{"id":2698,"date":"2011-02-04T12:56:00","date_gmt":"2011-02-04T12:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/six.stimulatingminds.co.uk\/?p=2698"},"modified":"2022-07-07T12:14:07","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T12:14:07","slug":"the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Failure of Google\u2019s \u201cDo No Evil\u201d Approach to Social Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A really interesting article from the “Inspired Economist” site (http:\/\/inspiredeconomist.com<\/a>)

Yesterday\u2019s extensive feature in The New York Times business section on Google.org\u2019s (http:\/\/www.google.org\/<\/a>) failure to match its own lofty social innovation goals is a must read for anyone interested in the intersection of philanthropy, corporate social responsibility and information technology. The piece chronicles Google\u2019s philanthropic endeavors since the firm issued its inaugural IPO in 2004 when Founder Larry Page announced Google would donate 1% of its equity plus employee in kind contributions to Google.org (or simply \u201cDot.Org\u201d). At press time Google\u2019s market capitalization (per the handy Google Finance tool) is $192.05 billion with a balance sheet swimming in tens of billions of cash.

Google.org was conceived as a platform where the core business operations of the firm \u2014 search, search optimization and the bottomless delivery of free access to information for anyone with an Internet connection \u2013 could be integrated to support social goals like environmental mapping and the provision of technology transfers in global regions with poor access to healthcare. Rather then simply disaggregate business operations from philantrophic programs, Google sought to engage in a business where solving social problems was the driving incubator for future R & D.

When hand-picked Dot.Org Executive Director and public health expert Dr. Larry Brilliant (perfect name) started the job, this is what he told The New York Times:

\u201cGoogle.org can play the entire keyboard. It can start companies, build industries, pay consultants, lobby, give money to individuals and make a profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


As the Times story details, Dot.Org has not yet necessarily lived up to Larry Page\u2019s broad vision. During Dr. Brilliant\u2019s time at Google.org, the organization contributed $11 million to his former NGO, InSTEDD. While InSTEDD appears to be a worthy grantee, this hardly looks like an innovative approach to corporate philanthropy \u2014 giving cash to your friends.

I recall sitting at a Net Impact breakout session on social innovation and information technology at The Wharton School in Philadelphia in 2008 where a representative of Google was joined by CSR executives from Dell and HP. During the moment where all panelists were afforded a few minutes to outline their firm\u2019s CSR strategy, the woman from Google.org proclaimed that Google had no CSR program, nor would the firm ever pursue one. To paraphrase, she told the panel Google \u201cintended to do no evil\u201d across its operations.

This has become Google\u2019s mantra, but I find it to be more of a hallow catchphrase.

So what does this mean? How is \u201cno evil\u201d measured and verified? That\u2019s the brilliance\/duplicity of Google\u2019s social innovation play: this mission cannot be substantiated, but it is also rarely questioned.

Google is the darling of American innovation and industry, even earning mention in the President\u2019s State of the Union speech last week. All consumers \u2014 myself included \u2014 derive near constant value from Google\u2019s suite of tools.

Perhaps emphasizing how their remarkable mapping and information-sharing technology do good globally would be a better approach than the \u201cno evil\u201d paradigm.

Clearly, there are limitless social returns on the information transfers Google provides the world. I admire Google for thinking big, but why not get working on an innovative way to verify how their tools do good, rather than doing a mediocre job of explaining how they do no evil.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A really interesting article from the “Inspired Economist” site (http:\/\/inspiredeconomist.com) Yesterday\u2019s extensive feature in The New York Times business section on Google.org\u2019s (http:\/\/www.google.org\/) failure to match its own lofty social innovation goals is a must read for anyone interested in the intersection of philanthropy, corporate social responsibility and information technology. The piece chronicles Google\u2019s philanthropic … The Failure of Google\u2019s \u201cDo No Evil\u201d Approach to Social Innovation<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6469,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[10,55],"class_list":["post-2698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-innovation-101","tag-north-america","tag-united-states"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Failure of Google\u2019s \u201cDo No Evil\u201d Approach to Social Innovation - SIX | Social Innovation Exchange<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\/\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Anna Proffitt\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e1d49628f22499f93a16142826eec696\"},\"headline\":\"The Failure of Google\u2019s \u201cDo No Evil\u201d Approach to Social Innovation\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-04T12:56:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-07T12:14:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":577,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/02\\\/pawel-czerwinski-fpZZEV0uQwA-unsplash.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"North America\",\"United States\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Social Innovation 101\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Failure of Google\u2019s \u201cDo No Evil\u201d Approach to Social Innovation - SIX | Social Innovation Exchange\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/02\\\/pawel-czerwinski-fpZZEV0uQwA-unsplash.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-04T12:56:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-07T12:14:07+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/02\\\/pawel-czerwinski-fpZZEV0uQwA-unsplash.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/02\\\/pawel-czerwinski-fpZZEV0uQwA-unsplash.jpg\",\"width\":4860,\"height\":3240},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Failure of Google\u2019s \u201cDo No Evil\u201d Approach to Social Innovation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/\",\"name\":\"SIX | Social Innovation Exchange\",\"description\":\"Social Innovation Exchange\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Social Innovation Exchange Ltd\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/six-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/six-logo.png\",\"width\":400,\"height\":176,\"caption\":\"Social Innovation Exchange Ltd\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/socialinnovationexchange\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/si_exchange\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/social-innovation-exchange-six-\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e1d49628f22499f93a16142826eec696\",\"name\":\"Anna Proffitt\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/socialinnovationexchange.org\\\/legacy\\\/author\\\/annaproffitt\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Failure of Google\u2019s \u201cDo No Evil\u201d Approach to Social Innovation - SIX | Social Innovation Exchange","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\/","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\/"},"author":{"name":"Anna Proffitt","@id":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/#\/schema\/person\/e1d49628f22499f93a16142826eec696"},"headline":"The Failure of Google\u2019s \u201cDo No Evil\u201d Approach to Social Innovation","datePublished":"2011-02-04T12:56:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-07-07T12:14:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\/"},"wordCount":577,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/pawel-czerwinski-fpZZEV0uQwA-unsplash.jpg","keywords":["North America","United States"],"articleSection":["Social Innovation 101"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\/","url":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\/","name":"The Failure of Google\u2019s \u201cDo No Evil\u201d Approach to Social Innovation - SIX | Social Innovation Exchange","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/pawel-czerwinski-fpZZEV0uQwA-unsplash.jpg","datePublished":"2011-02-04T12:56:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-07-07T12:14:07+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/pawel-czerwinski-fpZZEV0uQwA-unsplash.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/pawel-czerwinski-fpZZEV0uQwA-unsplash.jpg","width":4860,"height":3240},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/the-failure-of-googles-do-no-evil-approach-to-social-innovation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Failure of Google\u2019s \u201cDo No Evil\u201d Approach to Social Innovation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/#website","url":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/","name":"SIX | Social Innovation Exchange","description":"Social Innovation Exchange","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/#organization","name":"Social Innovation Exchange Ltd","url":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/six-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/six-logo.png","width":400,"height":176,"caption":"Social Innovation Exchange Ltd"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialinnovationexchange\/","https:\/\/x.com\/si_exchange","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/social-innovation-exchange-six-\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/#\/schema\/person\/e1d49628f22499f93a16142826eec696","name":"Anna Proffitt","url":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/author\/annaproffitt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2698"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2700,"href":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2698\/revisions\/2700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}