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I’ve learned to cast a more cynical eye towards companies claiming to be accomplishing grand, ethical aims. Sometimes they’re right, of course, but it’s also a

I’ve learned to cast a more cynical eye towards companies claiming to be accomplishing grand, ethical aims. Sometimes they’re right, of course, but it’s also a phenomenal way to sweep abuse and fraud under a rug.

yumraj 5y ago
> I’ve learned to cast a more cynical eye towards companies claiming to be accomplishing grand, ethical aims. People have stopped talking about Google's famed "Don't be Evil" thing.. But hey, it served a purpose for Google when it mattered.
- lmilcin 5y ago
  It is really depressing that honor and integrity means nothing. Do whatever you want and while claiming the opposite. If it blows up, hire a specialized PR company and pretend nothing happened.
- sellyme 5y ago
  It also helped that Google, by-and-large, were doing extremely good things. For all the complaints about the (very real) problems the internet has today, I think people have lost sight of how much the internet sucked in 1997. There's a website you loved, but you forgot the URL? Good luck ever finding that again. Want to watch a video? Hope you've got an updated QuickTime plug-in and a lot of time to wait for the shitty webhost to serve a 240p video at 80B/s. Your daughter just emailed you a few photos of your grandchildren? Better delete the last 5 years of your conversation history to make space for it - Hotmail and Yahoo! only offered 10MB of storage before Gmail launched with 100x that. Want to monetise your blog? Hope you're happy with your readers getting malware, because every ad service out there is insanely shady.
cmiller1 5y ago
"...villains who twirl their moustaches are easy to spot. Those who clothe themselves in good deeds are well camouflaged." -- Captain Jean-Luc Picard
xkjkls 5y ago
It's part of the fraud triangle studied in most business schools: "The fraud triangle is a framework commonly used in auditing to explain the reason behind an individual’s decision to commit fraud. The fraud triangle outlines three components that contribute to increasing the risk of fraud: (1) opportunity, (2) incentive, and (3) rationalization." https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/accounting/fraud-triangle/ https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/ac... Companies that are "saving the world" are rife with people willing to rationalize their behavior. That's why it is imperative they are scrutinized properly so that the other elements don't also become rampant. We've failed completely with that on the latest wave of greentech companies.

yumraj 5y ago

> I’ve learned to cast a more cynical eye towards companies claiming to be accomplishing grand, ethical aims. People have stopped talking about Google's famed "Don't be Evil" thing.. But hey, it served a purpose for Google when it mattered.

lmilcin 5y ago
It is really depressing that honor and integrity means nothing. Do whatever you want and while claiming the opposite. If it blows up, hire a specialized PR company and pretend nothing happened.
sellyme 5y ago
It also helped that Google, by-and-large, were doing extremely good things. For all the complaints about the (very real) problems the internet has today, I think people have lost sight of how much the internet sucked in 1997. There's a website you loved, but you forgot the URL? Good luck ever finding that again. Want to watch a video? Hope you've got an updated QuickTime plug-in and a lot of time to wait for the shitty webhost to serve a 240p video at 80B/s. Your daughter just emailed you a few photos of your grandchildren? Better delete the last 5 years of your conversation history to make space for it - Hotmail and Yahoo! only offered 10MB of storage before Gmail launched with 100x that. Want to monetise your blog? Hope you're happy with your readers getting malware, because every ad service out there is insanely shady.

cmiller1 5y ago

"...villains who twirl their moustaches are easy to spot. Those who clothe themselves in good deeds are well camouflaged." -- Captain Jean-Luc Picard

xkjkls 5y ago

It's part of the fraud triangle studied in most business schools: "The fraud triangle is a framework commonly used in auditing to explain the reason behind an individual’s decision to commit fraud. The fraud triangle outlines three components that contribute to increasing the risk of fraud: (1) opportunity, (2) incentive, and (3) rationalization." https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/accounting/fraud-triangle/ https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/ac... Companies that are "saving the world" are rife with people willing to rationalize their behavior. That's why it is imperative they are scrutinized properly so that the other elements don't also become rampant. We've failed completely with that on the latest wave of greentech companies.