DON'T BE VERY EVIL
Fresh from the reams of criticism of its cooperation with Chinese censorship, search engine giant Google has greatly increased its presence in Washington. It has opened an office there for political relations with the government and has been hiring lobbyists and consultants to further its interests.
Thus, the ultimate internet outsider has linked with the K Street gang and is morphing into a beltway insider. It is saddening to see Google lose its renegade status, but, given the power of Washington to affect an industry's success, Google cannot really be faulted for adopting this course. More troubling is Google's drift toward the Republicans. Of course, it must deal with the party in power but its engagement of the DCI Group, with its strong ties to Karl Rove, its plans to hire a Republican political director, and its hiring of the well-connected Republican management consultant, Harry W. Clark, seem counter to its presumed philosophy.
Evidence of a possible rightward drift was noted today in the New York Times. Mr. Clark is dismayed at the fact that in 2004 nearly all of Google's employees' contributions went to Democrats. Mr.Clark is quoted as stating that "everybody recognizes that the employee contributions were weighted heavily toward Democrats, and they're waiting to see a course correction."
So will the peoples search engine now pressure its employees to contribute the right way?
Fresh from the reams of criticism of its cooperation with Chinese censorship, search engine giant Google has greatly increased its presence in Washington. It has opened an office there for political relations with the government and has been hiring lobbyists and consultants to further its interests.
Thus, the ultimate internet outsider has linked with the K Street gang and is morphing into a beltway insider. It is saddening to see Google lose its renegade status, but, given the power of Washington to affect an industry's success, Google cannot really be faulted for adopting this course. More troubling is Google's drift toward the Republicans. Of course, it must deal with the party in power but its engagement of the DCI Group, with its strong ties to Karl Rove, its plans to hire a Republican political director, and its hiring of the well-connected Republican management consultant, Harry W. Clark, seem counter to its presumed philosophy.
Evidence of a possible rightward drift was noted today in the New York Times. Mr. Clark is dismayed at the fact that in 2004 nearly all of Google's employees' contributions went to Democrats. Mr.Clark is quoted as stating that "everybody recognizes that the employee contributions were weighted heavily toward Democrats, and they're waiting to see a course correction."
So will the peoples search engine now pressure its employees to contribute the right way?
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home