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Don't Be Evil: The Case Against Big Tech
A TIMES BEST CURRENT AFFAIRS BOOK OF THE YEAR
The award-winning Financial Times columnist exposes the threat that Big Tech poses to our democracies, our economies and ourselves
'Powerful' Sunday Times
Google and Facebook receive 90% of the world's news advertising spend. Amazon takes half of all e-commerce in the US. Google and Apple operating systems run on all but 1% of cell phones globally. And 80% of corporate wealth is now held by 10% of companies - the digital titans. How did these once-idealistic and innovative companies come to manipulate elections, violate our privacy and pose a threat to the fabric of our democracy?
Through her skilled reporting and unparalleled access, Rana Foroohar reveals the true extent to which the 'FAANG's (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google) crush or absorb competitors, hijack our personal data and mental space and offshore their exorbitant profits. What's more, she shows how these threats to our democracies, livelihoods and minds are all intertwined. Yet Foroohar also lays out a plan for how we can resist, creating a framework that fosters innovation while protecting us from the dark side of digital technology.
'A masterful critique' Observer
'Insightful and powerfully argued' Daily Mail
'Essential reading ... whip-smart' Niall Ferguson
'Laser vision and trenchant business analysis' Shoshana Zuboff
The award-winning Financial Times columnist exposes the threat that Big Tech poses to our democracies, our economies and ourselves
'Powerful' Sunday Times
Google and Facebook receive 90% of the world's news advertising spend. Amazon takes half of all e-commerce in the US. Google and Apple operating systems run on all but 1% of cell phones globally. And 80% of corporate wealth is now held by 10% of companies - the digital titans. How did these once-idealistic and innovative companies come to manipulate elections, violate our privacy and pose a threat to the fabric of our democracy?
Through her skilled reporting and unparalleled access, Rana Foroohar reveals the true extent to which the 'FAANG's (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google) crush or absorb competitors, hijack our personal data and mental space and offshore their exorbitant profits. What's more, she shows how these threats to our democracies, livelihoods and minds are all intertwined. Yet Foroohar also lays out a plan for how we can resist, creating a framework that fosters innovation while protecting us from the dark side of digital technology.
'A masterful critique' Observer
'Insightful and powerfully argued' Daily Mail
'Essential reading ... whip-smart' Niall Ferguson
'Laser vision and trenchant business analysis' Shoshana Zuboff
ebook
First published November 5, 2019
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About the author
Rana Foroohar
6 books190 followersRana Foroohar is the author of Don’t Be Evil, which won a Porchlight Business Book Award, and Makers and Takers. Currently the global business columnist and associate editor for the Financial Times and the global economic analyst for CNN, she has served as the assistant managing editor and economic columnist at Time and an economic and foreign affairs editor and foreign correspondent at Newsweek. She is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and sits on the board of the Open Markets Institute.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 171 reviews
August 2, 2023
Don’t be fooled by the urbane and level-headed language of Rana Foroohar’s second book, this is a laser-focused polemic against Big Tech that hits the bullseye.
For starters, it’s hyper-readable. I downed it in ten hours straight, with two five-minute breaks for airplane coffee. The reason it’s so readable is the author never neglects the actors, who are presented to you in flesh and blood, with a side-serving of light gossip and her own personal experiences. So this is about Larry Page, Sergei Brin and Larry Schmidt, Jeff Bezos, Travis Kalanick and a sprinkling of Steve Jobs, but, very significantly, also about Robert Bork and Lina Khan.
Who’s Lina Khan? Well, yes. “Don’t be Evil” is one of two books that have come out simultaneously from the fertile ground that is Barry Lynn’s Open Market Institute. You might have heard of the mini-scandal that occurred in 2017 when Google as good as ousted Lynn from a supposedly independent, progressive think-tank they fund. He had the good sense to give Foroohar a directorship in his new gig. And, boy, has she delivered. As for 30-yr-old antitrust law superstar Khan, she cut her teeth there under Lynn. Bang!
And what does the book have to say about Big Tech, then?
First comes the requisite 85-page run through the events that got us here and an attempt to place today’s Big Tech in the context of the 20th (as opposed to the 21st) century. Essentially, in what is the weakest, but also the most gossipy / journalistic / personal part of the book, the author argues that what we have here is a combination of the tech mania that led to the tech bust of 2000, fused with the takeover of the economy by the financial giants, which led to the financial crisis of 2008. It’s alright, but tenuous and perhaps even forgettable and it keeps you from the golden part of the book that follows.
Chapter 5 is the story of how the lure of the dollar led to Google losing its innocence and falling from Paradise. And what big tech did about it, when it decided it liked money. Chapter and verse. The patent laws they pushed through so they can eat shallow-pocketed minnows whole, their successful campaign under the Obama administration, under the banner that “information wants to be free,” but also the 1998 Clinton law they lucked into, that exempts them from having to police their content. Read it and weep.
Chapter 6 argues, extremely persuasively, that big tech has embraced academic psychological research and weaponized its main relevant conclusion (the mice must be rewarded in a random fashion if they are to tug on the lever all the time) to install a “slot machine” in everybody’s pocket, now we all carry our lives on our smartphones. The argument is made that the addiction to “likes” and messages we’ve been expecting is, physiologically even, no different from addiction to cocaine and that Big Tech knows this and explicitly exploits it (with internal emails at shops like Facebook et al. provided as the proof.)
Chapter 7 explains how the Network Effect works, creating natural monopolies. The author does not want to lose the reader, she does not launch into a diatribe on how natural monopolies are best run (or at the very least, strictly regulated) by the state; she does one better: she convinces you they are dangerous without even appealing to the economics.
Chapter 8 explains, for those who’ve been on planet Zog, that gig work is crap work, leads to massive income disparities between its foot soldiers and its generals and is coming to a theatre near you. For now taxi drivers and journalists, next radiologists and then whatever you’re doing, and it won’t be fun.
Chapter 9 is a not-so-impressive, it must be said (but hey, grab Tim Wu’s book if you care so much) primer on what the Chicago school did to antitrust law (it moved it from “monopolies are bad, period” to “monopolies are bad only if they leave the consumer worse off”) and attempts to attack it from two utilitarian, as opposed to political, angles:
1. These days you should not measure the effects in dollars, because it is your data rather than your dollars that monopolies covet and they have done a very good job at obfuscating what it’s worth.
2. These behemoths are too big for their own bosses to understand, what with Amazon running a publisher, a bookstore, a competitor to FedEx, a cloud computing facility etc. etc. and they have become exactly like the banks that failed: too big to fail, too complex to understand and too big to regulate.
Chapter 10 is the most devastating: it reminded me of Uwe Reinhardt’s book about healthcare in America, which argued that while in principle the government ought to be running healthcare, in practice the government is bought-and-paid-for by corporate interests in today’s America, so the idea is not practicable. Here, Rana Faroohar details how deeply Google and Amazon and co. have managed to embed themselves in the legislative process by throwing millions and millions at everything government-related that moves. The chapter is called “In the Swamp.” In the swamp, indeed. Yuck.
Chapter 11 is about how Big Tech defends the advertiser’s right to spread lies. It does not much add to what was discussed earlier, I think it’s there so Democrats can read it and feel less bad about having fielded Hillary and then recommend the book to their friends…
Chapter 12, about China, makes two points. First it explains that Big Tech is no different from Old Media czar Rupert (he does not get mentioned by name) Murdoch: it’s happy to look the other way in China, because it’s such a big market. Next it builds up the argument what I consider to be THE MOST IMPORTANT POINT THIS BOOK MAKES, to wit:
Acemoglu and Robinson argue, very convincingly, that China is not a free country. And because the most important ingredient for growth is the ability to think freely, to experiment and to make mistakes, China’s probably already (pun not intended) hit a wall: its creatives, who do not want to live under constant surveillance, will flee to the West.
However, Big Tech now has gotten so monopolistic here in the West, Foroohar argues, that it also stifles growth. Every competitor that gets bought out, lest it grows to challenge the incumbents, every patent that gets infringed, every view that gets silenced gets in the way of the process that makes us the fierce competitors that we are and makes us more vulnerable to our competitors.
Wow! Worth the purchase price and the petty talk about her poor parenting, I’d say.
A full chapter follows, with ideas about what to do next. They’re all brilliant. Buy the book and read them!
For starters, it’s hyper-readable. I downed it in ten hours straight, with two five-minute breaks for airplane coffee. The reason it’s so readable is the author never neglects the actors, who are presented to you in flesh and blood, with a side-serving of light gossip and her own personal experiences. So this is about Larry Page, Sergei Brin and Larry Schmidt, Jeff Bezos, Travis Kalanick and a sprinkling of Steve Jobs, but, very significantly, also about Robert Bork and Lina Khan.
Who’s Lina Khan? Well, yes. “Don’t be Evil” is one of two books that have come out simultaneously from the fertile ground that is Barry Lynn’s Open Market Institute. You might have heard of the mini-scandal that occurred in 2017 when Google as good as ousted Lynn from a supposedly independent, progressive think-tank they fund. He had the good sense to give Foroohar a directorship in his new gig. And, boy, has she delivered. As for 30-yr-old antitrust law superstar Khan, she cut her teeth there under Lynn. Bang!
And what does the book have to say about Big Tech, then?
First comes the requisite 85-page run through the events that got us here and an attempt to place today’s Big Tech in the context of the 20th (as opposed to the 21st) century. Essentially, in what is the weakest, but also the most gossipy / journalistic / personal part of the book, the author argues that what we have here is a combination of the tech mania that led to the tech bust of 2000, fused with the takeover of the economy by the financial giants, which led to the financial crisis of 2008. It’s alright, but tenuous and perhaps even forgettable and it keeps you from the golden part of the book that follows.
Chapter 5 is the story of how the lure of the dollar led to Google losing its innocence and falling from Paradise. And what big tech did about it, when it decided it liked money. Chapter and verse. The patent laws they pushed through so they can eat shallow-pocketed minnows whole, their successful campaign under the Obama administration, under the banner that “information wants to be free,” but also the 1998 Clinton law they lucked into, that exempts them from having to police their content. Read it and weep.
Chapter 6 argues, extremely persuasively, that big tech has embraced academic psychological research and weaponized its main relevant conclusion (the mice must be rewarded in a random fashion if they are to tug on the lever all the time) to install a “slot machine” in everybody’s pocket, now we all carry our lives on our smartphones. The argument is made that the addiction to “likes” and messages we’ve been expecting is, physiologically even, no different from addiction to cocaine and that Big Tech knows this and explicitly exploits it (with internal emails at shops like Facebook et al. provided as the proof.)
Chapter 7 explains how the Network Effect works, creating natural monopolies. The author does not want to lose the reader, she does not launch into a diatribe on how natural monopolies are best run (or at the very least, strictly regulated) by the state; she does one better: she convinces you they are dangerous without even appealing to the economics.
Chapter 8 explains, for those who’ve been on planet Zog, that gig work is crap work, leads to massive income disparities between its foot soldiers and its generals and is coming to a theatre near you. For now taxi drivers and journalists, next radiologists and then whatever you’re doing, and it won’t be fun.
Chapter 9 is a not-so-impressive, it must be said (but hey, grab Tim Wu’s book if you care so much) primer on what the Chicago school did to antitrust law (it moved it from “monopolies are bad, period” to “monopolies are bad only if they leave the consumer worse off”) and attempts to attack it from two utilitarian, as opposed to political, angles:
1. These days you should not measure the effects in dollars, because it is your data rather than your dollars that monopolies covet and they have done a very good job at obfuscating what it’s worth.
2. These behemoths are too big for their own bosses to understand, what with Amazon running a publisher, a bookstore, a competitor to FedEx, a cloud computing facility etc. etc. and they have become exactly like the banks that failed: too big to fail, too complex to understand and too big to regulate.
Chapter 10 is the most devastating: it reminded me of Uwe Reinhardt’s book about healthcare in America, which argued that while in principle the government ought to be running healthcare, in practice the government is bought-and-paid-for by corporate interests in today’s America, so the idea is not practicable. Here, Rana Faroohar details how deeply Google and Amazon and co. have managed to embed themselves in the legislative process by throwing millions and millions at everything government-related that moves. The chapter is called “In the Swamp.” In the swamp, indeed. Yuck.
Chapter 11 is about how Big Tech defends the advertiser’s right to spread lies. It does not much add to what was discussed earlier, I think it’s there so Democrats can read it and feel less bad about having fielded Hillary and then recommend the book to their friends…
Chapter 12, about China, makes two points. First it explains that Big Tech is no different from Old Media czar Rupert (he does not get mentioned by name) Murdoch: it’s happy to look the other way in China, because it’s such a big market. Next it builds up the argument what I consider to be THE MOST IMPORTANT POINT THIS BOOK MAKES, to wit:
Acemoglu and Robinson argue, very convincingly, that China is not a free country. And because the most important ingredient for growth is the ability to think freely, to experiment and to make mistakes, China’s probably already (pun not intended) hit a wall: its creatives, who do not want to live under constant surveillance, will flee to the West.
However, Big Tech now has gotten so monopolistic here in the West, Foroohar argues, that it also stifles growth. Every competitor that gets bought out, lest it grows to challenge the incumbents, every patent that gets infringed, every view that gets silenced gets in the way of the process that makes us the fierce competitors that we are and makes us more vulnerable to our competitors.
Wow! Worth the purchase price and the petty talk about her poor parenting, I’d say.
A full chapter follows, with ideas about what to do next. They’re all brilliant. Buy the book and read them!
January 27, 2020
Although Foroohar is firmly in favour of open markets, she offers a good, detailed look at the havoc big tech companies like Facebook, Amazon and Google are wreaking on economies, liberties, democratic systems and individual minds. Her solutions are probably sound policy, but don't solve the problem that a round of greater government oversight in a country like America, ground zero for much of this, eventually leads to a swing back to free market fundamentalism, paving the way for new monopolies with new technologies.
January 11, 2020
Don’t Be Evil is a fascinatingly horrifying look at how Big Tech companies have moved away from their founding principles to create products that help people to become huge entities that control far more about our lives than we realize.
I think many people have some vague idea that there are issues with big tech companies: they purposely create their products to be addicting, they’re avoiding paying taxes and getting special economic perks, they’re tracking us and selling our data, they use their power to put smaller companies and any potential competitors out of business so they can maintain their market power. However, many of us also write these problems off as not so bad or as a worthwhile trade-off in exchange for using the convenience (and low or free prices) of the products.
Don’t Be Evil demonstrates on page after page exactly how deep and far-ranging these problems are, in ways that will be eye-opening for many readers. Personally, I was struck by how many academics are paid for their research by Google and other companies (there are several stories about conferences where the papers and presentations were all pro-Google and their techniques…because every single scholar there was being funded by the tech giant) and by exactly how much power Big Tech has in lobbying and over our government. If there’s an issue that could affect these companies, they are spending lots of money to influence politicians; the book even sheds some light on how Big Tech became involved in the net neutrality debate and how they convinced people it was good for individuals…and neglected to point out how it was good for Big Tech. There’s also the worrying anecdote of Big Tech lobbying against laws that would reduce human trafficking facilitated by the Internet because they worried about a slippery slope where they might responsible for the use of their own websites. These are issues that affect everyone, but Big Tech is making sure they come out the winners, and many of us don’t even know about it.
The tone of the book, which is unapologetically anti-Big Tech and their insistence on having separate rules from everyone else, could put some readers off. That is, it’s explicitly a book about problems with Big Tech, and there’s no illusion of some “neutral” middle-ground here, but I hope people will look past that and realize that the author has a point. Actually a lot of points.
What readers can do about it is something of an open-ended problem, however. You can attempt to opt out, but the book points out how this is difficult because of how big the companies are and how many people use them. For instance, because of the sheer number of people who shop on Amazon, if you sell things…you need to sell them on Amazon, too. If you want to be on social media at all, you’re probably going to be on a network owned by Facebook or Twitter…because there’s no point joining a social media platform no one else is on. The author’s major suggestions for change, then, tend toward federal policies, and while we can all lobby for what we think is right, the question remains as to whether we can out-lobby Big Tech and its money.
I think many people have some vague idea that there are issues with big tech companies: they purposely create their products to be addicting, they’re avoiding paying taxes and getting special economic perks, they’re tracking us and selling our data, they use their power to put smaller companies and any potential competitors out of business so they can maintain their market power. However, many of us also write these problems off as not so bad or as a worthwhile trade-off in exchange for using the convenience (and low or free prices) of the products.
Don’t Be Evil demonstrates on page after page exactly how deep and far-ranging these problems are, in ways that will be eye-opening for many readers. Personally, I was struck by how many academics are paid for their research by Google and other companies (there are several stories about conferences where the papers and presentations were all pro-Google and their techniques…because every single scholar there was being funded by the tech giant) and by exactly how much power Big Tech has in lobbying and over our government. If there’s an issue that could affect these companies, they are spending lots of money to influence politicians; the book even sheds some light on how Big Tech became involved in the net neutrality debate and how they convinced people it was good for individuals…and neglected to point out how it was good for Big Tech. There’s also the worrying anecdote of Big Tech lobbying against laws that would reduce human trafficking facilitated by the Internet because they worried about a slippery slope where they might responsible for the use of their own websites. These are issues that affect everyone, but Big Tech is making sure they come out the winners, and many of us don’t even know about it.
The tone of the book, which is unapologetically anti-Big Tech and their insistence on having separate rules from everyone else, could put some readers off. That is, it’s explicitly a book about problems with Big Tech, and there’s no illusion of some “neutral” middle-ground here, but I hope people will look past that and realize that the author has a point. Actually a lot of points.
What readers can do about it is something of an open-ended problem, however. You can attempt to opt out, but the book points out how this is difficult because of how big the companies are and how many people use them. For instance, because of the sheer number of people who shop on Amazon, if you sell things…you need to sell them on Amazon, too. If you want to be on social media at all, you’re probably going to be on a network owned by Facebook or Twitter…because there’s no point joining a social media platform no one else is on. The author’s major suggestions for change, then, tend toward federal policies, and while we can all lobby for what we think is right, the question remains as to whether we can out-lobby Big Tech and its money.
August 21, 2021
2.5 stars, but rounded down. I have mixed opinions on this. While there are a few insights that really stuck out to me, I was never super engaged with the content. It was either repetitive/dull, or kind of over my head.
The first half covers topics like the attention economy, users being the product, the engineered addictive properties of technology, and the prevalence of black box algorithms that greatly influence our lives (sometimes unfairly). This really isn't anything new if you've watched The Social Network documentary on Netflix, or read The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Zuboff (I haven't, but she's cited a ton) , Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy by O'Neil or Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked by Alter. There's even the same story of Tristan Harris at Google, who I'm honestly a little tired of reading about. None of this was new, and the organization throughout the entire book was a bit confusing. I never knew what the next chapter would be about.
The second half really dives into antitrust discussions, the prediction that Big Tech and the next recession will be analogous to banks and the 2008 financial crisis, international politics/economics/approaches to regulating technology, and the question of "How does innovation grow?". I got a bit lost/bored in some of these chapters, and definitely didn't follow as closely. I do like Foroohar's incorporation of her solutions at the end of the book - some books on this topic (cough cough O'Neil) do a lot of complaining without any solutions.
One thing to note is that Foroohar is unapologetically anti Big Tech, and doesn't shy away from bashing it. It's very one sided, and she inserts her own opinion and thoughts A LOT. So, if you like your nonfiction to be entirely neutral, you've been warned! I personally found her commentary too much at times. I appreciate knowing the lens that the author writes through, but I don't need to know that you think most men in Silicon Valley are on the spectrum, or that Bill Clinton is the greatest politician ever known.
Some things that stood out to me (mainly for me to remember later):
- What would it be like if Ford or GE didn't have to pay for any of their parts or factories, but only the people putting the cars together (which would easily be replaced w/ robots)? This is analogous to Big Tech, and partly why companies can grow so big, so fast.
- Google in China, and offering to make a censored version of the search engine. Feels a bit like betrayal, huh?
- I learned what antitrust means, hah! It's an interesting idea that some think new antitrust regulation should focus on citizen, not consumer, protection.
- It is unfair when a company gets to own the infrastructure AND compete in the marketplace.
- Big Tech has a ton of inertia.
The first half covers topics like the attention economy, users being the product, the engineered addictive properties of technology, and the prevalence of black box algorithms that greatly influence our lives (sometimes unfairly). This really isn't anything new if you've watched The Social Network documentary on Netflix, or read The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Zuboff (I haven't, but she's cited a ton) , Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy by O'Neil or Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked by Alter. There's even the same story of Tristan Harris at Google, who I'm honestly a little tired of reading about. None of this was new, and the organization throughout the entire book was a bit confusing. I never knew what the next chapter would be about.
The second half really dives into antitrust discussions, the prediction that Big Tech and the next recession will be analogous to banks and the 2008 financial crisis, international politics/economics/approaches to regulating technology, and the question of "How does innovation grow?". I got a bit lost/bored in some of these chapters, and definitely didn't follow as closely. I do like Foroohar's incorporation of her solutions at the end of the book - some books on this topic (cough cough O'Neil) do a lot of complaining without any solutions.
One thing to note is that Foroohar is unapologetically anti Big Tech, and doesn't shy away from bashing it. It's very one sided, and she inserts her own opinion and thoughts A LOT. So, if you like your nonfiction to be entirely neutral, you've been warned! I personally found her commentary too much at times. I appreciate knowing the lens that the author writes through, but I don't need to know that you think most men in Silicon Valley are on the spectrum, or that Bill Clinton is the greatest politician ever known.
Some things that stood out to me (mainly for me to remember later):
- What would it be like if Ford or GE didn't have to pay for any of their parts or factories, but only the people putting the cars together (which would easily be replaced w/ robots)? This is analogous to Big Tech, and partly why companies can grow so big, so fast.
- Google in China, and offering to make a censored version of the search engine. Feels a bit like betrayal, huh?
- I learned what antitrust means, hah! It's an interesting idea that some think new antitrust regulation should focus on citizen, not consumer, protection.
- It is unfair when a company gets to own the infrastructure AND compete in the marketplace.
- Big Tech has a ton of inertia.
December 8, 2019
The very best book on the abuses of the digital economy. I have read dozens of books, many quoted in this book, but none have assembled all the factors and companies together so well as Do No Evil. The repercussions of unregulated Libertarian values will have a huge impact on our society as companies with few employees, that disrupt and reduce employment pay little taxes and are not regulated. The harm to children and addicted screeners, the value of data and how it's not taxed, individuals privacy and rights not at all protected and often sold and manipulated by credit card, medical insurance, insurance, marketing and retail is dangerous to democracies.
The book is as an academic course and is an important contribution to the debate we must have, and many US Presidential candidates are having, about monopolies, predatory tactics and stunting of the American and world economy as well as a loss of freedoms.
Our personal data is valuable and must be protected from abuse. The FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google) and BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Ten Cent) control the markets and have become the wealthiest companies while they depend on state-supported (our taxes) technology and infrastructure. It is time we change and level the field so citizens can prosper from their tax investments.
Engrossing, intelligent, thorough and enlightening enjoyable read. High recommended!!
The book is as an academic course and is an important contribution to the debate we must have, and many US Presidential candidates are having, about monopolies, predatory tactics and stunting of the American and world economy as well as a loss of freedoms.
Our personal data is valuable and must be protected from abuse. The FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google) and BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Ten Cent) control the markets and have become the wealthiest companies while they depend on state-supported (our taxes) technology and infrastructure. It is time we change and level the field so citizens can prosper from their tax investments.
Engrossing, intelligent, thorough and enlightening enjoyable read. High recommended!!
November 16, 2021
Rana nails it again. Makers and Takers was the first book on business/economics/politics that I'd been excited about for many years. Don't Be Evil is the next. One of THE defining current affairs books of our times, as Big Tech continues its leading role in propaganda and censorship. Too bad Goodreads is owned by Amazon.
May 9, 2020
"We think we are the consumers. In fact, we are the product "
"What information consumes is rather obvious: It consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate the attention efficiently among the overabundance of sources that might consumer it."
"We're entering an era in which data can be used to solve all sorts of the most pressing problems, but only if there's trust in how the data has been handled. We see ourselves as stewards of clients' data. And we don't need to be regulated to do the right thing. We've been doing the right thing for a hundred years."
"What information consumes is rather obvious: It consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate the attention efficiently among the overabundance of sources that might consumer it."
"We're entering an era in which data can be used to solve all sorts of the most pressing problems, but only if there's trust in how the data has been handled. We see ourselves as stewards of clients' data. And we don't need to be regulated to do the right thing. We've been doing the right thing for a hundred years."
November 26, 2020
I appreciated this book's focus on finance, trade and regulation. Don't get me wrong, I love a good cultural criticism of Silicon Valley, but there's also room for thoughtful, informed critiques of the ways these companies are financially managed, and the constructive possibilities for breaking up their monopolies with sensible regulation. There was also some nuanced analysis of Silicon Valley's lobbying choices, a lot of which I hadn't known about or fully understood, despite having read far too many books on the subject.
"Don't Be Evil" doesn't shy away from confronting the dangers tech giants pose to our privacy and livelihoods, but it also takes a genuine, well-researched crack at imagining how we might keep the services we've come to depend on without sacrificing quite so much of our personal data security. It's a fun, fascinating read, even if you're not in the habit of reading business books. I highly recommend it.
"Don't Be Evil" doesn't shy away from confronting the dangers tech giants pose to our privacy and livelihoods, but it also takes a genuine, well-researched crack at imagining how we might keep the services we've come to depend on without sacrificing quite so much of our personal data security. It's a fun, fascinating read, even if you're not in the habit of reading business books. I highly recommend it.
August 15, 2020
Big Tech are the new Railroad tycoons. Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google (FANG)
1. Amazon and Google are both platform and seller (of stuff and ads) and so they have an unfair advantage over pure sellers. They copy competitors like Yelp and buy over them, sometimes just to destroy them.
2. They treat us and our data like commodity, our habits, conversation as valuable products to be sold to the highest bidder.
3. They lobby big time and pay off Researchers.
4. They shift their profits overseas at Low tax havens and borrow in high tax countries like America so paying only 11-15% tax.
5. They work with oppressive regimes like China and Russia, even affecting elections.
6. They break things and almost never compensate.
7. Even in congressional hearings, they sometimes don’t even turn up. And when they turn up they obfuscate non-techie Congress people.
8. They employ PR firms to make themselves look good.
9. Google especially can make competitors ‘disappear’ and never be found by customers again
10. Google and Facebook tracks your every. Single. Move. And sell it to the highest bidder.
11. They take all the ad dollars from media so destroying them. Soon there will be no news to search!
12. They claims progressive slogans but decimate public service by not paying their taxes.
13. They employ very few superstar employees.
14. They suppress innovation as no entrepreneur will dare to go where they are going.
15. They are only scared of each other.
16. They employ psychologists to come up with ways to make us all addicts.
How to fight them?
1. Limit their use, especially for children. She gives her son only 2 hours of screen time at weekends.
2. Choose alternatives for search, buy from real shops, take taxis instead of Uber.
3. Bring them to task. Sue them. Petition them. Report on them. Bring them for Congressional hearings. Fine them.
It’s A Great book, though I find the writing style not very focused. So 4 stars.
1. Amazon and Google are both platform and seller (of stuff and ads) and so they have an unfair advantage over pure sellers. They copy competitors like Yelp and buy over them, sometimes just to destroy them.
2. They treat us and our data like commodity, our habits, conversation as valuable products to be sold to the highest bidder.
3. They lobby big time and pay off Researchers.
4. They shift their profits overseas at Low tax havens and borrow in high tax countries like America so paying only 11-15% tax.
5. They work with oppressive regimes like China and Russia, even affecting elections.
6. They break things and almost never compensate.
7. Even in congressional hearings, they sometimes don’t even turn up. And when they turn up they obfuscate non-techie Congress people.
8. They employ PR firms to make themselves look good.
9. Google especially can make competitors ‘disappear’ and never be found by customers again
10. Google and Facebook tracks your every. Single. Move. And sell it to the highest bidder.
11. They take all the ad dollars from media so destroying them. Soon there will be no news to search!
12. They claims progressive slogans but decimate public service by not paying their taxes.
13. They employ very few superstar employees.
14. They suppress innovation as no entrepreneur will dare to go where they are going.
15. They are only scared of each other.
16. They employ psychologists to come up with ways to make us all addicts.
How to fight them?
1. Limit their use, especially for children. She gives her son only 2 hours of screen time at weekends.
2. Choose alternatives for search, buy from real shops, take taxis instead of Uber.
3. Bring them to task. Sue them. Petition them. Report on them. Bring them for Congressional hearings. Fine them.
It’s A Great book, though I find the writing style not very focused. So 4 stars.
May 11, 2020
About half way through, I paused reading this. The formula seemed repetitive and started to suffer the problem a lot of non-fiction does: the point has been made and the rest of the book is made up of hammering it home with extra examples. (I also had some mental whiplash when I discovered the author worked for the investment firm which invested in my startup in the late 90's)
However in this case Foroohar is layering the evidence before making a much larger case: The technology giants are destroying our privacy, warping our economy, our politics, and even potentially our freedom. The point is persuasively made and by the time it's spelled out doesn't come as a surprise.
An excellent book, albeit with a slightly weak middle. Well worth reading to the conclusion.
However in this case Foroohar is layering the evidence before making a much larger case: The technology giants are destroying our privacy, warping our economy, our politics, and even potentially our freedom. The point is persuasively made and by the time it's spelled out doesn't come as a surprise.
An excellent book, albeit with a slightly weak middle. Well worth reading to the conclusion.
February 9, 2021
Author Rana Roroohar offers a critical look at the major technology companies and their effects on society. Despite being founded along with idealistic aims, the tech behemoths quickly sacrificed founding principles in the pursuit of growth.
Surveillance Capitalism
Tech companies rely upon a business model that needs data - specifically, data from us as users. The more it learns about us, the more money it makes by selling advertisements. These data sets are very lucrative. When combined with data sets from other companies (say credit card and a health insurance company), the companies are able to make some creepy, but valuable insights about your lifestyle and spending habits. "Human experience is subjugated to surveillance capitalism's market mechanisms and reborn as 'behavior.' Everything we do, say, and think - online and in many cases offline - has the potential to be monetized by platform tech firms."
Network Effect
The larger the network, the more powerful/effective it becomes. Thus, tech companies need to grow as fast as possible in a race to scale. Anything that can be measured can be fed back into the network. Consider self-driving cars, user exercise habits, or geo-tagged selfies. Varied data creates a more powerful network.
Content Production
However, to gather as much information as possible, tech companies need to keep us engaged. The longer we stay engaged, the more the tools can measure our attention, buying habits, travel history, browsing history, and relationships. It keeps us engaged through new content (viral cat videos, outrageous political posts etc). But new content isn't enough.
Intermittent Variable Rewards - User Engagement
Humans are fascinated by random rewards. Take the slot machine. Major dopamine hits occur when a random pull creates a monetary win, lights, and sounds. The dopamine hit is addicting so we keep pulling the level. Large tech companies use the same principles to keep us scrolling or clicking on red notifications. The entire field of user engagement is an emerging scientific field designed to addict our brains to our apps.
Monopolies
These tech companies warp the market by preventing new competition. New tech company threats suffer one of two fates: 1) new companies fail to scale 2) they're bought up. This creates a "dead zone" or dark forest (sup). Often failing to scale is more about large tech companies using existing networks to outpace the start-ups.
Are they banks?
Some of the major tech companies maintain major cash surpluses offshore from the United States. Instead of leaving that money in a bank or in the mattress, many companies will issue bonds or invest in debt. In essence, they operate as major financial institutions but without any of the oversight.
Uberization
Uber and AirBnb don't own cars. They're data companies that connect labor, capital, and customers. As a result, the gig economy created a new class of workers that were originally sold the promise of controlling work hours and conditions, but have been relegated to less steady positions. "You've got a labor market that looks increasingly like a feudal agricultural hiring fair in which the lord shows up and says, ' I'll take you, and you, and you today." While the gig economy "reduces friction in the labor market," it keeps gig workers at an information disadvantage.
Ultimately, this is a very insightful and critical read into the big tech narrative. These companies in the pursuit of growth/sales are mortgaging other parts of society by addicting users, hosting misinformation, warping markets, and hoovering up our personal data without putting equivalent value back into society.
I recommend the read for anybody interested in taking a closer look at the impact of tech companies on our society.
Surveillance Capitalism
Tech companies rely upon a business model that needs data - specifically, data from us as users. The more it learns about us, the more money it makes by selling advertisements. These data sets are very lucrative. When combined with data sets from other companies (say credit card and a health insurance company), the companies are able to make some creepy, but valuable insights about your lifestyle and spending habits. "Human experience is subjugated to surveillance capitalism's market mechanisms and reborn as 'behavior.' Everything we do, say, and think - online and in many cases offline - has the potential to be monetized by platform tech firms."
Network Effect
The larger the network, the more powerful/effective it becomes. Thus, tech companies need to grow as fast as possible in a race to scale. Anything that can be measured can be fed back into the network. Consider self-driving cars, user exercise habits, or geo-tagged selfies. Varied data creates a more powerful network.
Content Production
However, to gather as much information as possible, tech companies need to keep us engaged. The longer we stay engaged, the more the tools can measure our attention, buying habits, travel history, browsing history, and relationships. It keeps us engaged through new content (viral cat videos, outrageous political posts etc). But new content isn't enough.
Intermittent Variable Rewards - User Engagement
Humans are fascinated by random rewards. Take the slot machine. Major dopamine hits occur when a random pull creates a monetary win, lights, and sounds. The dopamine hit is addicting so we keep pulling the level. Large tech companies use the same principles to keep us scrolling or clicking on red notifications. The entire field of user engagement is an emerging scientific field designed to addict our brains to our apps.
Monopolies
These tech companies warp the market by preventing new competition. New tech company threats suffer one of two fates: 1) new companies fail to scale 2) they're bought up. This creates a "dead zone" or dark forest (sup). Often failing to scale is more about large tech companies using existing networks to outpace the start-ups.
Are they banks?
Some of the major tech companies maintain major cash surpluses offshore from the United States. Instead of leaving that money in a bank or in the mattress, many companies will issue bonds or invest in debt. In essence, they operate as major financial institutions but without any of the oversight.
Uberization
Uber and AirBnb don't own cars. They're data companies that connect labor, capital, and customers. As a result, the gig economy created a new class of workers that were originally sold the promise of controlling work hours and conditions, but have been relegated to less steady positions. "You've got a labor market that looks increasingly like a feudal agricultural hiring fair in which the lord shows up and says, ' I'll take you, and you, and you today." While the gig economy "reduces friction in the labor market," it keeps gig workers at an information disadvantage.
Ultimately, this is a very insightful and critical read into the big tech narrative. These companies in the pursuit of growth/sales are mortgaging other parts of society by addicting users, hosting misinformation, warping markets, and hoovering up our personal data without putting equivalent value back into society.
I recommend the read for anybody interested in taking a closer look at the impact of tech companies on our society.
February 7, 2020
The good: This book gives a lot of insight into the “FAANGs”—Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google—what they are up to now and some of the history of the decisions that got them to this point. Though it focuses most on Google and Facebook, less so on Amazon, then Apple, and very little about Netflix.
(Personally, I would have liked to hear more about Apple, as somebody who has placed my bets all in on them to be “less evil” than their corporate peers.)
You’ll find things here to be concerned about that you might not have already been aware of. Facebook’s embedded employees in the Trump campaign, advising them on how to set up their online ads for maximum impact, for one instance.
The bad: The author has a pretty ambivalent relationship to the neoliberal order of the last decades. She criticizes the monopolistic practices of Big Tech and its oligarchic leaders, and their control of the political process and policy discussion. She compares them to the similarly problematic financial industry that led to the 2008 situation. But she retains fondness of the companies that Big Tech has replaced: taxis, hotels, record labels, media companies, etc. Organizations that, unless you have a vested interest in them, inspire no love nor nostalgia. She’s pro-patents and anti-net-neutrality.
Her recommendations for going forward are: more regulation, to require more pro-social behavior from the corporations going forward. Which is good as far as it goes, which isn’t very far. There is, for instance, no mention of the alternative visions of computing and the internet put forth by such people (themselves of diverse viewpoints) as: Richard Stallman, Tim Berners-Lee, Linus Torvalds, or…Steve Wozniak.
(Personally, I would have liked to hear more about Apple, as somebody who has placed my bets all in on them to be “less evil” than their corporate peers.)
You’ll find things here to be concerned about that you might not have already been aware of. Facebook’s embedded employees in the Trump campaign, advising them on how to set up their online ads for maximum impact, for one instance.
The bad: The author has a pretty ambivalent relationship to the neoliberal order of the last decades. She criticizes the monopolistic practices of Big Tech and its oligarchic leaders, and their control of the political process and policy discussion. She compares them to the similarly problematic financial industry that led to the 2008 situation. But she retains fondness of the companies that Big Tech has replaced: taxis, hotels, record labels, media companies, etc. Organizations that, unless you have a vested interest in them, inspire no love nor nostalgia. She’s pro-patents and anti-net-neutrality.
Her recommendations for going forward are: more regulation, to require more pro-social behavior from the corporations going forward. Which is good as far as it goes, which isn’t very far. There is, for instance, no mention of the alternative visions of computing and the internet put forth by such people (themselves of diverse viewpoints) as: Richard Stallman, Tim Berners-Lee, Linus Torvalds, or…Steve Wozniak.
December 1, 2019
Building upon books such as World Without End and Weapons of Math Destruction, Don't Be Evil makes the case that Big Tech is doing more harm than good. Foroohar proves her central thesis in spades. I find it impossible to argue the opposite these days using any reasonable standard. Her thoughts on venture capital, the bias of algorithms, election interference, and other related topics should gave anyone pause.
Sure, I'd nitpick with a few of her assertions. For instance, at one point she refers to Uber has profitable when it's lost billions every quarter. Perhaps this was just an oversight. More generally, I also have difficulty putting Netflix in the same bucket as Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google when it comes to power. FAANGS might make for a nice acronym but I'd argue that Microsoft exerts far more power than the world's most valuable streaming company.
Regardless of my small gripes, this book is spot-on. Foroohar synthesizes the main arguments against the tech titans that have become far too powerful—and I defended them for years. Now more than ever, we need to ask ourselves tough questions about Big Tech's power. Promises that the industry will regulate itself are as laughable as banks making the same claim prior to the financial crisis. Her final chapter is her strongest and it's high time to act now with sensible, bi-partisan legislation and oversight.
Sure, I'd nitpick with a few of her assertions. For instance, at one point she refers to Uber has profitable when it's lost billions every quarter. Perhaps this was just an oversight. More generally, I also have difficulty putting Netflix in the same bucket as Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google when it comes to power. FAANGS might make for a nice acronym but I'd argue that Microsoft exerts far more power than the world's most valuable streaming company.
Regardless of my small gripes, this book is spot-on. Foroohar synthesizes the main arguments against the tech titans that have become far too powerful—and I defended them for years. Now more than ever, we need to ask ourselves tough questions about Big Tech's power. Promises that the industry will regulate itself are as laughable as banks making the same claim prior to the financial crisis. Her final chapter is her strongest and it's high time to act now with sensible, bi-partisan legislation and oversight.
December 12, 2019
I won this book on Goodreads. On one hand it is disconcerting that the tech industries are collecting data on the people and using it for their nefarious plans and using surveillance to track and control us, on the other hand the conclusions the author states are correct but how she gets there is wrong. Some examples are: The author buys into the Russia interference and collusion with the 2016 election, when it is shown to be a hoax in reality. The author states that the tech giants are more libertarian then liberals, I disagree with this, they are totally in the bag for the left leaning politicians. The tech industry tries to censor conservative thought or any other alternative thoughts on Facebook, searches on Google that are right wing in nature do not pop up or are so buried it is difficult to locate and since they have monopolized it there are not a whole lot of choices. Also the author states that George Soros is concerned about 1st Amendment rights and censorship of speech, I don't buy that for a second, Soros is a big top down government person who wants to censor moderate and right leaning speech to perpetuate his own left wing agenda. So overall I see what the author is trying to present, but the resources she obtains to reach those conclusions are jaded and are political in nature.
January 5, 2020
An interesting book, I learn some very unsavory details about the FANG companies, mission accomplished. I challenge some details in the first chapter. The author seems to say that shoe companies put GPS trackers in (all) of their shoes. As an IoT engineer who struggled with power constraints for a tiny device with GPS tracking, I am wondering where the shoe companies are getting the magical batteries to run these GPS trackers, and the connectivity to get the data back to the mothership. The shoe companies probably do some short-term tracking of elite customers, but I really don't think they are logging every footstrike of every customer.
I read this book in hard copy. I suspect it is a better read as an audio book. The author would have gotten an F from my grammar teachers, she is fond of overlong sentences. Seventy three words in one sentence. I counted.
The author has plainly exposed the broken promise of Google's mission statement, and the very duplicitous behavior of Facebook in particular. She does a good job showing how marketizing our data is not fair.
I just wish the book was much more succint, and shorter, with better fact checking.
I read this book in hard copy. I suspect it is a better read as an audio book. The author would have gotten an F from my grammar teachers, she is fond of overlong sentences. Seventy three words in one sentence. I counted.
The author has plainly exposed the broken promise of Google's mission statement, and the very duplicitous behavior of Facebook in particular. She does a good job showing how marketizing our data is not fair.
I just wish the book was much more succint, and shorter, with better fact checking.
August 2, 2020
Foroohar attempts to outline the sins of big technology companies over the past twenty years. It comes as no surprise that these problems are large and concerning.
However, in this outline, I did feel that the book lacked some structure and was repetitive at times. As such, it did feel like a nice overview of big technology's problems but did not sufficiently push forth its own narrative or argument.
It's also worth noting that some of the problems identified of big tech are in no way exclusive to them. Framing these problems as 'big tech' can be misleading when monopolies and anti-competitive behaviour is not grounded in what technology you use, but rather capitalism itself.
Despite some of the problems with the book, it was an enjoyable read and worth it if anyone is interested in a large overview of big technology.
However, in this outline, I did feel that the book lacked some structure and was repetitive at times. As such, it did feel like a nice overview of big technology's problems but did not sufficiently push forth its own narrative or argument.
It's also worth noting that some of the problems identified of big tech are in no way exclusive to them. Framing these problems as 'big tech' can be misleading when monopolies and anti-competitive behaviour is not grounded in what technology you use, but rather capitalism itself.
Despite some of the problems with the book, it was an enjoyable read and worth it if anyone is interested in a large overview of big technology.
May 2, 2021
Absolutely worth to read even though the big questions are thankfully slowly rising already around us.
But book nicely shows the impact of Big Tech companies, their monopoly in market, the next “Too big to fail” and the fact that there are absolutely missing any kind of control tools and ethical standards for this new era.
And of course the fact how the companies itself favours money over responsibility.
But book nicely shows the impact of Big Tech companies, their monopoly in market, the next “Too big to fail” and the fact that there are absolutely missing any kind of control tools and ethical standards for this new era.
And of course the fact how the companies itself favours money over responsibility.
July 22, 2021
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3716058.html
A very thought-provoking book by Financial Times / CNN correspondent Foroohar, which unfortunately I can't really write much about for professional reasons.
A very thought-provoking book by Financial Times / CNN correspondent Foroohar, which unfortunately I can't really write much about for professional reasons.
January 23, 2021
Usually I don't follow Silicon Valley that closely, but I have held instinctive suspicion about certain firms, especially Facebook, Google, etc.
I'll continue to write a longer note later.
I'll continue to write a longer note later.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 24, 2021
Well researched and clearly organized, this book will have you rethinking your amount of screen time and what you do while you're there.
January 17, 2020
Google, now one of the biggest of the big technology companies had its humble beginnings in 1998 as a tech startup with Larry Page and Sergei Brin. Their original motto was "Don't be evil," an idealistic slogan that encompassed the mindset of the first Silicon Valley entrepreneurs that wanted to help the world through technology. The company, now known as Alphabet, is worth over a trillion dollars and has embraced capitalism and profits with a hubris that makes the old railroad barons look like pikers.
Rana Foroohar, whose previous book, Makers and Takers took on the financial industry, here turns her gaze at the powerful tech industry. Her son got hooked on FIFA soccer as a phone app and racked up hundreds of dollars in bills, leading her into the world of addiction, money, influence and data that is big tech.
I can't say that this book was a revelation, as I suspected that companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon had ulterior motives and not my best interests in mind. Still, the author paints a fascinating and detailed picture of where we are at the moment. Many of the chapters are depressingly true, but she tries to paint some hopeful signs at the end that show things may be changing. Her last chapter, How Not To Be Evil, is full of wonderful ideas and prescriptions, none of which has a chance in hell of being adopted given the current political climate. But that may change.
I can remember when things like Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, Ebay and Netflix first arrived on the scene. They all seemed like such great ideas. Facebook gave us the ability to meet up with relatives and friends who were out of town, sharing stories and photos. If it had stayed like that we'd be okay, but Mark Zuckerberg discovered the power of the advertising dollar and targeted markets, which attracted all sorts of dubious, deceptive, and addictive content into Facebook.
Google has been a marvel in the information age. I can remember when finding information meant digging through encyclopedias, magazines and newspapers for hours at a time. Now all one needs is a question and a search bar. Their unique algorithm finds the best answers by looking quickly and thorougly for the most popular answers. While the service is free, they make their money from advertising, which means that every search you perform on Google should have a huge disclaimer, "these guys at the top paid to be here!"
Amazon is another behemoth that has gradually come to control my life. It's just so darned convenient and easy- I shop there all the time and feel bad about not supporting local retailers. Jeff Bezos, head of Amazon, is the richest man on the planet, and his company has reaped many of the benefits of big tech while not paying back in the form of taxes, decent wages, or community service.
Foroohar goes into great detail about these and other companies and the weapons that they use to get bigger and bigger. As near as I can detect from these chapters, they wield four mighty weapons that threaten both our economy and our democracy.
1- Big tech gets big because of the network effect. This is the simple idea that users attract more users who attract more users. When something becomes popular, people flock to it. Once it becomes an institution, all the other institutions- government, business, and banks all join in and legitimize the business model. Facebook's main draw is its 2 Billion humans all over the world to network with. Google has the biggest database in the world and the most clout in the advertising world. Apple has legions of devoted fans who stand in line for whatever the latest product will be.
2- They get even bigger by making their products irresistible. Big technology depends heavily on getting and keeping our attention. The author goes into detail about how smart phone apps and games can become addictive to the point where they are a recognized mental disorder. We check our phones on average every 12 minutes, some 80 times a day, hoping to get a dopamine fix from whatever reward system the software designers can come up with. Like other addictive things like gambling, drugs, and sex, once they have our attention they can keep us coming back with predictable psychological tricks.
3- In the age where information is king, big tech has the most information. According to Foroohar, the value of the data that we have handed over eagerly to big tech is more valuable than we can imagine, and this causes an asymmetry between tech companies and those who use it. That means that we as consumers are in the dark about what's going on, as are regulators who are supposed to be looking out for our best interests. Big tech has the upper hand because they know us better than we know ourselves in some cases.
4- Tech companies have lots and lots of money and aren't afraid to spread it around where it helps them the most. The author spends a lot of time going over the questionable financial practices of the tech industry, from parking billions of dollars in overseas bond portfolios to avoid taxes, to lavishing money on corporate lobbying and educational think tanks so that policies favorable to Silicon Valley keep getting enacted and no uncomfortable laws or regulations get passed. The big tech companies are so big now they constitute a monopoly, and their enormous power and money make them impossible to regulate. As monopolies, they can use their power to buy out or intimidate smaller competitors, and their voracious appetites are making them spread into new areas, like Facebook and banking, Amazon and Netflix into content production, and Apple and automobiles.
As a consumer of Google, Apple, Facebook, Netflix and Amazon products, this book is hard for me to reconcile with the convenience that each company provides. But for every success story there can be a grisly underbelly that needs to be looked into. Big tech is a disruptive force that threatens us more than we might suspect.
Big tech firms don't employ nearly as many people as traditional businesses. Most of what they make is intangible, which doesn't require nearly as many workers as a factory. The richest firms are getting richer, and new business growth is slowing down. Those factors, plus the rise of the gig economy championed by tech companies like Uber, has dealt a big blow middle-class incomes and accelerated income and wealth inequality. The author believes that the next big financial crisis will originate with Big Tech and its unique money dealings.
The author also devotes a chapter to the threat to democracy posed by tech firms, pointing directly at Facebook's effect on the 2016 US election. Facebook not only doesn't take responsibility for lies posted on its forums, but their algorithms favor viral, disruptive messages over neutral ones. Political campaigns now work directly with Facebook, often letting their employees work directly with campaign staff. Elections are no longer about facts because agents from all over the world can muddy the waters with bogus claims that are free from scrutiny.
Is big tech evil? Webster defines evil as morally reprehensible and arising from actual or imputed bad character or conduct. In that context I don't think they are evil exactly.
They just think they know better than the rest of us. And, like all good capitalists, they are chasing the money. A better question would be is capitalism at all costs evil? At what point does the pursuit of profits for shareholders collide with the best interests of community and society? Big tech provides products that make our lives easier. I would not be writing this nor would you be reading this without the help of big tech.
But at some point the costs of all this "free" and "cheap" technology will outweigh the benefits. At some point regulators will have to break up the monopolies and rein in their biggest excesses so that things fall back into balance. The last chapter of this book lays out some good ideas for what needs to happen, and I hope that policy makers will be looking at those issues soon into the future, or we may end up with a world where a small handful of tech giants control all the data and all the money, if we're not there already.
Rana Foroohar, whose previous book, Makers and Takers took on the financial industry, here turns her gaze at the powerful tech industry. Her son got hooked on FIFA soccer as a phone app and racked up hundreds of dollars in bills, leading her into the world of addiction, money, influence and data that is big tech.
I can't say that this book was a revelation, as I suspected that companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon had ulterior motives and not my best interests in mind. Still, the author paints a fascinating and detailed picture of where we are at the moment. Many of the chapters are depressingly true, but she tries to paint some hopeful signs at the end that show things may be changing. Her last chapter, How Not To Be Evil, is full of wonderful ideas and prescriptions, none of which has a chance in hell of being adopted given the current political climate. But that may change.
I can remember when things like Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, Ebay and Netflix first arrived on the scene. They all seemed like such great ideas. Facebook gave us the ability to meet up with relatives and friends who were out of town, sharing stories and photos. If it had stayed like that we'd be okay, but Mark Zuckerberg discovered the power of the advertising dollar and targeted markets, which attracted all sorts of dubious, deceptive, and addictive content into Facebook.
Google has been a marvel in the information age. I can remember when finding information meant digging through encyclopedias, magazines and newspapers for hours at a time. Now all one needs is a question and a search bar. Their unique algorithm finds the best answers by looking quickly and thorougly for the most popular answers. While the service is free, they make their money from advertising, which means that every search you perform on Google should have a huge disclaimer, "these guys at the top paid to be here!"
Amazon is another behemoth that has gradually come to control my life. It's just so darned convenient and easy- I shop there all the time and feel bad about not supporting local retailers. Jeff Bezos, head of Amazon, is the richest man on the planet, and his company has reaped many of the benefits of big tech while not paying back in the form of taxes, decent wages, or community service.
Foroohar goes into great detail about these and other companies and the weapons that they use to get bigger and bigger. As near as I can detect from these chapters, they wield four mighty weapons that threaten both our economy and our democracy.
1- Big tech gets big because of the network effect. This is the simple idea that users attract more users who attract more users. When something becomes popular, people flock to it. Once it becomes an institution, all the other institutions- government, business, and banks all join in and legitimize the business model. Facebook's main draw is its 2 Billion humans all over the world to network with. Google has the biggest database in the world and the most clout in the advertising world. Apple has legions of devoted fans who stand in line for whatever the latest product will be.
2- They get even bigger by making their products irresistible. Big technology depends heavily on getting and keeping our attention. The author goes into detail about how smart phone apps and games can become addictive to the point where they are a recognized mental disorder. We check our phones on average every 12 minutes, some 80 times a day, hoping to get a dopamine fix from whatever reward system the software designers can come up with. Like other addictive things like gambling, drugs, and sex, once they have our attention they can keep us coming back with predictable psychological tricks.
3- In the age where information is king, big tech has the most information. According to Foroohar, the value of the data that we have handed over eagerly to big tech is more valuable than we can imagine, and this causes an asymmetry between tech companies and those who use it. That means that we as consumers are in the dark about what's going on, as are regulators who are supposed to be looking out for our best interests. Big tech has the upper hand because they know us better than we know ourselves in some cases.
4- Tech companies have lots and lots of money and aren't afraid to spread it around where it helps them the most. The author spends a lot of time going over the questionable financial practices of the tech industry, from parking billions of dollars in overseas bond portfolios to avoid taxes, to lavishing money on corporate lobbying and educational think tanks so that policies favorable to Silicon Valley keep getting enacted and no uncomfortable laws or regulations get passed. The big tech companies are so big now they constitute a monopoly, and their enormous power and money make them impossible to regulate. As monopolies, they can use their power to buy out or intimidate smaller competitors, and their voracious appetites are making them spread into new areas, like Facebook and banking, Amazon and Netflix into content production, and Apple and automobiles.
As a consumer of Google, Apple, Facebook, Netflix and Amazon products, this book is hard for me to reconcile with the convenience that each company provides. But for every success story there can be a grisly underbelly that needs to be looked into. Big tech is a disruptive force that threatens us more than we might suspect.
Big tech firms don't employ nearly as many people as traditional businesses. Most of what they make is intangible, which doesn't require nearly as many workers as a factory. The richest firms are getting richer, and new business growth is slowing down. Those factors, plus the rise of the gig economy championed by tech companies like Uber, has dealt a big blow middle-class incomes and accelerated income and wealth inequality. The author believes that the next big financial crisis will originate with Big Tech and its unique money dealings.
The author also devotes a chapter to the threat to democracy posed by tech firms, pointing directly at Facebook's effect on the 2016 US election. Facebook not only doesn't take responsibility for lies posted on its forums, but their algorithms favor viral, disruptive messages over neutral ones. Political campaigns now work directly with Facebook, often letting their employees work directly with campaign staff. Elections are no longer about facts because agents from all over the world can muddy the waters with bogus claims that are free from scrutiny.
Is big tech evil? Webster defines evil as morally reprehensible and arising from actual or imputed bad character or conduct. In that context I don't think they are evil exactly.
They just think they know better than the rest of us. And, like all good capitalists, they are chasing the money. A better question would be is capitalism at all costs evil? At what point does the pursuit of profits for shareholders collide with the best interests of community and society? Big tech provides products that make our lives easier. I would not be writing this nor would you be reading this without the help of big tech.
But at some point the costs of all this "free" and "cheap" technology will outweigh the benefits. At some point regulators will have to break up the monopolies and rein in their biggest excesses so that things fall back into balance. The last chapter of this book lays out some good ideas for what needs to happen, and I hope that policy makers will be looking at those issues soon into the future, or we may end up with a world where a small handful of tech giants control all the data and all the money, if we're not there already.
December 26, 2024
Clear-eyed and, in my opinion, well-reasoned. Even if her examples were cherry-picked (which I don’t think they are, but I also lack the authority to determine), I would still agree with the thrust of her argument, especially the fact that the myriad issues associated with Big Tech are rarely addressed together. Concerned stakeholders often deal with only one head of the hydra. That struck me, as well as the undeniable truth that tech giants know the most about their own technologies, to the detriment of their competitors, regulators, and users (uber drivers, for example). Even if technology is advancing us as a society, Foroohar makes a good case for how that creative destruction will exacerbate inequality because tech behemoths are not paying taxes to fund the necessary public investments to prevent the disruption they cause.
That, and of course, “we are the product,” which we seem to largely accept as a society. Bezos will have this review from me, and data about what books I might like based on the fact that I didn’t give this one five stars (I liked her argument but felt it could have been more concise or approachable. She even made the point that the internet has ruined our attention spans so that we cannot consume complex readings like this book as easily. Meet us in the middle to bring us back, then 😅. I want this book to have more of an impact and it shoots itself in the foot a bit with its impenetrability).
Kudos for the concrete suggestions at the end. Taken together, I can feel the libertarian element inside of me chafing against her proposed data taxes and regulation that will surely stifle the tech innovation we need to compete globally (and yes, she addresses Big Tech’s role in the new Cold War with China). Just because Google has such high profit margins, doesn’t mean it’s cool for you to tax them harder. Maybe you’re just mad they’re so successful? (In this vein, I do appreciate her point about how the spoils of domestic government funded blue sky research go into wealth that companies then park offshore.)
But analogy to the 19th century railroads did sway me on this. I don’t know that it’s a perfect analogy, but we do have historical precedent for separating the platform from the business seeking to use it. I don’t know that the congressional committee she wants will come to pass (Big Tech has lots of money to throw into lobbying ) or that such a committee would be productive, but it would at least put this in front of the country more broadly. This book is worth reading, if only to bring many facets of Big Tech’s negative externalities together into one place. (And hell, we didn’t even directly address how social media is hurting teens’ self image, because even that enormous issue is really just a subset of Foroohar’s broader point that these companies cannot claim ignorance or absolve themselves of the negative consequences their technologies have on users and other stakeholders.)
Anyway, this review is less readable than the book. So if you’ve made it this far, maybe give the book a read. I’d love to discuss this book with someone.
That, and of course, “we are the product,” which we seem to largely accept as a society. Bezos will have this review from me, and data about what books I might like based on the fact that I didn’t give this one five stars (I liked her argument but felt it could have been more concise or approachable. She even made the point that the internet has ruined our attention spans so that we cannot consume complex readings like this book as easily. Meet us in the middle to bring us back, then 😅. I want this book to have more of an impact and it shoots itself in the foot a bit with its impenetrability).
Kudos for the concrete suggestions at the end. Taken together, I can feel the libertarian element inside of me chafing against her proposed data taxes and regulation that will surely stifle the tech innovation we need to compete globally (and yes, she addresses Big Tech’s role in the new Cold War with China). Just because Google has such high profit margins, doesn’t mean it’s cool for you to tax them harder. Maybe you’re just mad they’re so successful? (In this vein, I do appreciate her point about how the spoils of domestic government funded blue sky research go into wealth that companies then park offshore.)
But analogy to the 19th century railroads did sway me on this. I don’t know that it’s a perfect analogy, but we do have historical precedent for separating the platform from the business seeking to use it. I don’t know that the congressional committee she wants will come to pass (Big Tech has lots of money to throw into lobbying ) or that such a committee would be productive, but it would at least put this in front of the country more broadly. This book is worth reading, if only to bring many facets of Big Tech’s negative externalities together into one place. (And hell, we didn’t even directly address how social media is hurting teens’ self image, because even that enormous issue is really just a subset of Foroohar’s broader point that these companies cannot claim ignorance or absolve themselves of the negative consequences their technologies have on users and other stakeholders.)
Anyway, this review is less readable than the book. So if you’ve made it this far, maybe give the book a read. I’d love to discuss this book with someone.
December 22, 2019
I'm a little worried how obvious the data issues brought up in 'Don't Be Evil" are and yet I've paid little attention to them. Regulations and protections should be put in place immediately to curb how are data is used with ownership of data needing to be given to the individual. Please read this book.
August 1, 2022
An overview of the power of big companies like Amazon, apple, facebook, Netflix, google et al and how they use and abuse our data. Foroohar proposes government regulation, public oversight and either a sovereign wealth fund and/or taxes on the use of private data - along with greater regulations requiring consent and opt-in re: data.
November 29, 2022
As someone who works for a FAANG company, I found this book very insightful and, in some ways, mortifying. And yet, I don't see anything I could personally do to change the industry, other than voting.
I worked at small, "non-evil" companies in the past, and each one was acquired by a much bigger company. What can an engineer do in such an industry?
I worked at small, "non-evil" companies in the past, and each one was acquired by a much bigger company. What can an engineer do in such an industry?
February 15, 2025
Reading this as “tech bro’s” kiss the ring of the emerging American autocrat and not only fail to harness their power for the public good but even contribute to the destruction of the rule of law in America reaffirms the adage that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
And that includes the ultimate owner of this website.
And that includes the ultimate owner of this website.
physical_to-read_stack
December 10, 2019I received my copy free through Goodreads Giveaways.
May 1, 2020
3.5 Stars. Disturbing and informative, but also repetitive. I felt it could have been a little more condensed. The chapters sometimes felt like connected essays instead of chapters in the same book and I feel like I heard the same few phrases/sentences again and again (probably made more noticeable by the fact that I was listening to the audiobook). Still a good read - would recommend if you want more information on the monopoly of Apple/Amazon/Google et al.
June 21, 2023
it was kind of long and i didnt like it that much but it was ok i guess
Want to read
August 3, 2023Dewey 384.330973 F769d
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