plrr :
Hmm... A person at the company suggested they revise some of their policies, because they didn't properly reflect the underlying values and were scientifically problematic.
Without knowing any of the details, I'll just say I get why "don't be evil" is problematic. It's simplistic, highly open to interpretation, and easily mocked.
But, in spite of all that, it's really quite an elegant guiding principle. It's important and relevant that such a large, powerful company continually be asking itself "is this evil?" and whether the public would perceive it not to be living up to this ideal. Yes, it means potentially having to answer for their actions and explain why they think something is
not evil, but I think that's healthy and it's a standard to which we're all implicitly held, as individuals.
Remember when Yahoo was top dog? Without any moral superiority on which to fall back, Google is just one strong competitor away from heading down that same dismal path. They're not unassailable. I'd imagine China has a couple potential rivals. And something could always come out of the EU, or elsewhere, that could challenge Google in at least one of their vital areas.