Google and China
lgf: Two Versions of Google, is a powerful post on the difference between Google.com and Google.cn. (via Fine? Why Fine?)
I haven’t commented on this previously, despite the huge splash Google’s decision has made in the blogosphere, because I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about it.
I hope it is obvious to all of my readers that I deplore China’s censorship (I am not even happy about EU censorship of Nazi propoganda even though I hate those guys.)
I find it difficult to condemn Google for their part in this though. In many ways, Google’s cooperation with China on censorship mirrors the larger debate about what we should do with China. Many of us deplore China’s repressive and undemocratic regime and fervently wish for it to fall into the ‘dustbin of history.’
And yet, it has most favored nation trading status. On the one hand, we know that trade with China will allow it to be more economically successful and make it easier for the regime to deliver bread and circuses and keep power. On the other hand, we hope that increased trade, engagement and prosperity will lead to a modernized democratic China, and we know that economic sanctions have been spectacularly unsuccessful at getting rid of totalitarian regimes (see North Korea.)
Google in China is that same debate.
Is more information, even if incomplete and censored the greater good or is it helping the Chinese Government to maintain stability by allowing it to use the internet to increase productivity but still keep its people in the dark? That is not a simple question and I don’t think it has an obvious answer.
It should also be noted that both for the western economies in general, and Google in specific, dealing with China is extremely lucrative. It is a big market, and a source of cheap goods. This quite possibly makes it easy to convince ourselves that our positions on economic dealing with China are simply the ones that make sense, rather than the truth that they are purely for our own benefit.
How to deal with China is a big question. I honestly don’t know what the best course to take is with this situation. However, I find it hard to make Google a scapegoat when their decision basically matches the decision our nation has made as a whole, and one that has been maintained for many years across different administrations.
However, their are two ways Google could work with China in this regard. They could pretty much blindly accept the rules China gives them and impliment them strictly according to Chinese law, or they could use their expertise with information management to actively help China develop more effective censorship systems. From what I can tell, they are doing the former, not the latter. Doing the second, would in my opinion be ‘evil.’
