Don't be evil

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"Don't be evil" is the informal corporate motto (or slogan) of Google.[1] It was first suggested either by Google employee Paul Buchheit at a meeting about corporate values that took place in early 2000[2] or in 2001[3] or, according to another account, by Google engineer Amit Patel in 1999.[4] Buchheit, the creator of Gmail, said he "wanted something that, once you put it in there, would be hard to take out", adding that the slogan was "also a bit of a jab at a lot of the other companies, especially our competitors, who at the time, in our opinion, were kind of exploiting the users to some extent."[2] While the official corporate philosophy of Google[5] does not contain the words "Don't be evil", they were included in the prospectus (aka "S-1") of Google's 2004 IPO (a letter from Google's founders, later called the "'Don't Be Evil' manifesto"): "Don’t be evil. We believe strongly that in the long term, we will be better served — as shareholders and in all other ways — by a company that does good things for the world even if we forgo some short term gains."[6] The motto is sometimes incorrectly stated as Do no evil.[3][7]

While many companies have ethical codes that govern their conduct in contract, Google claims to have made "Don't Be Evil" a central pillar of their identity[8] as part of their self-proclaimed core values.[9] The words: "Don't be evil" form part of the sixth point in these Core Values, and in full states: "Do the right thing: don't be evil. Honesty and Integrity in all we do. Our business practices are beyond reproach. We make money by doing good things."[5][8]

Criticism of Google often includes a reference to "Don't be evil".[10]

Avoiding conflicts of interest

In their 2004 founders' letter[11] prior to their initial public offering, Larry Page and Sergey Brin explained that their "Don't be evil" culture prohibited conflicts of interest, and required objectivity and an absence of bias:

Google users trust our systems to help them with important decisions: medical, financial and many others. Our search results are the best we know how to produce. They are unbiased and objective, and we do not accept payment for them or for inclusion or more frequent updating. We also display advertising, which we work hard to make relevant, and we label it clearly. This is similar to a well-run newspaper, where the advertisements are clear and the articles are not influenced by the advertisers’ payments. We believe it is important for everyone to have access to the best information and research, not only to the information people pay for you to see.

Chris Hoofnagle, director of University of California, Berkeley Law’s information privacy programs, has stated[12] that Google's original intention expressed by the "don't be evil" motto is linked to the company's separation of search results from advertising. However, he argues that clearly separating search results from sponsored links is required by law, thus, Google's practice is now mainstream and no longer remarkable or good. According to Hoofnagle, Google should abandon the motto because:

The evil talk is not only an albatross for Google, it obscures the substantial consumer benefits from Google’s advertising model. Because we have forgotten the original context of Google’s evil representations, the company should remind the public of the company’s contribution to a revolution in search advertising, and highlight some overlooked benefits of their model.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Google Code of Conduct". Google. 2012-04-25. Retrieved 2013-12-31. {{cite web}}: |contribution= ignored (help) While there have been unsourced allegations that Google dropped this motto, it remains at the very head of Google's Code of Conduct.
  2. ^ a b "Paul Buchheit on Gmail, AdSense and More". Blogoscoped. 2007-01-25. Retrieved 2013-04-04. (quoting from: Jessica Livingston, Founders at Work, ISBN 978-1590597149)
  3. ^ a b Gleick, James, "How Google Dominates Us", The New York Review of Books http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/aug/18/how-google-dominates-us/?pagination=false {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ^ "Don't Be Evil or don't lose value?". The Sydney Morning Herald. AU. 2008-04-15.
  5. ^ a b "Our Philosophy". Google. Retrieved 2011-11-25. {{cite web}}: |contribution= ignored (help)
  6. ^ Ovide, Shira (2011-06-23). "What Would 2004 Google Say About Antitrust Probe?". The Wall Street Journal.
  7. ^ ndouglas (2/09/06), "Don't be evil. Fact-check the company motto", [[Valleywag]], Gawker {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  8. ^ a b "Google Core Values". Blogoscoped. 2007-01-25. Retrieved 2013-06-14.
  9. ^ "Google Hamburg Gallery". Blogoscoped. 2007-01-25. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
  10. ^
  11. ^ "Letter from the founders, "an owner's manual" for Google's shareholders". USA: SEC. 14 Aug 2004.
  12. ^ Hoofnagle, Chris (April 2009). "Beyond Google and evil: How policy makers, journalist and consumers should talk differently about Google and privacy". First Monday. 14 (4–6).

External links

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