I like Google. I live by it. When I worked in San Jose we all wanted to work there, as they kept the dot-com thing alive long after the rest of Silicon Valley had been burned by it. When I traveled around Easter Europe last Fall I was well aware of their localization (Google is harder to use in Polish, for example), but I was glad it was there, kinda like the friend you can call when you’re lost (you can switch to their American site with a simple click). Now I’m getting a little worried.
You see, I also remember their IPO and it’s endearing code of corporate conduct: “Don’t be evil.” Now, I understand they read up on China, consulted some internet Big Thinkers (including Esther Dyson), and did their best. But is anyone uncomforable with users in China not being able to type in the phrase “human rights in China?” On the other hand, some interent is better than none, and I want Google to get in there. It’s a tough question, but bowing to the Chinese governement feels a little off (I think we can all agree ignoring human rights is a little evil). Here’s a few links to read up on it.
San Francisco Chronicle (Google declines to attend the Congressional Human Rights Caucus):
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/31/BUGK4GVTQD1.DTL
Wired (Older background info on Google’s approach to China)
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.01/google_pr.html
Browse Timeline
Comments ( 1 Comment )
It seems that google had a thin line to navigate and it appears that they landed on the “slippery slope idea”. Hopefully with new (not total) access the chinese people will be on the road to information enlightenment.
The more bothersome part to me is the lack explanation and the congressional committe would have been a great place to do that. It is obviously a business decision that overrode the “lets explain our evil” idea.
greg added these pithy words on
Jan 31 06 at
3:20 pm