Google accused DOJ of aiming to force people to use “inferior” search products.

Judge in US v. Google trial didn’t know if Firefox is a browser or search engine::Google accused DOJ of aiming to force people to use “inferior” search products.

  • hesusingthespiritbomb@lemmy.worldEnglish
    121·
    2 years ago

    So we have two options:

    1. A 52 year old federal judge is somehow tech illiterate in a way that would imply they have absolutely no idea about the fundamentals of modern technology.

    2. A federal judge is asking a large number of extremely basic questions to get their answers on official records so that the cases parameters are clearly defined. He is taking extra care because there’s not a lot of direct precedent on these issues.

    I’m heavily leaning towards number 2 here. The internet likes to pretend everyone over the age of 40 has no idea how a computer works. The year is 2023. A middle-aged person today was fairly young when computers started to be incorporated into all aspects of society and is well versed in computer literacy. In some ways they are actually much more tech literate than the younger generations. It’s almost certain that he knows the difference between Firefox and Google.

    • ipkpjersi@lemmy.mlEnglish
      122·
      2 years ago

      I work as a website developer and I think number one is so, so much more likely. The average person barely knows how to use a computer at all, let alone how it works and different terminology.

      An older, non-IT person - an actual judge, yeah I’m not giving them the benefit of the doubt here - they likely don’t know lol

        • English Mobster@lemmy.worldEnglish
          9·
          2 years ago

          The article you link says the judge already knew how to code beforehand.

          He’s been coding in BASIC for decades, actually, writing programs for the fun of it: a program to play Bridge, written as a gift for his wife; an automatic solution for the board game Mastermind, which he is immensely fond of; and most ambitiously, a sprawling multifunctional program with a graphical interface that helps him with yet another of his many hobbies, ham radio.

          • mulcahey@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            2 years ago

            Yes, because he taught himself.

            “At some point, I looked at the BASIC book and decided I would learn that.” He taught himself straight from the book, which he recalls was “pretty straightforward.”

        • ipkpjersi@lemmy.mlEnglish
          41·
          2 years ago

          It’s because these things work by probabilities. Generally when you think of older people who aren’t working as IT professionals, you wouldn’t expect them to be great with computers - and you’d probably be right.

          Do you really think that a judge that taught himself to code would be common-place and would be the norm? That judge is awesome, but he is very clearly an outlier lol

        • krolden@lemmy.mlEnglish
          11·
          2 years ago

          Knowing how to code doesn’t mean you know the difference between a search engine and a web browser.