Jacques, that's one of the stronger points made by those in favor of the motion, and I'm inclined to agree with them. If you nominate yourself for sainthood, you get judged by a higher standard.
I think that Google has done some incredible things that set it apart from other corporations. But they've also done a few things that do reflect abuse or irresponsibility in how they wield their power.
That doesn't make them worse than most large, successful corporations (cf. Microsoft, Wal-Mart). But it does mean they aren't living up to the standard that they set for themselves and to which they invited the world to hold them accountable.
For google to use 'dont' be evil' as a motto is fine, google never said they weren't.
I think judgment on whether or not a company is evil or not should be left to the world at large, not that company.
As soon as google starts saying 'we're not evil' they've crossed that line, but as far as I know they have never actually done that.
But by taking on a motto that strong I think you set a high bar for yourself as a company, and you should stay very clearly on the 'right' side of that bar.
In my opinion google has definitely failed to live up to its own standards.
I think that Google has done some incredible things that set it apart from other corporations. But they've also done a few things that do reflect abuse or irresponsibility in how they wield their power.
That doesn't make them worse than most large, successful corporations (cf. Microsoft, Wal-Mart). But it does mean they aren't living up to the standard that they set for themselves and to which they invited the world to hold them accountable.