I'm not commending them, I'm simply pointing out that in the new circumstances, these corporations might benefit from fighting the creeping police state, and thereby doing The Right Thing™.

Back in 2009, they wouldn't benefit from it, so none of them did it.

I don't believe Google is inherently "open" or "not evil" any more than I believe Big Macs are "nutritious" or "delicious".

What I am saying is that massive public outcry about secret police circumventing democracy may not affect the government or their secret police very much -- not until it gets a lot more massive anyway -- but it could have the effect of making the interests of multinationals like Google more aligned with our interests.

Which would be a force multiplier, since one Google has the firepower of two or three million average citizens.