NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Bulletin: Google Will No Longer Censor Chinese Search Results -- May End China Operations
Bulletin: Google Will No Longer Censor Chinese
Search Results -- May End China Operations
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000667.html
Greetings. Almost exactly four years ago, when I first visited
Google's Santa Monica offices and presented a talk on Internet issues,
one of the topics that I discussed was Google's operations in China
( http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000173.html ).
Google's presence in China has been controversial from the beginning,
particularly to the extent that they involved the operation of a
version of Google Search (google.cn) that presented censored search
results as required by the Chinese government.
Some observers have characterized such an arrangement as a "deal with
the devil" from day one, but I've preferred to view the situation in
somewhat more nuanced terms. Google indicates to Chinese users when
results have been censored, and Google has argued that it made sense
to have a presence in China -- even on such terms -- to provide at
least some access to Google resources for Chinese Internet users,
rather than those users having no access at all.
I've found this argument to have considerable merit, but I've never
been happy about this state of affairs. Google and China is probably
the single most frequently mentioned Google-related policy area about
which I've been asked my opinion over the years. And I've never been
fully satisfied with my answers to such queries.
Chatting with Googlers after that talk I gave in Santa Monica, I
remember expressing my specific concerns that the China arrangement
appeared unstable in light of historical precedent in China --
particularly in regards to a very poor human rights record -- and that
the probability of some sort of "trust" breakdown appeared rather
high.
Now it appears that the solid excretory matter has hit the fan.
You can read considerable details over on the Official Google Blog
( http://bit.ly/6bcXds ).
Briefly, after a series of data breaches and attacks related to the
Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists (and attacks
targeting other firms as well that Google discovered in the course of
investigations), Google has announced that it will not be willing to
continue censoring Google Search results for China going forward, even
though this may result in Google having to shut down all Google
operations in China.
I congratulate Google on this decision. They attempted over the
years -- in what I believe to have been good faith -- to thread a very
complex policy needle to avoid having a major proportion of the
world's population ending up being cut off from services that most of
us now take for granted in our everyday lives. Google's hope was that
China would respond in a positive way with improved civil rights and
less fettered access to information for China's citizens.
But China appears to have dropped the ball and has been moving
backwards toward ever more restrictions. Google is responding to the
current situation in a resolute and completely appropriate manner,
even though the negative financial impact on the firm from this
decision could be quite significant to say the least. I hope that
Google detractors will remember the events today the next time that
they're tempted to claim that Google only cares about money and
nothing else.
Exactly how these events related to China will all play out in detail
is unclear at this point, but Google's statement that they are
unwilling to continue censoring Chinese search results seems
completely unequivocal.
Once again, I applaud Google's decision to take a "new approach"
toward dealing with China from this point forward. Three cheers and
two thumbs up!
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
- Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP - Global Coalition
for Transparent Internet Performance - http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein