Barry Diller: "Be Evil" More Realistic

In his keynote speech at the Search Engine Strategies conference this morning, IAC’s Chairman and CEO Barry Diller unveiled the new Ask.com. When Danny Sullivan asked if he had any plans to introduce a corporate philosophy similar to Google’s “Don’t Be Evil” mantra.

He jokingly suggested that “Be Evil” would be a more realistic policy.

“Very few companies act in a consciously evil way. Google is now in real business, and like any business, it does things that people are not going to like,” Diller said. “It’s a lovely mantra when you’re not in business. It means nothing when you are.”

Instead, Ask.com will center its upcoming campaign on the idea of “Use Tools. Feel Human,” to spotlight the way having the right tools to search with will make everyone feel better…or something similarly non-evil like that.