In a recent article for Issues & Insights, Justin Danhof examines the power that search giant Google wields and how it could be used to influence elections. According to Danhof, “It is hard to fathom a greater bully than Google.”
In a recent article for Issues & Insights titled “When The Bully Controls The Search Engine,” Justin Danhof examines the control and power that search giant Google wields and how it could be utilized to influence elections. The article begins by noting the shocked reaction from Google employees following the election of President Trump in 2016, as documented in Breitbart News’ exclusive publication of the Google Tape.
The article notes that all Americans should be frightened by the fact that any company has the power to heavily influence a national election. It’s further noted that the 2016 election is just one example of Google attempting to squash conservative values, in recent years a number of conservative Google employees have spoken out about their experiences at the firm. Breitbart News covered this in-depth in the Rebels of Google series.
Danhof also spoke with conservative Google employees after posing a question to Eric Schmidt, the former chairman of Google’s parent company Alphabet in 2016:
In recent years, it is hard to fathom a greater bully than Google. During its first shareholder meeting following Trump’s victory, I asked Eric Schmidt, then chairman of Google’s parent company Alphabet, if conservatives and their worldviews were welcome at the company. Schmidt dismissed my question by wildly claiming that everyone at the company – and indeed the collective tech industry – was in unanimous agreement politically and philosophically. After the meeting, however, a strange thing happened: I started to receive emails from “closeted” conservative Google employees thanking me for standing up for them. I remember thinking that these emails sounded like they were written by folks in prison.
Not long after the shareholder meeting, Google engineer James Damore penned his now-famous memo calling on the company to take strides in achieving true diversity rather than just hiring and promoting based on skin color and race. Google, ever the oppressor, fired him. The message was clear: dissent is not welcome in Mountain View, California.
Danhof notes that Google’s ideological streak has not just been applied to inner company culture but has extended as far as its business practices, as can be seen in the number of lawsuits the firm has faced in recent years:
In the backdrop of these public-facing events, a case has been winding its way through the courts which further demonstrates Google’s tyrannical tendencies. Last November, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of Google v. Oracle. The facts of the case are basic and not much in dispute. Google allegedly stole thousands of lines of code from Oracle’s Java program for its Android operating system. It’s that simple. What’s Google’s defense for doing so? It claims that Oracle shouldn’t be allowed to copyright Java. Google further asserts that its theft fits into copyright exceptions, including “fair use” and “transformative use.” These are absurd arguments, but they trend with Google’s oppressive tactics specifically, and the left’s disdain for private property generally.
Liberals have long abhorred private property, so it is unsurprising that much of the tech industry is lining up behind Google. This is all despite Google’s sordid history of appropriating other tech competitors’ work products.
In 2013, Google, along with Cisco Systems, paid TiVo nearly $500 million to settle a copyright infringement lawsuit concerning the company’s DVR technology. Two years before that, the U.S. Department of Justice levied a $500 million fine against Google for abetting piracy. Earlier this month, Sonos sued Google in federal court alleging that Google had stolen five of its patents.
In Danhof’s opinion, it is important for the Supreme Court to affirm Oracle’s copyright on Java. If it decides otherwise, it could embolden Google, which is already the biggest bully in Silicon Valley.
Read the full article in Issues & Insights here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com
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