Back in 2009, “Techdirt” posted “Does Google Need An Ombudsman?” – https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090302/0125093942.shtml — excerpted below. Here we are nine years later, and that need is demonstrably far greater now! “Techdirt” back then was referring to some of my earliest of what would ultimately be many posts about this topic.
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Lauren Weinstein has an interesting discussion going on his blog, noting a series of recent incidents where Google has done a spectacularly poor job in communicating with the public — something I’ve been critical of the company about, as well. The company can be notoriously secretive at times, even when being a lot more transparent would help. Even worse, the company is quite difficult to contact on many issues, unless you happen to know people there already. Its response times, if you go through the “official channels,” are absolutely ridiculous (if they respond at all). Weinstein’s suggestion, then, is that Google should set up a small team to play an ombudsman role — basically acting as the public’s “representative” within the company …
— Mike Masnick – “Techdirt” – March 3, 2009
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–Lauren–