Surprise, surprise! No one here on Lunch writing a review on Google after such a big piece of news hits the market?!
Let’s face it, Google challenging China on its censorship policy… is that really a wise move?
A company flexing its muscle while trying to operate in a foreign environment?
I don’t know about you, perhaps
freedom of speech is of utmost importance to the Americans. We know all about Americans and western world’s ideal of human rights & freedom (although plenty of times it’s been known that governments do look away when it’s not convenient to do so; as with the Cambodia & Bosnia cases).
A case of Government vs Business: They don’t mix.
One is operating within another. Without a country, a business will not thrive. IMHO, politics and business do not mix. Laws are regulations made not for business but for the smooth functioning of a country. It’s a framework, it will not changed because of a foreign institution. It might one day change when its people feels it is time to (& normally it will come after a revolution; in this case, I don't see the Chinese people heading that direction!). It is not that the Chinese do not have freedom of speech at all (as some media may try to portray), it is a case of responsible speech that is required of each individual, as with the case in Singapore too.
Logic
Google wishes to challenge that framework will result in it at the losing end of the deal. It’s a case of winning the battle but losing the war. Leaving China will not improve human rights in China (If that is indeed what it is all about! ;-)). At least if it had stayed, it would have improve its bargaining power over time.
For now, from history, the Chinese government has never bowed to external pressure, not from other countries, let alone from a business entity! The only time it did was the Opium War which resulting in giving up Hong Kong & Macau for a century. That is a lesson the Chinese has learned well! I would predict that for the Chinese government, It shall be a case of out of sight, out of mind where
Google.cn is concerned.
A negative move for
Google.cn. Positive result for
Baidu.com (the main Chinese search engine which has the largest percentage of internet users to begin with).
Don’t get me wrong. I love Google as a search engine (as with Chrome, Gmail, Picasa & all thing Google); although I should qualify by saying I use only the English version of Google search.
What we are seeing here is not that you can’t access
Google.com from China. Granted, China blocks site like YouTube & FaceBook but other than that, many sites I visited can be accessed from within China. What it means is that if Google leave China, that translates to
Google.cn not in operation.
One can still access everything in English on
Google.com, just not
Google.cn simply because Google leaving means Google is giving up its Chinese search engine. I personally do not think China loses much at all.
Baidu.com is as good if not a better Chinese search engine!
Google has a lot to lose! For the Chinese users, some might even see it as a lack of fighting spirit as it’s only after Google has been hacked that it is talking about leaving! In other words, is Google not even good enough to safeguard its own system?!?!?! Afterall, China is not the first or only government to filter into another country’s system (for spying or whatever purposes). American government does that all the time! I don’t have to know that for a fact, it’s all over Hollywood movies! ;-) In any case, can you really trust what the media is telling you? Or companies? Or governments? Granted, some, but not all & everything!
Everyone has his/her agenda in life; as with a country & a company. There are more than what meets the eyes as far as I can tell. One thing though, Google is not that profitable in China. That is a fact. It might just be a business decision for all we know! Or there might be further developments from here…
The sums
From the financial perspective, I wonder how Google shareholders will react to this piece of news? And what about its Nexus One sale & all other androids sale in future? Does Google really intend to lose its market share which it had spent time cultivating simply as a defiant act? Makes me wonder what is really happening here! Anyone can shed some light?
Lunch can be a refreshing change of pace from many other opinion sites that display thoughtless comment posts in which invectives are hurled at both sides of an issue.
That being said, I don't think the discussion about Google and China should be so trite. I can't believe that some would use this as an opportunity to engage in cultural relativism, and compare the West's long history of violence with China's current predicament. It would seem that many China apologists believe they can list any example of the West’s violent history in order to absolve China of any wrongdoing, no matter how insidious.
Rhetorical gamesmanship used to work better when China was not very powerful. But that is no longer the case. China will soon pass Japan as the world 2nd largest economy. The time for pretending China should not be held to the same human right’s standards as the rest of the world are long gone.
The only reason why more countries and more companies do not publicly chastise China, as Google as done, is purely because of money. That is the only reason. China represents the largest untapped foreign market and the largest potential for corporate growth. But it takes a very cynical person to worry about what Google’s shareholders will think while Google is making a principled stand for freedom of speech.
Really? What will the shareholders think?? If that argument doesn’t fully reveal that this version of capitalism is completely morally bankrupt, I don’t know what does.
What would the shareholders think if a company pollutes and poisons the drinking water of a nearby town? What would the shareholders think if the company was to stop creating such lucrative, but dangerous products because the risk to children was too great?
What would the shareholders think if the company, after submitting to years of heavy-handed government-directed censorship, after discovering a massive cyber-attack on their proprietary servers, after finding out that the hackers were trying to uncover political dissidents, after determining that the only “laws” this government follows are the “laws” that it fabricates in order to consolidate its unquestioned power, that this company were to suddenly develop a conscience and want to review its complicity with censorship?
The shareholders might not care. But that is not the point. The citizens of a government should care. And not just the citizens of the government who are allowed internet access to spin censorship issues in the government’s favor.
The United States has had a long and difficult relationship with free speech. It wasn’t always so clear how the government, and the government’s most fierce apologists, felt about it. But by and large, free speech is favored by the minority (or the powerless) and feared by the majority (or powerful). And typically, any restrictions on free speech are created to stifle an open discussion on an issue. Oppressive governments will argue that censorship will keep the general populace safe because the government would only censor material that would be harmful, right?
Opinions like that are dangerously naïve or capriciously cynical. Either way, the whole point of free speech is that sometimes you’ll hear something you disagree with; and that’s often a good thing, because then someone won’t be able to stop you from speaking when they disagree with you.
I'm sure my email will be hacked by tomorrow.
Well, at least cyber wars don't involve weapons of mass destruction, so if they really care to duke it out, go for it! Should be interesting to watch unfold. Will one side call the other's bluff? Will they both be stubborn? Or will this quietly go away? We'll see.