3 ms·

Clearly they're trying to guide internal ethics. "Don't be evil." suggests that it is forbidden to be evil in all circumstances. How to read the new guideline:

Clearly they're trying to guide internal ethics. "Don't be evil." suggests that it is forbidden to be evil in all circumstances. How to read the new guideline: "Do the right thing, even if sometimes it requires evil." Some big event inside must have triggered this change in stance. Like a letter requesting they capitulate on some requirement to protect or give up user data, reveal whereabouts, key escrow, or something like that. I guess what is confusing is how subjective "the right thing" can be. If an employee were to cite this new slogan and try to address a problem with it, is the right thing to capitulate or to defend. Who is to say really. It almost seems like it is reworded to be more vague so higher ups can just wave their hands and say these aren't the droids you're looking for. But, are they waving their hands at employees protesting the mistreatment of customer data and privacy? Or, are they waving their hands at the powers that be who want unfettered access? I guess time will tell.

muthdra 8y ago
> Some big event inside must have triggered this change in stance I don't know what triggered the change in stance but this may have triggered the removal. Citing 'Don't Be Evil' Motto, 3,000+ Google Employees Demand Company End Work on Pentagon Drone Project [0] [0]https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/04/04/citing-dont-be-evil-motto-3000-google-employees-demand-company-end-work-pentagon https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/04/04/citing-dont-be-...
- palisade 8y ago
  They changed to "Do the right thing" from "Don't be evil" back in 2015 long before the 3000+ employee protest against the Pentagon drone project. I doubt this is the event that triggered the change in stance.
  - muthdra 8y ago
    You are right.
    - palisade 8y ago
      The objections to the project internally could have been brewing for years, though.
      - gowld 8y ago
        Years before the DoD project was invented and the contract proposed?
malloryerik 8y ago
"I guess what is confusing is how subjective "the right thing" can be." Oussama Ammar of TheFamily, a successful accelerator in Paris, agrees with you and claims that an effective motto must be one that can be disagreed with. It must in some way take a stand. "Don't be evil" wouldn't work at Goldman Sachs, for example, where people might argue that little evils must be done in the service of the greater good, or that "the market" is the one who decides what is right or wrong. "Don't be evil" seems to imply that the ends should not be used to justify the means. "Do the right thing" could probably be more acceptable at Goldman, because as you note it's more subjective and allows for small evils that work in the service of greater goods -- it seems to allow for the ends to justify the means.
- gowld 8y ago
  Who at Goldman Sachs professes to be evil? They are doing "price discovery" and "optimizing finance". To a libertarian capitalist, "Evil" simply does not exist in commercial transactions.
dragonwriter 8y ago
> "Don't be evil." suggests that it is forbidden to be evil in all circumstances. How to read the new guideline: "Do the right thing, even if sometimes it requires evil." The new code of conduct still contains a direct admonishment of “don't be evil”, as the article states. So, no, I think your reading is unsupported by the source.

muthdra 8y ago

> Some big event inside must have triggered this change in stance I don't know what triggered the change in stance but this may have triggered the removal. Citing 'Don't Be Evil' Motto, 3,000+ Google Employees Demand Company End Work on Pentagon Drone Project [0] [0]https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/04/04/citing-dont-be-evil-motto-3000-google-employees-demand-company-end-work-pentagon https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/04/04/citing-dont-be-...

palisade 8y ago
They changed to "Do the right thing" from "Don't be evil" back in 2015 long before the 3000+ employee protest against the Pentagon drone project. I doubt this is the event that triggered the change in stance.
- muthdra 8y ago
  You are right.
  - palisade 8y ago
    The objections to the project internally could have been brewing for years, though.
    - gowld 8y ago
      Years before the DoD project was invented and the contract proposed?

malloryerik 8y ago

"I guess what is confusing is how subjective "the right thing" can be." Oussama Ammar of TheFamily, a successful accelerator in Paris, agrees with you and claims that an effective motto must be one that can be disagreed with. It must in some way take a stand. "Don't be evil" wouldn't work at Goldman Sachs, for example, where people might argue that little evils must be done in the service of the greater good, or that "the market" is the one who decides what is right or wrong. "Don't be evil" seems to imply that the ends should not be used to justify the means. "Do the right thing" could probably be more acceptable at Goldman, because as you note it's more subjective and allows for small evils that work in the service of greater goods -- it seems to allow for the ends to justify the means.

gowld 8y ago
Who at Goldman Sachs professes to be evil? They are doing "price discovery" and "optimizing finance". To a libertarian capitalist, "Evil" simply does not exist in commercial transactions.

dragonwriter 8y ago

> "Don't be evil." suggests that it is forbidden to be evil in all circumstances. How to read the new guideline: "Do the right thing, even if sometimes it requires evil." The new code of conduct still contains a direct admonishment of “don't be evil”, as the article states. So, no, I think your reading is unsupported by the source.