Sergey Brin, Reluctant Voter (GOOG)

Sergey Brin is against censorship and human rights violations. Just don't ask him to vote on it.

At Google’s annual meeting Thursday, the company's board recommended voting against two shareholder proposals: One that would require Google to work against censorship in countries like China, and another that would require the company to work for human rights in those same countries. But Sergey himself abstained from voting on either of the motions. When asked about his non-vote later during a Q/A session, he said:

“I think directionally the two proposals were correct, but I don’t know if I should believe that it should be a shareholder proposal…. But I think it makes sense to have a separate, a group of independent people in Google who meet regularly to discuss (these issues).”

All reasonable points -- we don't actually expect Google to solve knotty problems like the ones China presents all by itself. But if you don't think the proposals, as written, made sense, why not vote against them? That seems easier.