A former Google executive running for the US Senate on Thursday called for tough regulation of technology companies, accusing the Internet giant of straying from its “don’t be evil” path.
Ross LaJeunesse took aim at Google and other big US technology firms in a post on online publishing platform Medium, contending that profits are taking precedence over human rights.
“The company’s motto used to be ‘don’t be evil,’” said LaJeunesse, who left his job as head of international relations at Google last year after 11 years with the company. “Things have changed.”
He is running as a Democrat for a US Senate seat in Maine.
Google rebuffed the criticism, saying that LaJeunesse’s remarks came in the context of an election campaign.
“We have an unwavering commitment to supporting human rights organizations and efforts,” a Google spokeswoman said. “We wish Ross all the best with his political ambitions.”
LaJeunesse joined Google in 2008 and was head of public policy for Asia-Pacific before taking the international relations position. He said that he executed Google’s decision to stop censoring search results in China.
“The decision infuriated not only the Chinese government, but also frustrated some Google product executives eyeing the huge market and its accompanying profits,” LaJeunesse said. “In fact, within a year of the 2010 decision, executives for the Maps and Android products began pushing to launch their products in China.”
LaJeunesse said that he was alarmed when he learned in 2017 of a “Dragonfly” project at Google to tailor a version of its search engine for China. The project was abandoned in the face of criticism.
LaJeunesse also voiced concern about Google pursuing cloud-computing deals with the Saudi Arabian government and establishing an artificial-intelligence center in Beijing.
“Just when Google needed to double down on a commitment to human rights, it decided to instead chase bigger profits and an even higher stock price,” he said.
He contended that as Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin left the operations of the company to hired executives, the spirit of doing the right thing gave way to profit over principles.
“No longer can massive tech companies like Google be permitted to operate relatively free from government oversight,” LaJeunesse said. “The role of these companies in our daily lives, from how we run our elections to how we entertain and educate our children, is just too great to leave in the hands of executives who are accountable only to their controlling shareholders, who — in the case of Google, Amazon, Facebook and Snap — happen to be fellow company insiders and founders.”
Thousands gathered across New Zealand yesterday to celebrate the signing of the country’s founding document and some called for an end to government policies that critics say erode the rights promised to the indigenous Maori population. As the sun rose on the dawn service at Waitangi where the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed between the British Crown and Maori chiefs in 1840, some community leaders called on the government to honor promises made 185 years ago. The call was repeated at peaceful rallies that drew several hundred people later in the day. “This government is attacking tangata whenua [indigenous people] on all
RIGHTS FEARS: A protester said Beijing would use the embassy to catch and send Hong Kongers to China, while a lawmaker said Chinese agents had threatened Britons Hundreds of demonstrators on Saturday protested at a site earmarked for Beijing’s controversial new embassy in London over human rights and security concerns. The new embassy — if approved by the British government — would be the “biggest Chinese embassy in Europe,” one lawmaker said earlier. Protester Iona Boswell, a 40-year-old social worker, said there was “no need for a mega embassy here” and that she believed it would be used to facilitate the “harassment of dissidents.” China has for several years been trying to relocate its embassy, currently in the British capital’s upmarket Marylebone district, to the sprawling historic site in the
‘IMPOSSIBLE’: The authors of the study, which was published in an environment journal, said that the findings appeared grim, but that honesty is necessary for change Holding long-term global warming to 2°C — the fallback target of the Paris climate accord — is now “impossible,” according to a new analysis published by leading scientists. Led by renowned climatologist James Hansen, the paper appears in the journal Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development and concludes that Earth’s climate is more sensitive to rising greenhouse gas emissions than previously thought. Compounding the crisis, Hansen and colleagues argued, is a recent decline in sunlight-blocking aerosol pollution from the shipping industry, which had been mitigating some of the warming. An ambitious climate change scenario outlined by the UN’s climate
BACK TO BATTLE: North Korean soldiers have returned to the front lines in Russia’s Kursk region after earlier reports that Moscow had withdrawn them following heavy losses Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday pored over a once-classified map of vast deposits of rare earths and other critical minerals as part of a push to appeal to US President Donald Trump’s penchant for a deal. The US president, whose administration is pressing for a rapid end to Ukraine’s war with Russia, on Monday said he wanted Ukraine to supply the US with rare earths and other minerals in return for financially supporting its war effort. “If we are talking about a deal, then let’s do a deal, we are only for it,” Zelenskiy said, emphasizing Ukraine’s need for security guarantees