I kid you not. Google's latest antitrust defense, from the mouth of Dana Wagner, Google's lead antitrust lawyer, is: "We want to be Santa Claus. We want to make lots of toys that people like playing with. But if you don't want to play with our toys, you've got us."
- See the quote for yourself at the very end of a Globe and Mail article entitled: "Google: we're not evil and we're not a monopoly either."
- Google's Mr. Wagner continues: “In a West Coast company run by engineers, I don't think there was much attention paid to being in Ottawa, being in D.C. and telling your story,” Mr. Wagner says. “If you don't tell your story, other people do it for you.”
Let me attempt to unpack the irony of this new story/metaphor of which Google has taken ownership.
Most companies when they tell their corporate "story" try to "put their best foot forward," but no one but Google would think to try and slip jolly megalomaniacal corpulence down the narrow chimney of public credibility.
Only Google would have so little real-world self-awareness as to choose to wrap itself in the beloved mythical role of Santa Claus who has the unique power to decide who has been good or "evil" during the last year, and the unique power to reward those who have been "good" in Google's eyes with toys and punish those who have been "evil" with coal in their stocking.
Only Google would think it was good PR to allude to Google's secret search algorithms and auction "quality scores" as a worldwide "naughty and nice" list.
Only Google wouldn't care if its corporate story portrayed their customers as guileless children who believe what they are told and whose affections can be bought with the right "toy."
Only Google would allude to their many free applications as "toys" and not tools that can hurt people if not made properly or safely... oh kind of like allowing transcriptions of Google VoiceMails to be searchable by Google's search engine... (again, I kid you not... see the Reuters story today: "Google tweaks Voice to keep voicemail out of search results.")
And lastly only Google would choose a metaphor where only Google can gain entry into the privacy of ones home when everyone is sleeping....
Google Claus is comin' to town!
