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more on google and "do no evil"
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 3 Sep 2006 12:12:59 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Adam Fields <ip20398470293845 () aquick org> Date: September 3, 2006 11:26:28 AM EDT To: David Farber <dave () farber net> Cc: ip () v2 listbox com Subject: Re: [IP] google and "do no evil" For IP, if you wish: On Sun, Sep 03, 2006 at 07:53:04AM -0400, David Farber wrote: [...]
Notice carefully that the Google motto is "do no evil", not "marvel at our perfection". I, for one, would much rather have Google remain dedicated to the goal of "doing no evil" even if it occasionally falls short of the Olympian standard to which it is regularly held, than have the company succumb to the overt cynicism which asserts that if the company's record isn't perfect it's the same as not giving a whig in the first place so it should "disavow its motto" and stop caring about it. the mind boggles.
I have less of a problem with "do no evil", because it's semantically null. Like all of the rest of their public face, it does sound goofy and harmless, and tends to blind people to the fact that they are a real for-profit company. But I think people are starting to wake up to that. What I have a real problem with is their mission statement: "Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." For one thing, this clearly doesn't apply to any information about Google, or any information which Google has garnered in the course of organizing all of the rest of the world's information (with lip service paid to whether any given piece of information should be "organized" at all). We haven't asked if it's a good thing for all of the information in the world to be made universally accessible and useful. Often, the decision about whether it is is made by a party other than the one to whom any relevant secrecy is important, without consulting that person at all. For example, if you use Google Analytics or AdSense on your web site, Google can track my visits to your pages if I don't take steps to stop them. Has that been reflected in anybody's privacy policy? Are those web site owners even aware that that's the case? -- - Adam ** Expert Technical Project and Business Management **** System Performance Analysis and Architecture ****** [ http://www.adamfields.com ] [ http://www.aquick.org/blog ] ............ Blog [ http://www.adamfields.com/resume.html ].. Experience [ http://www.flickr.com/photos/fields ] ... Photos [ http://www.aquicki.com/wiki ].............Wiki ------------------------------------- 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 google and "do no evil" David Farber (Sep 03)