Re: former Google staff occupy key posts in areas essential to Google’s
@vgrig_us: Hey, look. Your post still hasn't been taken down. I don't know what you wrote in your last 5 comments, but I very rarely see comments deleted by moderators that didn't merit taking down.
Ignoring your comment about Wales, which is completely beside the point here, let me offer a different angle: If ten thousand programmers leave Google to work in the government (or vice versa), it doesn't matter at all. They were never in a position to obtain significant benefits from the other party, such as a job offer for services rendered while working for their then current employer.
However, if an executive, lobbyist, high level legal counsel, etc., goes to work in the other party, this is suspect precisely because that job offer may have been an illegal deal. There may be no supporting evidence, it may even be a false accusation, but there are laws against this because the suspicions alone are enough to question true motives. Smaller companies ran into trouble only on the basis of unconfirmed suspicion, whereas Google is free to do as they please.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
