SWOT Analysis on Big Tech, by Silicon Valley Sniper

Big Tech is well past being a serious problem. They are now banning POTUS and suppressing meaningful dissent. And that’s just what they’re telling us to our face. I’m sure they’re using other manipulative behavior to gain undue influence.

Getting/keeping people’s attention and subtly influencing their thoughts is the core business model for Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc. They get paid by advertisers to make an “impression”. Maybe they convince you to buy a bag of chips, or burn a book on censorship. The business model is the same. They sell influence. And billions of dollars in ad money says Big Tech influence works.

We’re fortunate that Big Tech is really showing their hand these days. Companies are tripping over themselves to censor and control. Influence is what made them rich and powerful. And they always want more. Today it’s POTUS, but who will it be tomorrow? Is it far fetched to think every new leader they don’t like will be silenced?

It’s a new low for the warlords of Big Tech. So while they have the spotlight, figured I’d do a quick SWOT analysis on them (below). SWOT is a framework to assess the competitive landscape. You can do SWOT on yourself, or others. The idea is to map out important internal and external factors, then do some strategic pondering.

As an example, an Internet Service Provider (ISP) in Idaho just blocked Facebook and Twitter (https://tech.slashdot.org/story/21/01/12/0146245/citing-censorship-concerns-north-idaho-isp-blocks-facebook-and-twitter). I bet it was a real pleasure to create those firewall rules, but you’re fighting against their strength of dominant market position. Maybe the better strategy is to feed into the threat of employee dissatisfaction. Drag ass on getting internet service to tech workers fleeing California for Idaho. Or downgrade speeds for the transplants, so bandwidth stays with long-standing residents/customers.

I don’t know if my SWOT analysis is correct, but the approach is tried and true. Keep poking at them until you hit a nerve. Then press on that nerve as hard as you can, for as long as you can. Don’t fight their strengths. Exploit their weaknesses, suppress their opportunities and continue to be a threat!

Strengths

Massive amounts of cash/capital

Massive amounts of data

Dominant market position

Large workforce

Weaknesses

Core software features are easily replicated

Algorithms are dependent on data

Bloated corporate bureaucracy

Reliance on off-shore workforce

Wall Street demands for perpetual growth

Opportunities

Political power via Biden administration revolving door

Maintain dominance through purchase of start-ups

AI and Machine Learning to consolidate control

Censorship of dissenting opinions

Internet of Things

Threats

American partisans

Start-ups with ideological differences

Anti-trust laws

Data privacy laws

Employee dissatisfaction (unionization, whistleblowers, etc)

By NC ScoutPublished On: January 13, 2021Categories: AP Staff, Tech and Privacy18 Comments

About the Author: NC Scout

NC Scout is the nom de guerre of a former Infantry Scout and Sergeant in one of the Army’s best Reconnaissance Units. He has combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He teaches a series of courses focusing on small unit skills rarely if ever taught anywhere else in the prepping and survival field, including his RTO Course which focuses on small unit communications. In his free time he is an avid hunter, bushcrafter, writer, long range shooter, prepper, amateur radio operator and Libertarian activist. He can be contacted at [email protected] or via his blog at brushbeater.wordpress.com .

18 Comments

Another Nobody January 13, 2021 at 05:44

https://imgur.com/a/wEOJpGH
Food for thought.
- HL January 13, 2021 at 14:43
  
  Heavy shit
- 71M January 13, 2021 at 18:10
  
  AN – Just tapped on your link. Definitely blanked…NT. Time now = 1809hrs EST.
OMC January 13, 2021 at 07:19

Weakness:
Electrical grid failure
- Bloomer January 13, 2021 at 09:36
  
  Additional weakness is reliance on a relatively small number of physical data centers. And the needs of those centers are electricity (like you said), cooling, and comms cabling.
  - Johnny Paratrooper January 13, 2021 at 15:38
    
    The data centers are not tied into the grid like your house is. Or any other normal business.
    Also, their cooling is internal, closed systems that can be opened to purge and flush.
    It’s a parallel redundant system designed like your brake system on your car.
    - FlyBy January 13, 2021 at 19:11
      
      At some point that $15,000.00 to $20,000.00 Cat Generator is going to run out of diesel and with the new green deal, there won’t be any power to keep those servers running. At some point, they will be consumed by their own policies.
      - PB January 13, 2021 at 21:00
        
        Or maybe the generator gets a round through its guts, or somehow catches on fire. They generally are in external areas, obviously outside. Find the low hanging fruit…
      - MTHead January 15, 2021 at 20:11
        
        Some use natural gas to power back up generators also.
    - Peter January 13, 2021 at 22:32
      
      https://youtu.be/XZmGGAbHqa0?t=242
      Data centers will be either ran by big ACs or water based heat exchangers. In either case that infrastructure will be sitting in the open outside. Same with the electrical. Satellite imagery will confirm this.
- DirtNasty January 13, 2021 at 21:53
  
  If I remember right sometime in the 1990’s most of the major fiber optic lines were laid along side of the railroad tracks (at lease in the midwest). There is plenty of articles on line to confirm this. Even more interesting to me is the rumor that the Feds overseen the project because the contractors laid the fiber optic lines for the gov at the same time. There independent communication lines follow the same trench and enter and exit the same concrete hubs? This may or may not be relevant, but I do think most people own a shovel!
Anonymous January 13, 2021 at 07:35

5
J January 13, 2021 at 07:35

You bet Big Tech influences people:
You add that, “Our research leaves little doubt about whether Google has the ability to control voters. In laboratory and online experiments conducted in the United States, we were able to boost the proportion of people who favored any candidates by between 37 and 63 percent after just one search session.”
“The impact of viewing biased rankings repeatedly over a period of weeks and months would undoubtedly been larger.”
And what the ‘purging’ of various information sources is ultimately all about. From Robert J Lifton’s landmark 1961 study of ‘thought reform’ (ie brain washing’) technology of the Chinese communist government. First on the to do list was control information.
Milieu Control. This involves the control of information and communication both within the environment and, ultimately, within the individual, resulting in a significant degree of isolation from society at large.
https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/dr-robert-epstein-on-googles-ability-to-affect-the-outcome-of-elections
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_Reform_and_the_Psychology_of_Totalism
J January 13, 2021 at 07:52

Some elaboration on ‘thought reform’ in regards to the previous post:
‘Thought reform in China (Chinese: 思想改造; pinyin: sīxiǎng gǎizào, also known as ideological remolding or ideological reform) was a campaign of the Communist Party of China to reform the thinking of Chinese citizens into accepting Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought (Maoism) from 1951 to 1952.
Techniques employed included indoctrination, “struggle sessions”, propaganda, criticism and self-criticism, and a variety of other techniques.’
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_reform_in_China
JD January 13, 2021 at 08:32

Good analysis. I would add as a weakness that they are dependent upon people freely giving up their privacy in a time when privacy concerns are increasing.
Chris January 13, 2021 at 12:14

And now Gab seems like it may be gone?!?!
- Johnny Paratrooper January 13, 2021 at 15:36
  
  Gab claims to have their own servers, but they don’t own any ISPs.
  So basically, the ISPs can pull the plug on gab.
  Also, the local power company in Scranton can cut their power if they are deemed to be a threat.
  There is no way gab can afford to run a $200,000 generator just for fedposting and recycled memes.
  Also, Judging by the rhetoric from several online Internet personalities, it looks like we are about to have a Biden presidency in 7 days.
  Also, Kamala is still listed as a Senator. Typically they resign after winning elections. Although, this is probably just because she is a power hungry $%^&. Looks like we are gonna lose our guns in the next 100 days after our speech is totally cut off.
MTHead January 13, 2021 at 14:52

I think it important to remember. No matter what you do, up to and including sitting in your house politely starving to death with a mask on. You will always be a terrorist. And we all know what happens to terrorists.
Their greatest weakness is that you acknowledge that truth.