albo - 5:17 pm on Sep 22, 2011 (gmt 0)

I'm just curious, folks. What do you wise professionals say (or how do you suggest I respond) to the argument on the order of "Google is a business *not operating pro bono* and thus they 'have a right' to promote their own products, cook the search, and do as they please with the search 'product'."?

In fact, the argument was made that "Google's social responsibility is to make money within the confines of the law. If Google's actions are illegal, they will be held to account. Last time I checked (which was ~20 mins ago), such illegal actions included price discrimination and buying up all the competition; neither being "fair" in the selection of search listings nor being sufficiently big nor having lazy, fearful or stupid consumers were listed alongside." (Get it? Their *social responsibility* is to make money. Right?)