The AP reports Google has agreed to comply with the Chinese government's request--or perhaps demand--to censor search results. I am not surprised. I am disappointed, particularly after Google opted last week to take such a brave stand against the current US administration's Justice Department.
Google joins Yahoo and Microsoft in being cowed by the Chinese government to bake in censorship f what its 100 million web surfers can access. Among the offending words are Tienanmen Square Massacre, Taiwan and I would guess, "free speech."
I think one of these three companies has a huge opportunity, but I doubt that any of them will take it. Each has the dilemma of refusing to cooperate with China and getting shut out f access to this already huge and continuously growing market. I'm fearful that cooperating on this level today will make it easier for each of these companies to cooperate on worse levels in the future.
If one of these three companies stepped out and said, "no we won't cooperate," think of what position it will take in the court of world opinion. If you happened to be Microsoft and your strongest competitor had a slogan of "do no evil," think of the competitive position it would give you in the world marketplace.
What would Yahoo do if Microsoft took this step in China? My wager is that they would have little choice but to follow suit. Guess what Google would have to do then.
Conversely, what would China's next move be. If these three companies refused to collaboration in censorship activities, would china ban all three companies? Perhaps.
Perhaps not. China needs technology and the Internet to bring its 1.3 billion citizens into the Information Age. China needs to create 15 million new jobs just to stay even in terms of current employment levels, experts say. They may ban these three Internet giants for a while. But not for long. I would argue China would find a way to save face and reengage with these companies.
And to offset any temporary losses in revenue or position, these three companies will have gained the gratitude of a great many people, not to mention 1.3 billion world citizens who are being denied rights that are self evident.
It is interesting to see how the explosion of free expression in the blogosphere is having an impact on the trend to global democracy, even as technology is simultaneously being used for dubious Big Brother Orwellian purposes, too.
I predict that Free Blogging leads to Free Expression then to Free Thought and Free Food and Free Everything.
I mean that we have more food than the world needs, more money than is needed to solve most problems.
The universal utopia on earth, while leaving aside any theology or eschatology, is seen in its embryo in the blogosphere.
Free sharing of information, advice, blog-to-book process, etc. leads to free universal.
What would the world look like if it echoed the blogosphere, including the negatives?
Posted by: steven streight aka vaspers the grate | Jan 27, 2006 at 08:40 AM