Posted Aug 10, 2005, 10:30 AM ET by Brad Hill
Google’s repellant action of boycotting CNET for a perfectly legitimate story that highlighted Google’s ability to penetrate information layers will leave a lasting smudge on the company. It’s like a little piece of garbage rotting in the summer sun, its owner refusing to clean it up.
Today Mike Langberg posted a column in which he quotes Eric Schmidt from the May 19 press day at the Googleplex: ”When we talk about organizing all the world’s information, we mean all. And we mean all people. And we mean universally accessible.” Just over a month later Elinor Mills wrote The Article that got CNET damned by Google, in which, to demonstrate privacy concerns surrounding Google, she pointed to several documents revealing business and personal information about Schmidt—all excavated via Google’s search engine.
If all of CNET is responsible for the behavior of one reporter, why isn’t all of Google responsible for the behavior of its search engine? In other words, didn’t Eric Schmidt violate his own privacy? Isn’t he responsible for the behavior of his search engine?
Google’s banning action is not only deeply ironic, it is petty and hypocritical. Though it has been requested, Google cannot issue a comment on this mess; there is nothing redeeming to say about it. Google must simmer silently in shame as observers gasp in disbelief that the company could be so tone-deaf to PR repercussions. But Google could correct the matter, and it’s amazing to me that somebody didn’t step out from on high and issue a quick, resolving statement along these lines: “We regret the confusion; obviously it is not Google’s policy to punish media outlets for covering our products and demonstrating their power. We appreciate CNET’s fine coverage of Google through the years. Furthermore, we are aware of, and deeply concerned with, privacy issues every day here at Google.” Appointing a privacy officer wouldn’t hurt, even as a gesture.
This and other PR blunders are made worse by the absurd “Don’t be evil” thing, which should never have been written into the IPO documents. It was a childish mistake made by two kids thrust into a new realm. It was tantamount to saying “We’ll never change,” perhaps the most foolish statement a company can make on the eve of going public. Here again, there’s nothing to be done. Google talked itself into a morality corner, just as it painted itself into a no-win corner over CNET. Google can still extricate itself productively from the CNET fiasco, but only if it gets some nimbleness and does it now.
*courtesy of the unofficial Google Blog
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