If one man can stand up to the US Gov. risking liberty and life, big businesses certainly can. Google stood by and let it happen. Too often does the world hinges on the actions of one man, in spite of the cowardice of the organised, resourceful and powerful.
As a result, I am disgusted by google, and the others. Yahoo tried, and still try. Why not the all mighty do no evil google?
Remember people, it only takes one man. One single, principled, brave, man. (I am reminded of the central message of Babylon 5)
What are the govt gonna do, throw Tim Cook, Eric Schmidt, Larry and Sergey into jail? Disappear them?
The absolute best lawyers in America available to them, massive public opinion likely to be on their side, unlimited funds to defend lengthy legal action. If THEY won't and don't feel able to say 'no this is wrong' and stand up to the NSA mission creep then that is a very scary thought and makes Snowden's actions even more brave.
I don't think that Google, or any of these other companies, can simply bail and go into hiding while continuing to do business from the unincorporated portion of a Russian airport.
Snowden, as of now, is not with his family, does not have a job, can't see his girlfriend, any number of things - so to argue he is doing something Google can't, namely to keep living his life from a Russian airport, makes no sense
If people can give up their lives or parts of it to do the right thing, why can't a company? (I would add that if you have a good reason for it, that's also a reason to re-think companies, and not to simply accept that they can't do the right thing because that's how they are)
I could see a CEO not wanting to see his employees out of a job, or being afraid of his shareholders caring more about the share value than what they see when they look in the mirror; but that doesn't automatically justify anything. Especially since even if Google "died", just for refusing and resisting a little (which I doubt, but I'm willing to assume it and argue from there anyway), something else would have to replace at least parts of it, and former Googlers would be the first hired for any and all of that.
But considering Erich Schmidt says stuff like "If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.", it kinda seems like the issue sits deeper. It's not (just) cowardice, it's lack of awareness.
If one man can stand up to the US Gov. risking liberty and life, big businesses certainly can. Google stood by and let it happen. Too often does the world hinges on the actions of one man, in spite of the cowardice of the organised, resourceful and powerful.
As a result, I am disgusted by google, and the others. Yahoo tried, and still try. Why not the all mighty do no evil google?
Remember people, it only takes one man. One single, principled, brave, man. (I am reminded of the central message of Babylon 5)