The statement that a company is the "most ethical" is a relative one. It doesn't imply that the company is ethical, or a net good to the world. It simply means

The statement that a company is the "most ethical" is a relative one. It doesn't imply that the company is ethical, or a net good to the world. It simply means that it is relatively better than the others. > every ad-driven revenue model is at odds with privacy I agree with this statement (assuming you're talking about personally targeted ads). Believe it or not though, there are ways to be evil that don't require invading people's privacy, and there are a lot of companies out there that engage in this sort of bad behavior. I'm not saying that Google is perfectly ethical. I'm just saying that the other companies I've worked at have been worse, and that the heuristic of "avoid ad-based business models" won't necessarily steer you in the direction of an ethical career.