[ExI] Don't be evil

[Christopher Healey]

2010/3/23 John Clark wrote:

> I know it's very unfashionable to say anything good about a
> very large corporation, but I think Google's decision to withdraw
> from the very large Chinese market because they no longer felt
> comfortable with the oppressive censorship that government
> imposed is commendable and is absolutely compatible with
> their famous motto.

One might also observe that by withdrawing, Google is disengaging
along a number of dimensions that themselves can carry some positive
influence over the outcome.  Perhaps the debate should be over whether
maintaining that larger "contact patch" and staging a controlled
influence burn is better or worse than breaking away and hitting them
in one shot.

I'm truly not sure which might be the better strategy in this case,
from a purely outcome oriented perspective, over say 10 years.  But
we're certainly wired for it to feel better sticking our principles to
em'.  It is nice to see Google focusing on a larger picture that
corporate profits, but I wonder if this course is actually the most
likely to lead to the largest change in censorship policy.

-Chris