Funds Cave to Google's Blind Eye at Censorship

The list goes on. T. Rowe Price's (PRGFX Quote)Growth Stock Fund ( PRGFX), Putnam's (PINVX Quote)Investors Fund (PINVX), Blackrock's (PRGFX Quote)Global Growth (MDGGX), Barclays' Index 500 iShare(IVV Quote) and State Street's SPDR (SPY Quote). Even Bill Miller at (LMVTX Quote)Legg Mason Value Trust (LMVTX).

They all voted against Thompson.

Most of the fund companies declined to comment or could not be reached. Fund companies usually hide behind the "policy" of not commenting on proxy votes. One exception: T. Rowe Price(TROW Quote), which said it might reconsider motions like Thompson's down the road.

Why does this matter?

Remember, a few years ago, Google caved in to pressure from the Chinese government and agreed to censor its search engine there, suppressing news of local dissidents and oppression. Google bosses Sergey Brin, Larry Page and Eric Schmidt insisted that cutting this deal with Beijing was the price of doing business in China. And they argued they could do more good from the inside than from outside.

Maybe.

But Thompson's motion wouldn't have stopped Google from operating in China. It wouldn't even have stopped Google from cutting this deal.

It would only have prevented the company from giving in without a fight.

And would have forced China to play its dirty hand in public.

Under Thompson's motion, Google management would have been required to take all legal steps possible to fight any demand for censorship. The company would never have been required to break the law anywhere. But if a government wanted Google to start doctoring search engine results to suppress politically inconvenient truths, that government, any government, would have had to take the company to court to impose its will.

Not much to ask, really. But it was too much for Brin, Page and Schmidt. And it was too much for your fund manager.