Google is finding that it's hard to 'do no evil' when
the rest of the technology world is gunning for you.
Les Echos, France
'Don't Be Evil'
Google a
Victim of its Own Success
"'We've
done nothing wrong!' exclaims Google’s legal director. But the world of capitalism
is no paradise, and the opposite side of the coin of success is called profitability,
growth, domination, power and … abuse of power. If Google wanted to remain
the Good Samaritan of the Internet, it should have followed the path of
volunteerism like Wikipedia."
Google always gives the
impression of being a child caught with his fingers in the jam. “We've
done nothing wrong!” exclaims Google’s legal director upon receiving
the questionnaire sent by competition authorities in Brussels [E.U.
headquarters].
The good, the bad … Google
readily summons moral justifications as part of its strategy or to defend its
positions. But the company, which boasts of wanting only happiness for humankind,
is finding it increasingly difficult to maintain its holier-than-thou stance. European
investigations, condemnations from Italian leaders and trials being conducted everywhere:
not a week goes by without the now extremely wealthy Google being questioned
about its practices. Not to mention its showdown with Chinese authorities.
It’s not its fault. The
Californian company is suffering under the iron law of the innovator, whose career
always begins in euphoria and normally ends in the courts. Edison, Microsoft
and Steve Jobs have all experienced this before.
An innovation is, by
definition, a beneficial departure, a small miracle for the consumer. Who would
deny that one's life changed after the appearance of this extraordinary search
engine? From then on, we were no longer alone in the vastness of the Internet. We
traverse it with the help of an effective and intelligent guide, just as life
changed with software from Microsoft or the Apple iPhone. But then, the world of
capitalism is no paradise, and the opposite side of the coin is called profitability,
growth, domination, power and … abuse of power.
If Google wanted to remain
the Good Samaritan of the Internet, it should have followed the path of
volunteerism like Wikipedia. The star of the American stock market, the search
engine only advocates that things remain free if that increases its profits. And
to go further, after having saturated the advertising market, it must use its power
by explore new territories. At the risk of multiplying its conflicts of
interest. At the risk of one day confronting the coalition of its rivals.
Amazon, Microsoft, Yahoo! and
AT&T are already on the warpath. And at the risk of getting caught up in
its own misadventures and missing the next leap forward. That's what happened
to Microsoft, which laid the groundwork for the Internet for 15 years and
didn’t know how to stop Google, which itself didn't take the time to account
for the Facebook revolution. Those good children grow up and get fat, and are
overtaken by new youngsters full of candor and without scruples.
