Tech firms behaving badly

What’s Silicon Valley’s latest export? Try corporate misbehavior.

In the past two weeks, Google has been spanked for obstructing federal regulators, Apple was slapped with a Justice Department suit for conspiring to drive up e-book prices, and seven tech companies were told they’ll go on trial for allegedly colluding to stop employees from jumping from one to the other. It’s a major turn of events for an industry that once held itself up as a “don't be evil” alternative to old-school corporate greed. And suddenly, consumers, courts and regulators are having a hard time seeing tech titans in a different light than any other industry or even the robber barons whose actions gave rise to antitrust laws they’re now accused of breaking.