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Comment by balls187 | Hacker News Reader

I think that's the point of the parent poster--it's politics, not some crazy Google policy.

Google complied with the Spanish courts; complying with local laws is something Google does routinely (as does every other global corporation for that matter).

ETA: Aware that plenty of companies selectively choose what laws they follow (see Uber). Just generally their stated policy is "We comply with local laws"

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This is a moral issue as well as a legal issue.

What is the moral issue here?

From Wikipedia: The right of people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a jus cogens rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It states that a people, based on respect for the principle of equal rights and fair equality of opportunity, have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no interference. ... self-determination entails the "moral double helix" of duality (personal right to align with a people, and the people's right to determine their politics) and mutuality (the right is as much the other's as the self’s). Thus, self-determination grants individuals the right to form "a people," which then has the right to establish an independent state, as long as they grant the same to all other individuals and peoples.

However you feel about it, it would be incredibly worrying if Google started ignoring local laws because it disagreed with them; it doesn't have any particular moral high ground from which to make such decisions.

You think right. I didn't make any politics statement, just Google doing what the law said.

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