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more on Hi-tech firms censured over China
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 19:33:32 -0500
Begin forwarded message: From: Thomas Leavitt <thomas () thomasleavitt org> Date: December 20, 2005 5:28:41 PM EST To: dave () farber net Subject: Re: Hi-tech firms censured over China Dave, Corporations have no morals. This is a fundamental principle. Their sole legal and moral obligation is to produce the highest possible return on investment to their shareholders - the only rationale for ethical behavior on their part is that it is generally good for business. The greater social impact of their actions is irrelevant - if they can make a profit by destroying $10 worth of value to the commons for every $1 in private value they create, they will do so (witness the vast environmental degradation they've wrought and continue to wreak in places like Nigeria, Ecuador and Indonesia). Or, at least, this is how they've been set up and have functioned over the last century. Until and unless the regulatory and legal structure under which they are chartered says different, nothing is going to change that. Regards, Thomas Leavitt From: David Farber <dave () farber net> Subject: Hi-tech firms censured over China Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 16:55:24 -0500 Begin forwarded message: From: pat hachon la breloque <tercasa () prodigy net mx> Date: December 19, 2005 4:25:58 PM EST To: dave () farber net Cc: ip () v2 listbox com Subject: Hi-tech firms censured over China http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4541524.stm A senior EC official has criticised hi-tech firms for helping China silence its domestic critics. In a blog entry, EC vice president Margot Wallstroem said Microsoft, Yahoo and Google were matching their morals to suit new markets. In particular she said the firms seemed to have deleted words such as "ethics" and "corporate social responsibility" from their codes of conduct. Patrice H. Sovet TerCaSa 52-55 / 17.100.160 52-55 / 17.36.90.90 telcel 04455 / 1014.8180 ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- more on Hi-tech firms censured over China David Farber (Dec 20)