandling the Web

Video download link | md5sum 430d51e9124c7c1ceff085d6e2420099 Noise Instead of News Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0



Summary: In an act of unwarranted spontaneity many people respect anything that comes from Google (any service, software, site) just like that, primarily based on the glorified brand, irrespective of actual assessment of the quality of the "product"; in the case of Google News, many dangerous assumptions are made because the company has become a filter against information and amplifier of sheer noise/webspam

The most powerful Internet company (literally run by the people who made the Internet; it employs some of them!) is undoubtedly Google. It is a bad guardian of information and a bad guardian of the open Web, which it is closing while adding DRM on top (basically imposing proprietary software on Free software users). It does many other bad things, but let's leave that aside for future videos.



Google is evil. It's a Gulag. Look what it turned YouTube into. And it gets even worse given the roots of this company, showing a lack of gratitude and no reciprocity (Summer of Code is mostly a publicity stunt, a self-serving PR ploy, a corporate dodge/decoy).

"And it gets even worse given the roots of this company, showing a lack of gratitude and no reciprocity (Summer of Code is mostly a publicity stunt, a self-serving PR ploy)."Google (Gulag) came out of "Linux" (that's very obvious to those who look at prototypes and screenshots of the original google.com, the search engine), but nowadays it exploits a lot of free labour (hence the name "Gulag") to make proprietary software which violates people's privacy. We have Android -- by far the most widely used operating system -- built with Linux, ChromeOS built based on/atop Gentoo, and Chrome itself being a mixture of many Free software projects (while Chrome itself is proprietary spyware).

How does Gulag Noise (Google News) treat Linux and Free software? Not well at all! It lists many Microsoft propaganda sites as "news" sites (aggregated in the Gulag Noise) while excluding hundreds of decent and reliable GNU/Linux-centric sites (which cover "Linux" news and stick to facts). The distortion of news (or Gulag Noise) is shown above not in the context of patents -- a subject we shall cover tomorrow as usual -- but also Free software.

"The problem is, Google News is a monopoly in that area (no other company has the resources to crawl millions of sites so fast for news updates) and with monopoly comes special responsibility.""I wade through the crap written against Free software on a daily basis," an associate told us. "I'm not sure I have a view more like a litany of complaints."

As shown in the above video, a spontaneous (unplanned/unscripted/unedited) one as usual, Google treats Linux badly (amplifying anti-Linux sites), it is a terrible guardian of information (amplifying spam and misinformation), and the Web as a whole is getting worse because of Google. Many useful features have been removed (Google News used to be mostly news 10-15 years ago), RSS gets treated like second-class or non-citizen, and it's only getting worse over time. Google News might have become noisy due to litigation (e.g. large-scale lawsuits against Fair Use) and utter neglect. The problem is, Google News is a monopoly in that area (no other company has the resources to crawl millions of sites so fast for news updates) and with monopoly comes special responsibility. Many competing search sites merely 'borrow' results from the monopoly, so the misinformation propagates far and wide.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Why Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) Won't Work
American companies don't follow laws, they work around them
Net Gain of 50 Gemini Capsules in Just One Month
a big jump in just one month
Keeping Linux Reliable
If Linux becomes a lot more reliable in the future, it'll be an "hey hi" miracle. If Linux becomes a lot less reliable in the future, we'll know why and who is responsible for it.
Cyber Show on the Fallacy of Salary/Ego as a Function of Wisdom in the Era of Pyramid Schemes (Cheating People Using Buzzwords and Complicit Media)
"the remuneration fallacy and the role of reluctance as a negative feedback force."
EPO's Local Staff Committee Munich Organises General Assembly Next Week, the Goal is to Oust the Corrupt President and Derail His Unlawful Agenda
They're aiming to show Campinos the door
 
Earlier This Year Microsoft's Chief Liar Frank Shaw Lied About the Layoffs. Now He's Leaving.
he's nowhere near retirement age
Gemini Links 11/09/2026: Small Things and "Hitching Your Wagon"
Links for the day
Links 11/09/2026: Tristan Buckmaster Ripped Off by Slop, Social Control Media Spreads Hatred for Profit
Links for the day
Animals Smarter Than Chatbots
Quack quack goes the chatbot
IBM Isn't Reporting Layoffs, But It Removes Tens of Thousands of People From Its Workforce
Red Hat and IBM already mark people for removal
"A Tale of Two Antónios" Will Resume Soon
In November the site turns 20
Links 11/09/2026: Cyberattack in Berlin (Windows/Microsoft TCO) and Hype About Slop as 'Existential' Something; Scam Altman et al Caught Stealing/Plagiarising "Mathematical Breakthrough"
Links for the day
Microsoft/GNOME 9/11
Garrett and Graveley (Microsoft/GNOME) will have a lot to explain
9/11 Was a National Event, Not an International Event
They insist that back doors will "save lives"
Very Sloppy PR From a Dying IBM, Company in Disarray and in Need of Distractions
IBM could really use distractions right now
What a Price-Fixing Cartel Can Look Like
If your prices increase five-fold or ten-fold and so do your revenues/income, what does that tell us?
SLAPP Censorship - Part 178 Out of 200: Explaining to Your American Clients That Spending 130,000+ United States Dollars on a Single Hearing in Another Continent Means the UK's National Archives Will Retain in Perpetuity What Your Spouse or Girlfriend Said
Balabhadra (Alex) Graveley should ask Garrett how much money he has lost so far
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 10, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, September 10, 2026
Latest IBM Gossip is, Over 25,000 People to be PIPed (by Year's End)
That figure, 10%, is different from 15% (what we saw a lot). 10% is over 25,000 staff.
Solidarity at EPO
"Many colleagues have made personal and professional sacrifices by participating in the ongoing strike and work-to-rule action"
Gemini Links 11/09/2026: Culture Stuck, Robot Symphony, and Back to Geminispace
Links for the day
Links 10/09/2026: Facebook Unsafe for Kids, Fake Songs (Against Right of Publicity, CG Forgeries Basically) a Growing Problem
Links for the day
Rust is Financially and Technically Controlled by Microsoft. Rust Foundation is a Front for Microsoft's Proprietary Software.
Rust is not and has never been about security
Gemini Links 10/09/2026: "I Don’t Want to Interact With Stochastic Parrots" and "ROOPHLOCH 2026!"
Links for the day
What the British School Closure (BSN Senior School Leidschenveen) Means to EPO Staff
The only European thing about the EPO is the staff
Standing in Solidarity With Matt Mullenweg
I don't trust the people and companies that want Mullenweg out. Neither should you.
Links 10/09/2026: "Smear Campaign Says Anti-Flock Movement Is Chinese Propaganda" and "Flock Employee Calls Cops on Reporter Filming Them"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 09, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 09, 2026
IBM's Senior VP of Infrastructure is Out, Silent Layoffs Still Going On
Some people imagine the CEO will also "retire" very soon (and "ahead of time")
Gemini Links 09/09/2026: Mechanical Cameras, "Super App", and Prusa Issues
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 177 Out of 200: Manosphere Without Financial Transparency
It has moreover replaced a female worker with a male
Deadline Tomorrow (10th of September) to Appeal the EPO's Fleecing of Staff (Union to Make Legal Challenges)
Join them. Fight the good fight.
linuxstans.com Died, Then Came Back as Slop (LLM Junk)
Don't make the mistake or the assumption that merely 'dabbling in' or 'experimenting with' LLMs can be forgivable as it is a trust destroyer
Links 09/09/2026: GAFAM Fatalities in Miami International Airport, "Britain’s Health Crisis Is Becoming a Political Crisis"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/09/2026: "Adjective Is Subjective" and Walled Gardens
Links for the day
Plagiarism is Hardly a New Problem, It Predates Mainstream Media Getting Paid to Whitewash It as "Training" or "Hey Hi", Then Conflate Plagiarism With "Intelligence" or Deferred "Value"
"Quantum" isn't new either; it's a 'circle-jerk' for companies without direction, only hype
Links 09/09/2026: Airport 'Down' (Glasgow and Edinburgh), 'Open' 'AI' Losses Rise to Pace of 50 Billion Dollars in Losses Per Year
Links for the day
Unsafe at Any Speed, "Modern" Appliances
Appliances have gotten worse
SLAPP Censorship - Part 176 Out of 200: The Sex-Obsessed Non-Experts
We heard some sexual stories
European Patent Office (EPO): No Transparency and No Paper Trail
The incompetence is that of the management, i.e. sheer incompetence of people who never examined a patent in their entire lifetime
Gemini Links 09/09/2026: Going Out, Smartphone Addiction, Mapping the Geminispace
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 08, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 08, 2026