[nattaggart]

These are all great companies that have done a lot to improve the world. I have a hard time calling any of them evil. I think the harshest criticism that they should receive is that (Google and Apple specifically) aggressively optimized their business around labor and tax laws to the point of conflict with the spirit of those laws.

[cowpig]

> (Google and Apple specifically) aggressively optimized their business around labor and tax laws to the point of conflict with the spirit of those laws.

This is pretty forgiving language to describe two companies that actively (illegally) colluded to depress the market value of their senior employees.

edited to add source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Tech_Employee_Antitrust_L...

[nattaggart]

Good point. From my point of view, no poach agreements are entirely immoral and, as you point out, also illegal. In this case both companies clearly crossed a boundary. From what I've seen, however, the damage done in this case isn't noticeable relative to the global scale that these companies operate on.

There are other situations where each one of these companies has been sued and lost (Microsoft was an illegal monopoly once.)

I would argue that occasional missteps are not grounds for calling something evil. Most people, for example, would admit to having made immoral mistakes in the past and I've met very few evil people.