A couple years ago, Google got busted in a federal sting operation that involved a convicted con artist, advertising for illegal online pharmacies and a $500 million settlement. Crikey, it sounds like a movie script.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the feds used a “convicted fraudster,” in prison at the time, to pose as a businessman running illegal online pharmacies.
At the request of the feds, grifter David Whitaker set up fake businesses pretending to sell first steroids and human growth hormones and then “prescription narcotics, Prozac and Valium without prescriptions.”
Whitaker recently told the Wall Street Journal that Google’s ad executives didn’t go for it initially, but then they worked with him to try to circumvent the laws governing this type of activity. Oooooh, that’s totally Dark Side.
From the San Francisco Chronicle:
Most damning of all, Whitaker told the Journal that he made phone calls in which he walked through the illegal parts of his fake Web sites with Google execs, and once told them that one of his clients wanted to become the biggest steroid dealer in the U.S. The calls were recorded.
All this happened two years ago but is news again after Whitaker talked to the Wall Street Journal. The timing on it couldn’t be worse for Google, what with the other Dark Side things on the company’s dirty laundry list in the news right now.
People are jumping on the hypocrisy of it all considering Google’s slogan, which now just seems to be a tongue-in-cheek inside joke—either that or the company just doesn’t operate under the same guiding principles it used to. No matter what, it’s definitely Dark Side. Yoda would never do that.
But there’s still more…
Four—
Google is being roundly criticized left and right all over the newswires and tech blogosphere for changing their security policies and giving their users a take-it-or-leave-it choice.
Basically, Google users have to accept sharing of their information between many of Google’s various products (Gmail, Google+, et cetera). It’s either that or users close their accounts—they can’t choose what information they want to share.
You know who else gives take-it-or-leave-it choices? The Emperor, that’s who…
“If you will not be turned, you…will…be…destroyed.” (In that waaaay creepy voice.)
Don’t do it, Luke. The Empire might have better pay and bennies, but you’re gonna hate the work. Same to you, Google.
