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Valleywag
Is it jet lag that causes executives' lips to loosen overseas? Surely Google VP Marissa Mayer must understand that words uttered in Australia will reach California much faster than a Qantas flight. Her indiscretion down under: Backing away from Google's informal motto, "don't be evil," in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald. "It really wasn't like an elected, ordained motto," Mayer told the newspaper. "I think that 'Don't Be Evil' is a very easy thing to point at when you see Google doing something that you personally don't like." Mayer then gave this dodge when asked if Google should be held to a higher standard than its competitors:
I don't think that we should be held to a lower standard. I think that what we're doing is very meaningful, it's very important, it's serious, it has large-scale ramifications for people in their lives and as a result we need to take it very seriously and we should be held to a very high standard regardless of whether it's self imposed or imposed through public scrutiny.Translated, the doctrine of Don't Be Evil, according to Google's cupcake princess: You're allowed to hold Google to some undefined standard of behavior, certainly no worse than its rivals'. But if you dislike what Google is doing? Kindly shut up. Google already takes this stuff seriously, and they don't need to hear it from you.
Comments
Any why am I not meeting women like this? There's something hot about trading one's ethics for the almighty dollar.
[www.techcrunch.com]
so whats your point? she didn't say anything bad.
You're slipping, Owen... Always include a picture of Marissa when writing about her. That's view count 101. (Naked, if possible. ;-))
Glad someone over they has to say it. You can't afford to live in the Four Seasons if you let your ethics get in the way of profits. The smart thing though is to get your underlings to do that for you so if you get caught you don't pay the price.
@deathbychichi: two words: cottage cheese
She's just making an existential argument. I believe the crux of it is: Evil is an objective criterion, that exists on an independent (or otherworldly, if you will) moral plane. The personal judgments of man do not enter this plane; inherently, people's evaluations of Google are doomed to be subjective inasmuch as they are based on that which "you personally don't like" (or do like, for that matter).
Put another way: Google's mission statement is, in reality, meaningless to mere mortals. Only a spiritual entity which can transcend the moral plane -- God, or perhaps Marissa Meyer (when she's wearing her favorite purple sweater) -- can assess with pure certainty the morality of Google. And everyone knows God and Marissa are up to their tits in shares of GOOG.
Marissa Mayer is hotter than the core of NGC 2440 .
Four legs good, two legs BETTER!
"We're taking this seriously"
Corporatese for "we don't give a rat's ass".
Give me a break. I worked customer and executive relations for a major computer company named after a fruit during some of the worst product quality issues that company ever had. I dealt with the most pissed off customers ever. And I never condescended to tell someone that I was "taking their issue seriously".
See also: The Consumerist, with their super-great "we're taking it seriously" watch.
Here is what she meant: "We are the Diet Coke of Evil!"
Don't be evil... is a stupid mantra.
If Google were not evil, it would not cause depressions to top people that complain online how they failt their interviews, and making lesser mortals jealous...
Eventually, Don't be evil... might blow into Google's face. I wait for some unbalanced dude to play Unabomber pranks & blaming it on them.
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