Comment by mkdirp | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mkdirp | Hacker News Reader

It is clear Google is finally feeling the hurt from adblockers and the like. That means we are winning. Google knows it's not what people want, but they clearly do not care. In my opinion, if you work for Google on things like this, you are equally to blame. You have Google on your CV, you can easily go elsewhere and find a decent job.

Having said that, uBlock Origin, and I'm assuming other similar extensions, offer inline script filtering. The code being served has to have some common code since it's all coming from a single org. What is stopping a filter that includes a filter like this?

The issue obviously being that this still prevents DNS filters from blocking Google, which is equally a big issue. Assuming the scripts indeed have some common code that can be blocked, perhaps this is where we start crowdsource filters. Something that runs in the background, and inspects scripts, which then gets posted to a server, validated automatically, and then later served as a block list that anyone can download.

[0] https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBlock-issues/wiki/Inline-sc...

Yes a Google employee could go work elsewhere. But is there an equally well paid position at a more ethical company? As far as I can tell, all FANGs are as unethical as each other

I don't understand the reasoning here. How does being paid more justify unethical acting? Especially since you are getting by very very well in the tech industry in general. Isn't that like saying "I'm kicking puppies all day, but it's paying enough to finance the second Lamborghini, so how could I decide against it"?

(If you were referring to moral offsetting, that could indeed work, assuming you donate enough to charities, but your post didn't sound like that.)

How does being paid more justify unethical acting?

Honestly, it doesn't. But trying to appeal to someone already working in an unethical position isn't going to work - that person themselves is unethical. Like most things, the driving force will be down to economics and prestige. What else is keeping that employee at Google? I doubt it is loyalty

There are no perfect outcomes in life - if you're going to make an ethical decision then more often than not you'll have to compromise elsewhere. Another example would be cheap goods that come at an ethical and/or environmental cost - you'll usually have to pay extra to avoid those because the bad behaviour is what allows companies to keep costs down.

In some sense, FAANG employees are being paid extra to look the other way.

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