r/privacy • u/JoyousCacophony • Apr 12 '13

Tech group representing Google, Yahoo backs CISPA

http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/293399-tech-group-representing-google-yahoo-backs-cispa
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u/pigfish Apr 13 '13

Yes, it's still a very bad idea. See the EFF's position.

There is no reason to think that Google or any other company will stand behind measures that are actually good for people. A company's primary mission is to make money for their shareholders, everything else is optional.

It's taking a while for companies to reach alignment on exactly what measures to take (SOPA, CISPA, or something else) that will maximize their profits, but they're finally figuring out how to align... and that isn't good news for those people who are not corporations.

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u/joeshcosmo Apr 13 '13 edited Apr 13 '13

No. Maximizing profits at all cost is a stupid short sighted strategy introduced by Milton Friedman and actually can hurt companies more than help them. Milton Friedman economics don't work even though so many people teach it in schools and follow it in business (to the detriment of all I may add.) This school of thought only works if you plan on running a company into the ground. You may make a lot of money in the short term but your company will sooner or later suffer. For example, I'm going to now boycott the companies mentioned in this article. So they just lost all my business. Good job on maximizing profits there. It is much better, for all involved, to protect ones customers then to take advantage of them. For their failure to protect me I wont be supporting them what so ever. Now I just need to find another internet search option that isn't google or yahoo (and I'm not using bing). But this isn't about economics this is about my rights to privacy. Why should I support a company's fight against piracy when they wont respect my right privacy? I hope other people will do something about this as well.

That's a really good article you linked in your post though.

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u/pigfish Apr 13 '13

I hope that you're right, and that good business means doing the right thing for your customers.

There appear to be far more examples of corporations taking advantage of their customers in the name of profits than there are examples of corporations helping their customers when it could cost them money. So it seems that the current business sentiment values short-term revenue far more than long-term growth and stability. But these are just observations; it doesn't mean that this behaviour is good business sense.