Many of you are reading this post while living in a city. And you can probably think of a ton of ways you’d like your city to be better—more affordable housing, better public transport, less pollution, more parks and green spaces, safer biking paths, a shorter commute... the list goes on!
Many cities around the world have already made a lot of progress in some of these areas—for instance, developing dashboards to measure and visualize traffic patterns, and building tools that let residents instantly evaluate and provide feedback on city services. But a lot of urban challenges are interrelated—for example, availability of transportation affects where people choose to live, which affects housing prices, which affects quality of life. So it helps to start from first principles and get a big-picture view of the many factors that affect city life. Then, you can develop the technologies and partnerships you need to make a difference.
So I’m very excited about +Sidewalk Labs, a new company we’ve announced today. (The press release is at www.sidewalkinc.com if you want to read more). Sidewalk will focus on improving city life for everyone by developing and incubating urban technologies to address issues like cost of living, efficient transportation and energy usage. The company will be led by Dan Doctoroff, former CEO of Bloomberg and Deputy Mayor of Economic Development and Rebuilding for the City of New York. Every time I talk with Dan I feel an amazing sense of opportunity because of all the ways technology can help transform cities to be more livable, flexible and vibrant. I want to thank +Adrian who helped to bring Dan on board.
While this is a relatively modest investment and very different from Google's core business, it’s an area where I hope we can really improve people’s lives, similar to Google[x] and Calico. Making long-term, 10X bets like this is hard for most companies to do, but Sergey and I have always believed that it’s important. And as more and more people around the world live, work and settle in cities, the opportunities for improving our urban environments are endless. Now it’s time to hit the streets and get to work!
Many cities around the world have already made a lot of progress in some of these areas—for instance, developing dashboards to measure and visualize traffic patterns, and building tools that let residents instantly evaluate and provide feedback on city services. But a lot of urban challenges are interrelated—for example, availability of transportation affects where people choose to live, which affects housing prices, which affects quality of life. So it helps to start from first principles and get a big-picture view of the many factors that affect city life. Then, you can develop the technologies and partnerships you need to make a difference.
So I’m very excited about +Sidewalk Labs, a new company we’ve announced today. (The press release is at www.sidewalkinc.com if you want to read more). Sidewalk will focus on improving city life for everyone by developing and incubating urban technologies to address issues like cost of living, efficient transportation and energy usage. The company will be led by Dan Doctoroff, former CEO of Bloomberg and Deputy Mayor of Economic Development and Rebuilding for the City of New York. Every time I talk with Dan I feel an amazing sense of opportunity because of all the ways technology can help transform cities to be more livable, flexible and vibrant. I want to thank +Adrian who helped to bring Dan on board.
While this is a relatively modest investment and very different from Google's core business, it’s an area where I hope we can really improve people’s lives, similar to Google[x] and Calico. Making long-term, 10X bets like this is hard for most companies to do, but Sergey and I have always believed that it’s important. And as more and more people around the world live, work and settle in cities, the opportunities for improving our urban environments are endless. Now it’s time to hit the streets and get to work!
View 340 previous comments
Hi,
My name is Camille Richardson and in January 2014 I came across a defamatory and impersonated profile page that had been published on the Facebook Service, Google Search Engine, Google+ and Google Profile. The fake profiles alleged among other things that I was a fake rape victim and also published personal details such as my NI number, date of birth, educational and work background. At the time I had reported numerous incidences of sexual abuse to the London Metropolitan Police, so I’m sure that you can understand just how distressing it was to come across these defamatory profiles.
On 24 January 2014 I sent numerous removal requests to both Facebook and Google requesting that the profiles be removed. Nearly four months later both companies finally complied, however, the damage had already been done. Nearly two years on and having moved 400 miles away from the city I was born in I still find it impossible to find employment.
On January 2015 I raised libel proceedings against Facebook UK Limited and Google UK Limited. On 26 October 2015 both claims failed as the Court was of the opinion that Google UK Limited and Facebook UK Limited do not control or publish user content on the Facebook or Google servers. I was then ordered by the court to pay Google and Facebook’s legal costs that amount to over £57,000.
On 26 October 2015 I created a fictional LinkedIn profile using the pseudonym Margo Hanmer. I then contacted senior members of the Facebook and Google UK Limited organisations such as Mr. Bruce Hazan, Head of Solutions Engineering EMEA at Facebook UK Limited, and asked whether Google London and Facebook London corporate activities extend towards protecting internet users from abuse and removing objectionable content as both companies have always asserted in court that their activities extend to communications, advertising and public policy only.
The responses I received demonstrate that Google UK and Facebook UK mislead the court. Unfortunately, as judgement has already been decided in this case I’ll need an official witness statement from someone who has worked or works at Facebook UK Limited and Google UK Limited and who will come on record as saying that Facebook and Google London do remove and edit fake profiles on the Google and Facebook servers. When I sent in copies of the communications to Google they dismissed them but did offer to do something in way of the legal costs bill if I would drop any attempts to appeal using the fresh evidence. Facebook UK merely threatened me with defamation proceedings if I continued stating that they had misled the court.
This posting is therefore an appeal for anyone who is prepared to offer their assistance. The case number for Google is QB/2015/0317 and their legal representative is Pinsent Masons LLP (Mr. David Barker, Partner). The case number for Facebook is QB/2015/0316 and their legal representative is White & Case LLP (Mr. Marcus Collins, Partner). I am happy to receive any tip-offs via my personal email address camillerichardson5057@yahoo.co.uk. Alternatively you may wish to send in your statements to the Royal Courts of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division, Room E07, Strand, London WC2A 2LL quoting the relevant case number. 7w- 5w
- 4w
Your Google Wallet division specialists are stuck in a procedural loop. I accidentally attempted to use an expired debit card which locked my google wallet account and the bank account that the debit card had been connected to. You people will not understand that a debit card does not have any statement associated with it like a credit card does. Only the bank knows the connection between the debit card and the account it is for. The card was expired and shredded some months ago but google wallet specialists can not get around needing to have a picture of the debit card (shredded) and a copy of the statement that shows this card (never existed). All they keep doing is sending me emails telling me that they cannot do anything until I send them the non-existent debit card and non-existent statement. Somebody please intervene on the behalf of common sense..... please!!!!!!4w
OMG I'm so sorry I happened upon this and can only imagine how frustrated by no small means you must be.4w
Larry FFS learn Perl!, ask Larry Wall1w
