Google: Do No Evil (Unless It’s With Communists)
Look, there’s a lot of crap floating around today about Google and whether or not the “Don’t Be Evil” mantra even has a place within the company after they agreed to release a censored version of Google for Chinese users.
The company has long drawn a moral line on business matters. It’s done things right, almost from inception, which is why people give them the benefit of the doubt these days. This fiasco, however, is going to change a lot of opinions. Today is G-Day — the day Google declared to the world that they are no better than the Microsofts, Enrons, and other shady companies who’ve been about nothing but the bottom line. Face the facts: Google does not care about indexing the world’s information and making it readily available, and they don’t care if they’re evil. They care about making buckets full of money, which is not a bad desire. The only real problem I have with is that they’re still spinning, saying a crippled Google is better than no Google at all. I disagree. If you’re going to go along and censor information that people have every right to access, then you’re no better than any other software company out there who is about the bottom line.
Just admit it, guys. You’re not a search company anymore — you’re a growing media conglomerate. The backlash is going to be a lot worse if you keep pretending to be something you’re not.
Every administration since Nixon has harumphed they won’t let China get away with anything and that they’ll get tough on trade – and they all eventually cave. Must be the “If we can sell one box of Kleenex to every Chinese each month…” type of greed-think.
Google held out longer than Microsoft did, and they just said they will fight the US government forever on turning over search data, and that’s something Microsoft, AOL, and Yahoo aren’t doing.
Their blog today has their detailed explanation.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/
bobmorris
January 28, 2006 at 10:26 am
[...] Now, though, it’s slowly becoming a different story. I’m not saying that Google is on the road to becoming a Microsoft (especially when it seems like Microsoft is on the way to becoming a Google), but I am saying that the playing field has changed. While Google might not admit it, the decision to go into cahoots with the Chinese government and present, for the first time, a moderated, filtered version of Google, was a poor choice. If Google wants to act like a media company, then fine, but they really need to stop pretending that they’re not. They’re a huge force to be reckoned with, the Do No Evil motto has been cast aside, and the playing field has changed from a cool little startup that made it big on the strength of an amazing algorithm to a monster corporation that has an amazing power to influence the world on a hourly basis. [...]
the j. botter weblog » Blog Archive » The Google Death Sentence
February 6, 2006 at 11:44 pm
[...] – Google’s being accused of profiting from child pornography. I don’t think the lawsuit has any merit whatsoever, and I’m not sure what grounds that the accusers think they have to stand on. And of course, they just have to mix in references to Google’s deal with the Chinese government as proof that they’ll stoop to any level imagineable in order to make money. [...]
the j. botter weblog » Weekly Wrap
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