Google vs China
Doubtless you’ve seen the flap online at news sources announcing the intentions of Google to stop it’s search censorship in China … resulting in a default switch off in China. Google is standing up for free speech and free thought. China, however; is still a totalitarianist society bent on control over People’s ideas and values. Google has suggested that China go f**k itself. This could stunt innovations in China. Further, loss of the adsense and GPS services could put a serious stumble into the Chinese populations’ gait. Will it strain political relationships? China polices the overall access by providing free internet that only access Chinese sites. One glaring note:
China provides access to the RNC sites while blocking access to the DNC sites. What think you of those beans? Good for Google’s choice to stick to its’ ethics! (says I)
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Great article Gwen. I am not a big fan of China, or I suppose I should say China’s government. I believe that the Chinese people want democracy, or at the least a little more capitalism. The government knows this and like Holte said Google would not be their friend. It would be the friend of the people and they don’t want that.
It’s OK for a regular Chinese citizen to say on a blog, “our government is corrupt, our leaders are oppressive,” what the Chinese regime does not want, is 300 plus million people agreeing with him. This is there greatest fear, unrest on a scale they, nor we, can even begin to imagine.
Good for Google, good one Gwen.
Glad to see Google taking a stand on this. Internet services can be a powerful tool in the hands of people challenging a totalitarian regime, as we’ve seen in Iran. And the refusal to collaborate with such a regime sends a strong signal that Westerners know what the score is.
There is one point of terminology I’m always careful about when writing on these kinds of topics. The enemy here is not “China” or “the Chinese” — it’s important to avoid using such terms when we’re actually taking about the regime, a very small number of people which is actually oppressing China and most of the Chinese, so far from being identical with them.