if Google truly ravaged this forest without permission, the only acceptable punishment would be to:

• Mandate the complete restoration, plant as many trees in the area as there were before

• Establish a fund (obviously footed by Google) managed by a gov selected conservation group, to oversee the restoration of the forest for the next 50 years (or whatever long it takes for those trees to be a similar age as they were before illegally cutting them down)

• Pay a fine proportional to their net worth

• Jail time for the executives overseeing this project

The original reporting from The Guardian instead of churnalist garbage Tom's Hardware.

"that while datacentres brought a limited number of jobs, potentially boosting the local econom"

Uh, no they fucking don't.

There will initially be a massive influx of construction workers that will overwhelm the local economy, drive up housing prices, then leave a gaping hole when they leave.

Even a massive data center would bring, MAYBE 100 jobs, and most of those won't be hired locally. Maybe some janitors or security.

Small communities are statistically worse off, hosting data centers, at least ones built by Google. They are one of the fucking worst. They run fast and loose, lie to elected and land owners alike, and just don't give a shit. They really think that people should be happy and proud that Google has chosen to put a data center there.

These large companies are run by sociopaths who manage via spreadsheets. They only look at profit margins for their decisions.

A Google site in Texas just arbitrarily closed down a county road that passes through part of the construction site.

Didn't get a permit, didn't notify police or fire of the road closure, AND DIDN'T EVEN FUCKING TALK TO A SINGLE ELECTED.

They are fucking psychopaths.

Blame Google not the wolves.

Aren't they able to repossess the land from Google and revoke their permit to operate?