Category Archives: Technology and Society

Business, Law, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Technology and Society, Weird

The Latest (Weird) Google Evil

25 Comments

I’m a member of a mailing list on Googlegroups. It’s a private list, and I’ve been a member for many years. Today, I got the following email, Subject: Your Content On Google Groups

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Hello simberg@interglobal.org,

We’re letting you know that we’ve permanently removed the content at https://groups.google.com/d/msg/coolpeople2808/4SscdySTE04/WIigOQEpAQAJ

Why did this happen?

An external report flagged the content for illegal content or policy violations. As a result, our legal content and policy standards team removed the content for the following reason: unwanted content.

Learn more

You can learn more about our content policies and enforcement at our help center.

What you can do next

You may have the option to pursue your claims in court. If you have legal questions or wish to examine legal options that may be available to you, you may want to consult with your own legal counsel.

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WTF?!

a) They don’t tell me what the allegedly objectionable content was and (b) it’s a private list. How can there be an “external report” on it? I forwarded the email to the list, and we’re all scratching our heads about it.

Business, Law, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Space, Technology and Society

The Space Regulation Mess

5 Comments

Jeff Foust has a good description of the current state of play.

I think that this is bogus: ““The FAA, Department of Transportation, has been doing human spaceflight safety for many years…”

The FAA has never been responsible for human-spaceflight safety. In
fact, under the learning period, it has no legislative authority to do so. It has never done mission assurance for either satellites or participants. Does Rich DalBello really subscribe to this statement?

It also begs the question that any federal agency should be responsible for the safety of commercial spaceflight participants, either on the way to orbit, on the way back, or in space. The debate we should be having is not which agency, but whether the federal government should have responsibility at all at this point in time. I don’t see how Article VI requires it. I’m tempted to write an op-ed.