Ex-Google engineer describing the company's role in China censorship

Re:Ex-Google engineer describing the company's role in China... by seanmcdirmid on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @07:43AM (#18228490)

The free market does have a tendency of weeding out those companies that act morally beyond legality, because less moral competitors can outcompete them. So as a survival bias, less moral companies are just more likely to be left standing. Likewise, morality beyond legality is much more likely if it doesn’t yield any ground to competitors (ie effect the bottom line), so what you see as hypocrisy might again just be survival bias in a free market.

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Re:Ex-Google engineer describing the company's role in China... by humanrebar on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @07:52AM (#18228547)

Don't know why you single out free markets there. A lack of scruples can be advantageous in economically closed environments as well.

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Re:Ex-Google engineer describing the company's role in China... by seanmcdirmid on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @08:00AM (#18228612)

Survival bias applies to a lot of situations. For example, in a system where corruption is endemic, non-corrupt officials won’t get promoted (because they have no dirt higher ups can use against them and/or don’t bribe the right people), leaving only corrupt officials. Do non-corrupt officials exist? Yes, but they are not likely to survive to he noticed.

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Re:Ex-Google engineer describing the company's role in China... by kgwxd on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @08:09AM (#18228667)

Also, people in positions of potential power to steer a company back on the right course leave in protest at the most cruicial moments, opening a spot at the wheel for a yes-person.

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Re:Ex-Google engineer describing the company's role in China... by eeZah7Ux on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @08:00AM (#18228603)

Under oligopoly, the FAANG companies are kings. The could:

- create bilateral trade agreements that promote ethical standards (instead of finding ways around them)

- lobby for more ethical laws globally (instead of lobbying for maximum legal freedom)

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Re:Ex-Google engineer describing the company's role in China... by seanmcdirmid on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @08:06AM (#18228652)

As job governmental organizations, they have little influence in this. Sure they could lobby, but the voters and government branches need to be on board with it also.

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Re:Ex-Google engineer describing the company's role in China... by lvoudour on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @08:26AM (#18228765)

> Likewise, morality beyond legality is much more likely if it doesn’t yield any ground to competitors

Then, why do it at all?

You want to tell the world what is right and wrong, fine, do it as an individual, write a book, found a religion or something. Enforcing your moral values inside the company and even worse, using the company's power to force them to the world - only to abandon them when it hurts profits - is perverse IMO.

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Re:Ex-Google engineer describing the company's role in China... by zucan on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @09:31AM (#18229176)

> Enforcing your moral values inside the company and even worse, using the company's power to force them to the world - only to abandon them when it hurts profits - is perverse IMO.

The same could be said about executives and their lack of moral values. Except the C-level actually wields the power to control the company.

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Re:Ex-Google engineer describing the company's role in China... by ced on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @07:53AM (#18228553)

That's true in competitive markets, but in tech, winner-takes-all happens more often than not, and it affords the winner a lot of freedom.

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Re:Ex-Google engineer describing the company's role in China... by seanmcdirmid on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @07:57AM (#18228579)

True, survival bias only applies to competitive markets. Google still has leeway to leave China on the table without going out of business, especially since Chinese tech companies remain isolated from the rest of the world.

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[dead]

Re:Ex-Google engineer describing the company's role in China... by seanmcdirmid on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @08:05AM (#18228638)

That isn’t true at all. People prefer companies that provide them the services they want at the best price. A few activists that prefer otherwise are fairly niche.

China has a somewhat free market, but the lack of rule of law means that the rules governing it are more complex (in addition to, or even instead of, following the law you have to be pleasing politically to the government).

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