Google's Censorship War

There is a mini war going on now between the search engine master Google and the Chinese government. Have you noticed what I call the "War of Censorship" that pits a nation, China, which does not believe in individual freedoms verses a business, Goggle, that has made profits by operating blithely in China in an undemocratic mode. Google.com is a Chinese version of its basic search engine. It was launched four years ago in China but omits results the Chinese government finds "objectionable", such as references to Tiananmen Square or anything promoting a view not in line with the Chinese dictators.

The problem is that Google's willingness to bow to control by China when operating there has helped the totalitarian regime muzzle free expression, hold back human rights and punish the Chinese citizens who tried to promote both. It is selling out freedom in return for profits. But Goggle is not alone. The always shameful Microsoft, which has never missed an opportunity to make money at the expense of decency, some time back agreed to block certain words, democracy, freedom and human rights, for example, by users on its Chinese Internet portal.

And last year Yahoo, after being threatened with expulsion from the Chinese cyber spaces, turned over data to Chinese officials that helped convict journalist Shi Tao for leaking a propaganda directive. Shi was sent to prison for 10 years while Yahoo collected profits from its Chinese operations.However, Google says it has had enough meddling after a series of cyber attacks (presumably conducted by the Chinese government) originating in China and stole Google secrets and also targeted the Gmail accounts of human rights activists. Google said that if China won't allow uncensored searches, it will pull out. I hope Google isn't blowing hot air this time. To be effective the Internet must be as free and unfettered as possible. Governments have the first responsibility in seeing that it is. Here is the Goggle announcement link.http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html?utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ha-ww-ww-bk-cn&utm_medium=ha&utm_term=google%20china

Too, if Google's threat inspires other companies to show some spine, China would have less clout to impose its demands on businesses operating within China.The world's largest market for Internet users is in China, with about 340 million users. China has shown itself to be a thug when it comes to the free flow of information. If it pushes one of the world's most successful and popular companies out the door, the Chinese people will notice and mistrust the government controlled search engine server, Baidu, even less than now. Perhaps Microsoft and Yahoo would be inspired to forget the all mighty profit for a while and instead locate their spinal columns and depart from the Chinese market.

And does it matter why a business withdraws from a controlled information market? That Google might leave in protest would send a good message about the importance of free idea exchange, even if the Goggle motive for leaving is not as moral as it claims.Cynics of Google's announcement of a withdrawal possibility might say Google wants to go because it either isn't making enough money (because Baidu, though untrusted politically, is very popular in China due to it's emphasis on local content) or it wants to make more money, and that this is cover for a way to expand profitability in China.

What do you think?