Silicon Valley Mergers
No, it's not the merger of all mergers. The terrific/terrible three -- depending on where you sit -- are expected to announce today a common set of principles when doing business abroad, according to the Wall Street Journal. The idea is that together, they are more likely to influence an oppressive regime's policies regarding free speech and expression. Yahoo has been criticized for cooperating with China in its effort to silence dissent. People were jailed as a result. CEO Jerry Yang has been grilled by Congress. And Google has kowtowed to Chinese authorities as well, by censoring search results there.
The code, written in collaboration with other human rights organizations, does not go as far as some people would like, with the Journal reporting that at least one human rights group did not give its blessing because the companies will continue to abide by the laws of the country in which they're doing business. And joint ventures remain an issue. It's too early to tell what may come of this almost two-year process of drafting the code, whose components include respect for freedom of expression and privacy plus implementation guidelines (See Google, Microsoft, Yahoo debugging code of global conduct). But its very existence seems to be a step in the right direction -- no matter what the companies' primary motivations. With the companies promising to follow the code and agreeing to independent review, plus the possibility of other companies jumping on board, discourse is assured and some positive change is bound to follow.
How have other companies' codes of conduct fared? Perhaps the highest-profile cases that come to mind involve sweatshop labor. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Nike, Gap and Disney faced scrutiny about their treatment of mostly overseas workers. Gap now has a code of conduct. Nike has admitted it "blew it" relating to child labor and says it has safeguards in place, although reviews of its efforts are mixed at best. And there have been attempts to legislate the import of products made with sweatshop labor. People are watching, so companies are forced to at least appear to care.
"This historic settlement is a win for everyone. From our perspective, the agreement creates an innovative framework for the use of copyrighted material in a rapidly digitizing world, serves readers by enabling broader access to a huge trove of hard-to-find books, and benefits the publishing community by establishing an attractive commercial model that offers both control and choice to the rightsholder."
-- Richard Sarnoff, chairman of the Association of American Publishers, on the $125 million copyright lawsuit settlement Google reached with authors and publishers over Google Book Search
Attention, Wal-Mart shoppers: A couple of developments at the world's biggest retailer that affect Silicon Valley companies:
1. Wal-Mart has slashed prices to as low as 74 cents at its MP3 Music Downloads store, says Electronista. (Standard tracks are 94 cents.) This, of course, undercuts Apple's iTunes' 99-cent downloads, as well as Amazon.com's minimum price of 89 cents. Another significant change that might be music to some Macolytes' ears: The company also has improved operating system, MP3 and browser compatibility. (Although will the Mac faithful defect from iTunes?) Will there be a full-blown price war?
2. Starting tomorrow, the T-Mobile G1 phone, a ka the Google phone, will be available at Wal-Mart for about $30 cheaper than at T-Mobile stores. The price: $148.88 with a 2-year contract. (Wal-Mart has a thing about eights, says Gizmodo.) Once again, early adopters get short shrift. (Remember the iPhone price cut two months after its launch? See At least the launch lines should be shorter now.) Now, a price cut a week after rollout. Because such a deal between Wal-Mart and Google and T-Mobile had to have been planned, it seems overly cynical to bring this up. But one wonders whether the lukewarm reception (See Reviewers greet new T-Mobile G1 with a rousing "Not bad") the Google phone has received prompted this almost immediate price cut.
Off topic: For you gamers who are in the spirit: Best Video Game Pumpkins & Jack-O-Lanterns. And speaking of Halloween, check out this video of newly discovered vampire moths. Finally, Top 5 Halloween Costumes for a Geek or Nerd.
