I'm not commending them, I'm simply pointing out that in the new circumstances, these corporations might benefit from fighting the creeping police state, and thereby doing The Right Thing™.
Back in 2009, they wouldn't benefit from it, so none of them did it.
I don't believe Google is inherently "open" or "not evil" any more than I believe Big Macs are "nutritious" or "delicious".
What I am saying is that massive public outcry about secret police circumventing democracy may not affect the government or their secret police very much -- not until it gets a lot more massive anyway -- but it could have the effect of making the interests of multinationals like Google more aligned with our interests.
Which would be a force multiplier, since one Google has the firepower of two or three million average citizens.
Did they benefit from fighting the creeping police state in 2009? -Apparently not, because they didn't.
Do they benefit from fighting the creeping police state in 2013? -Apparently not, because they didn't - at least until there was that massive shitstorm blowing their way.
Again, if they considered fighting the police state to be in their interests, all of those companies would have done it long ago. Since they haven't, we can conclude that they don't, and therefore, if a massive shitstorm prompts them into doing damage control and pretending they give a fuck, that still doesn't amount to Doing The Right Thing. It only amounts to bullshitting us some more.
Back in 2009, they wouldn't benefit from it, so none of them did it.
I don't believe Google is inherently "open" or "not evil" any more than I believe Big Macs are "nutritious" or "delicious".
What I am saying is that massive public outcry about secret police circumventing democracy may not affect the government or their secret police very much -- not until it gets a lot more massive anyway -- but it could have the effect of making the interests of multinationals like Google more aligned with our interests.
Which would be a force multiplier, since one Google has the firepower of two or three million average citizens.