Google Co-Founder Walks Back Attacks On Facebook, Apple

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Outspoken Google co-founder Segrey Brin, last seen wearing a prototype of Google’s new augmented reality glasses at a charity event, is walking back the verbal attacks he made on Facebook and Apple in UK newspaper The Guardian on Sunday.

The newspaper quoted Brin as saying: “There’s a lot to be lost,” along with the rise of Apple and Facebook, which both have closed, proprietary Web ecosystems, or walled gardens, which Google’s search engine cannot crawl. Brin also said at that the time that he and fellow Google co-founder Larry Page, the company’s current CEO, would not be able to re-create Google in today’s Web ecosystem if starting from scratch, thanks to Facebook.

But Brin attempted to soften those words on his Google Plus page on Tuesday, writing:

My thoughts got particularly distorted in the secondary coverage in a way that distracts from my central tenets so I think they are worth clarifying here…

 

Lastly in the interview came the subject of digital ecosystems that are not as open as the web itself and I think this portion has led to some misunderstanding of my views. So to clarify, I certainly do not think this issue is on a par with government based censorship. Moreover, I have much admiration for two of the companies we discussed — Apple and Facebook. I have always admired Apple’s products. In fact, I am writing this post on an Imac and using an Apple keyboard I have cherished for the past seven years. Likewise, Facebook has helped to connect hundreds of millions of people, has been a key tool for political expression and has been instrumental to the Arab Spring. Both have made key contributions to the free flow of information around the world.

Brin further added: “Regardless of how you feel about digital ecosystems or about Google, please do not take the free and open internet for granted from government intervention. To the extent that free flow of information threatens the powerful, those in power will seek to suppress it.”

That said, Google is reportedly one of the many large Web companies that are supporting a controversial new cybersecurity bill known as CISPA, which critics claim will lead to privacy violations and stifle Web freedom. 

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