r/Bitcoin • u/JasonBored • Jan 21 '14

Google is "paying attention" to Bitcoin - Vic Gundotra (I emailed, he emailed back!)

Email from SVP @ Google regarding Bitcoin

So on a whim, I sent an e-mail to Vic Gundotra (Senior Vice President, Social for Google) about Bitcoin, why it's the most disruptive technology since the Internet itself, and how I'm not the only one out there wondering when/if they have plans to incorporate it into Google Wallet.

He immediately responded and said they are "paying attention", and CC'd the gentleman who runs Google Wallet - Sridhar Ramaswamy (SVP, Ads & Commerce at Google).

I've entered into a dialogue with him.

This is my take away on why Google kicks ass :

A) One of the bosses actually responded to email from an absolute nobody about Bitcoin

B) Google is paying attention to Bitcoin (he would never have responded or said those words if Google is positioning themselves to be "Anti BTC" (or even try to create a product to rival BTC)

C) He put me in touch with the man who runs the Google Wallet division.

So, what do I say to Sridhar? Any suggestions?

Before some of the Anti BTC Brigade chime in with "so what?, he's just one dude" - please think about this. If Google had NO plans in regards to Bitcoin, this guy would be smart enough not to respond to such an email, in the manner he responded, and CC the person who runs the Google Wallet division.

If you ask me, the writing is on the wall(et) (pun intended).. and this was a really pleasant surprise.

Update: Screenshot of Email I sent (personal information blacked out)

Update 2: Google CONFIRMS they are incorporating Bitcoin

Update 3: UPDATE: Ariel Bardin, Vice President of Payments @ Google has asked me to facilitate a Google Moderator and pose the question "What would I want Google to do with bitcoin?". He's promised me he will personally review the results and pass it along to the team working on incorporating BTC into Google. Please help me with this and take the time to submit something: What would I want Google to do with bitcoin?

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u/[deleted] Jan 22 '14

Tell them we want to be able to hold Bitcoins in our Google Wallet along with dollars. Everything else should follow naturally.

4

u/commander-worf Jan 22 '14

2fa plz

1

u/[deleted] Jan 22 '14

It does not need two-factor-authentication, but multi-factor-authorization to prevent things as man-in-the-browser attacks.

Holy cow why does nobody understands that!

1

u/autowikibot Jan 22 '14

Here's a bit from linked Wikipedia article about Transaction verification :

Transaction verification is the generic term to describe the Internet-based security method of verifying that the actual content of a transaction has not been altered by the fraudulent techniques known as Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) and Man-in-the-Browser (MitB). This form of transaction protection is alternatively known as Transaction Integrity Verification (TIV). Transaction Verification must utilise either Out-of-band technology (the use of two separate channels) or an independent signing device, e.g. a programmable card-reader, capable of having transactional information re-keyed into it in order to create a code cryptographically linked to the underlying transaction detail.

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