WebProNews

If you ever need to get Google's attention, it looks like hinting at a connection between the search giant and Lucifer is one way to do it.  In response to an article titled "Is Google Evil?" and a devilish drawing, Google's fired back with an official blog post.

Let's talk about the article and drawing first for a moment.  The New Statesman was the political magazine that ran the piece, along with cover art featuring an imp.  And although the article covered a great deal of Google's history in a fair and balanced way, it ended with the lines, "[P]redictions about what Google and its peers will do next are often shots in the dark.  We know a whole lot less about their plans than they do about us."

Google did not take kindly to all of this.  Peter Barron, Director of Communications and Public Affairs in North and Central Europe, reacted by asking on the European Public Policy Blog, "Is the New Statesman fair?"

He then covered some points we've heard before, including how competition's a click away and how Google's data collection practices are transparent.

Barron also brought up Google Flu Trends, adding, "[B]ecause people are likely to search for symptoms or remedies before they contact a doctor, our estimates may be able to provide a useful early-warning system for outbreaks of flu."

Google's apparently still very much trying to live up to everyone's expectations and play the good guy, then.