These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered–combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web–have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.David Drummond, A New Approach to China, Official Google Blog, Jan 12th, 2010
Google Tries for High Ground in China
This entry was posted in Computing, Humanity and tagged CensorshipChinaChinese GovernmentChinese Internet CensorshipCyber AttacksCyber SurveillanceDavid DrummondFree SpeechgoogleGoogle.cn. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
I just wanted to comment on Google’s taking the high road. On the surface, it sounds like a routine free speech issue; however, it is also about making money. Although we can’t know for sure, it is likely that the banned sites would have a fairly high click-through rate. It is implied that the sites are simply political in nature, but other “offensive” sites are banned also.
These are the kind of political/free press/business issues we like to discuss on my radio show, Alabama Business Today(http://alabamabusinesstoday.com). We would welcome Lloyd to be a call-in guest to discuss the merits of Google’s policies. By the way, Yahoo is supporting Google in this effort to open the Internet in China. The bottom line is more clicks are good for Google and Yahoo.
I don’t think there is anything routine about a free speech issue.
I’m a terribly cynical person, so I tend to get caught in the same kind of thinking as you may have.
The 1st gate is free speech and the persecution and murder of human right activists. Human life is “the bottom line”.