Google's mantra

(c) Time Magazine; https://time.com/4023367/google-china/

Google's slogan / mantra / motto / values statement, "Do no evil", sounds great. And not withstanding Eric Schmidt's somewhat jaded observation that "Evil is whatever Sergey says is evil", it seems like a good place to start.

But there's another way of thinking about it; specifically in terms of freedom of action. A seemingly converse statement "Do good" is in fact far more constraining. There are lots of courses of action that might be neither good nor evil, which are precluded under the latter dictum but available to Google. "Don't break the law" is very different from "be kind to everyone".

While Facebook seems to neither care about the morality of its decisions, nor about the morality of obfuscating and dissembling to Congress and the public, Google was, for many, a beacon of hope that at least one of the the tech giants might be the bridgehead to a more socially responsible flavor of capitalism. I'd say the jury is decidedly still out on that question.