Don't be evil

"Don't be evil" is the formal corporate motto (or slogan) of Google.^[1] It was first suggested either by Google employee Paul Buchheit at a meeting about corporate values that took place in early 2000^[2] or in 2001^[3] or, according to another account, by Google Engineer Amit Patel in 1999.^[4] Buchheit, the creator of Gmail, said he "wanted something that, once you put it in there, would be hard to take out", adding that the slogan was "also a bit of a jab at a lot of the other companies, especially our competitors, who at the time, in our opinion, were kind of exploiting the users to some extent."^[2] While the official corporate philosophy of Google^[5] does not contain the words "Don't be evil", they were included in the prospectus (on Form S-1) of Google's 2004 IPO (a letter from Google's founders, later called the "'Don't Be Evil' manifesto"): "Don’t be evil. We believe strongly that in the long term, we will be better served — as shareholders and in all other ways — by a company that does good things for the world even if we forgot some short term gains."^[6] The motto is sometimes incorrectly stated as Do no evil.^[3][7]

Avoiding conflicts of interest

In their 2004 founders' letter^[8] prior to their initial public offering, Larry Page and Sergey Brin explained that their "Don't be evil" culture prohibited conflicts of interest, and required objectivity and an absence of bias:

Google users trust our systems to help them with important decisions: medical, financial and many others. Our search results are the best we know how to produce. They are unbiased and objective, and we do not accept payment for them or for inclusion or more frequent updating. We also display advertising, which we work hard to make relevant, and we label it clearly. This is similar to a well-run newspaper, where the advertisements are clear and the articles are not influenced by the advertisers’ payments. We believe it is important for everyone to have access to the best information and research, not only to the information people pay for you to see.

Chris Hoofnagle, director of University of California, Berkeley Law's information privacy programs, has stated^[9] that Google's original intention expressed by the "don't be evil" motto is linked to the company's separation of search results from advertising. However, he argues that clearly separating search results from sponsored links is required by law, thus, Google's practice is now mainstream and no longer remarkable or good. According to Hoofnagle, Google should abandon the motto because:

The evil talk is not only an albatross for Google, it obscures the substantial consumer benefits from Google’s advertising model. Because we have forgotten the original context of Google’s evil representations, the company should remind the public of the company’s contribution to a revolution in search advertising, and highlight some overlooked benefits of their model.

The End of "Don't Be Evil"

In an NPR interview, Eric Schmidt revealed doubts he had when Larry Page and Sergey Brin recommended the motto as a guiding principal for Google.^[10] Others have raised similar questions about the actual definition of what Google considers "evil".^[11][12] Google's 2012 announcement to "begin tracking users universally across all its services" resulted in public backlash on the motto, like "Google's Broken Promise: The End of "Don't Be Evil" on Gizmodo.^[13]

The motto is expanded upon in the current Preface to the Code of Conduct, which states:

“Don’t be evil.” Googlers generally apply those words to how we serve our users. But “Don’t be evil” is much more than that. Yes, it’s about providing our users unbiased access to information, focusing on their needs and giving them the best products and services that we can. But it’s also about doing the right thing more generally – following the law, acting honorably and treating each other with respect.

The Google Code of Conduct is one of the ways we put “Don’t be evil” into practice. It’s built around the recognition that everything we do in connection with our work at Google will be, and should be, measured against the highest possible standards of ethical business conduct. We set the bar that high for practical as well as aspirational reasons: Our commitment to the highest standards helps us hire great people, build great products, and attract loyal users. Trust and mutual respect among employees and users are the foundation of our success, and they are something we need to earn every day." ^[14]

It is also mentioned as point 6 in the company philosophy. ^[15]

See also

• Ethical code
• Googlization
• List of mottos
• Criticism of Google
• Censorship by Google

References

External links

• Hoofnagle, Chris (April 2009). "Beyond Google and evil: How policy makers, journalist and consumers should talk differently about Google and privacy". First Monday 14 (4–6). .
• "Google vs. Evil", Wired (11.01) .
• Drummond, David. "A New Approach to China". Blog. Google. Retrieved 2011-11-25. .
• "Wi-Spy Continues to Haunt Google". Forbes. 2013-09-10. Retrieved 2014-06-28. .
• "How Google Is Destroying Small Business & Jobs". savingsmallbusiness.org. 2014-10-19. Retrieved 2014-10-19. .