Wow, good on Google at Tobias Buckell Online

Journal Entry

Wow, good on Google

From the official Google blog, “A New Approach to China.” After coordinated attacks on their system in attempts to get access to human rights activists’ email programs, Google has decided to stop working with China to censor Google results. Snippet:

We launched Google.cn in January 2006 in the belief that the benefits of increased access to information for people in China and a more open Internet outweighed our discomfort in agreeing to censor some results. At the time we made clear that “we will carefully monitor conditions in China, including new laws and other restrictions on our services. If we determine that we are unable to achieve the objectives outlined we will not hesitate to reconsider our approach to China.”
These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered–combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web–have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.

Consider me impressed.

Filed under the topic Tech: Computers on January 12th 2010 at 7:11 pm. You can subscribe to the RSS feed for this entry to keep track of comments. You can also use to trackback.

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8 Responses so far

1. Matt Osborne on Jan 12th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
China has built Police State 2.0 on the assumption that they can continue to control information access. The problem is that participation in a global, technology-driven economy requires the connectivity provided by companies like Google. The party has a choice to make…
2. Tobias Buckell on Jan 12th, 2010 at 7:28 pm
Matt: you’re right. And the fact that Google is forcing them to make that choice is brilliant and impresses me.
3. Sarah Brand on Jan 12th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
This is awesome. Not only is it a hugely positive step for Google, but it has the potential to be really positive for China as well… maybe this could even start a trend toward greater openness.
4. SMD on Jan 12th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
Maybe I’m a pessimist, but I disagree that this will do much for China at all. But, I could be proven wrong. I just doubt the Chinese government is going to relinquish control willingly, because they know the second they do that it will be the end of the country they know (nobody likes to lose control of something they’ve held at bay for so long).
That said, I’m glad Google is doing something right for a change, and this is definitely a good idea: taking a stance against censorship and oppression. They have the chops to have some sort of effect too.
5. xding on Jan 13th, 2010 at 4:57 am
I hope that Google doesn’t leave China all together. Or should I say I hope that the Government would not shut down Google all together.
6. Patrick on Jan 13th, 2010 at 6:43 am
As a westerner living in China, the Google situation is a little alarming. The Chinese I have talked to misunderstand the issue and think google is leaving China as a purely political move. Whatever the result of all this end up being, the everyday people will trust Google less. Besides, they all use Baidu mostly, anyway!
7. behindthewall on Jan 13th, 2010 at 8:49 am
As some damned dude behind the damned wall, I have to say, on the one hand, I totally agree with Google’s decision, but on the other hand, this means we these sad isolated people of China mainland will going to lose one another sunshine.
8. Paul Jessup on Jan 13th, 2010 at 8:59 am
I wonder if this is connected to China suing Google over scanning in Chinese authors for Google Books? I hate to be a cynic, but the timing is too close to be a coincidence…still, whatever the reason, this is a huge deal, and good on Google for making it.

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