Google has no shame. This week Google sponsored a two-day summit in Los Angeles entitled: "Illicit Networks: Forces in Opposition" and trumpeted Google's leadership in combating illicit networks, with no acknowledgement of Google's own uniquely atrocious track record of illicit network activity, and even worse, with no public acceptance of responsibility or remorse for Google's illicit behavior.
There is no question that Google's professed public goals of combating "narco-trafficking, human trafficking, organ harvesting and arms dealing" are noble, needed and welcome. However, the serious problem here is Google's extreme cynicism and deceptive PR that they can burnish their global brand without having to practice what they preach.
Let's have the evidence speak for itself, because it proves that Google is its own worst enemy, in not doing what they say.
Worst illicit corporate record -- No other major global brand has a worse corporate rap sheet or a bigger PR operation publicly trumpeting how law abiding or moral the company is.
Worst illicit privacy record of surveillance -- No other major company or brand has a worse privacy record while repeatedly publicly claiming to be a privacy protection leader.
Worst illicit IP theft record -- No publicly traded company has ever been sued more for stealing most every form of property: copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, contact lists and private information, while simultaneously claiming to be a company that "does not steal."
Busted for narco-trafficking -- Last August, Google quietly admitted to knowingly and repeatedly violating Federal criminal laws against the "unsafe and unlawful importation of prescription drugs" for several years in a criminal non-prosecution agreement. Google also paid a near record $500m criminal forfeiture penalty. The Rhode Island U.S. Attorney who led the Google criminal probe said the evidence was clear current Google CEO "Larry Page knew what was going on."
Simply, Google admitted to being a white collar narco-trafficker for seven years. No one knows how many Americans may have been harmed or even potentially killed from unsafe or counterfeit prescription drugs that Google knowingly and illegally mass-marketed to the American public from 2004-2011. To maximize the PR benefit of this illicit network summit, Google trumpeted their targeting of the worst of the Mexican drug cartels, but ironically Google was silent that the very illegal drug-trafficking operations that Google was caught promoting, were based -- surprise -- in Mexico.
Looks the other way on human trafficking -- Given Google's search dominance and its belief that eliminating links to illicit networks is unacceptable censorship, Google remains the world's de facto leading promoter of human trafficking today. Please note that Change.org features an online petition from the Women's News Network urging Google's CEO and top leadership to "Stop Google Adwords from all involvement in sexual exploitation of women and girls." The National Association of Human Trafficking Victim Advocates has written a letter to the national Association of Attorneys General urging them to investigate Google for profiting from the sale of online ads that contribute to the trafficking of women and girls. Congressional lawmakers have also written a letter to Google CEO Larry Page to stop sexually exploitative advertising and marketing that harms women and girls. And evidence from human trafficking examiner Raymond Bechard shows that despite Google's charitable support of anti-slavery groups, Google's current search index and ad practices still widely-support human trafficking interests. Simply, Google "Adwords" and "AdSense" have mutated into "Badwords" and "BadSense" despite Google's PR to the contrary.
Still promoting human organ harvesting -- Just this week the LA Times reported that Google has a search autofill for "I want to sell a kidney." Given Google's global dominance of search, Google could do the most to combat illicit networks of human organ trafficking by simply running an ethical, responsible, and law-abiding search business.
Long terrorism friendly -- The Guardian reported that: "Google Earth used to target Israel." Per the Guardian: "Palestinian militants are using Google Earth to help plan their attacks on the Israeli military and other targets, the Guardian has learned. Members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a group aligned with the Fatah political party, say they use the popular internet mapping tool to help determine their targets for rocket strikes." Again: "It is not the first time that Google has been accused of unwittingly abetting the activities of militant groups or terrorist organisations. In January, British officials claimed that insurgents sympathetic to al-Qaida were using aerial photography in Google Earth to locate potential targets inside British bases around the southern Iraqi city of Basra."
In sum, the cumulative evidence over several years proves that the most powerful information entity in history, Google, wants everyone to listen and follow what they say, but not notice what they do. In a word, Google's uniquely sanctimonious and cynical attitude and behavior is Goobris: a new word necessary to capture a unique corporate mindset that dwarfs "hubris."
