The Banality of Google’s ‘Don’t Be Evil’ - NYTimes.com

Final paragraph of a Julian Assange review of "The New Digital Age" (I'm guessing Assange, who was interviewed by Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen, was not pleased with the way he was referenced in the book); for a similarly snarky review, see Evgeny Morozov's "Future Shlock" (The New Republic)

"This book is a balefully seminal work in which neither author has the language to see, much less to express, the titanic centralizing evil they are constructing. “What Lockheed Martin was to the 20th century,” they tell us, “technology and cybersecurity companies will be to the 21st.” Without even understanding how, they have updated and seamlessly implemented George Orwell’s prophecy. If you want a vision of the future, imagine Washington-backed Google Glasses strapped onto vacant human faces — forever. Zealots of the cult of consumer technology will find little to inspire them here, not that they ever seem to need it. But this is essential reading for anyone caught up in the struggle for the future, in view of one simple imperative: Know your enemy."

The Banality of Google’s ‘Don’t Be Evil’ - NYTimes.com