When public good, profit spring from the same source

I assumed the avatar of a technology reporter three years ago, when Google's "Don't be evil" motto impressed me no end.

After all, technology giants' products and services are omnipresent, which makes them powerful. You want to be careful - even an inadvertent mistake, like, say, Facebook's recent data breach scandal, could land one in potential legal trouble.

Over the years, as I deepened my understanding of the tech industry, I discerned that forward-looking companies don't just sit passively to avoid mistakes.