To maintain its access to the world’s fastest growing Internet-using population, the search advertising company agreed to adhere to Chinese regulations on free speech.
Google’s much-applauded stand against Department of Justice requests for search records stands in stark contrast to the action it has taken, leading up to the debut of a Google search engine with China’s top-level domain, .cn, appended to it.
AP reported how Google managed to pick up the Chinese license permitting its search engine to launch there, without the roadblocks and delays common to users in China who try to use it today. Google will have to accept the dictates of Chinese government information officers in censoring content:
Google officials characterized the censorship concessions in China as an excruciating decision for a company that adopted “don’t be evil” as a motto. But management believes it’s a worthwhile sacrifice.
“We firmly believe, with our culture of innovation, Google can make meaningful and positive contributions to the already impressive pace of development in China,” said Andrew McLaughlin, Google’s senior policy counsel.
The response from Reporters Without Borders expressed disappointment with Google. The organization is still furious with Yahoo for its role in providing China with information that led to the conviction of a journalist and his subsequent sentencing to ten years in prison, and they are not real pleased with Google now, either.
“This is a real shame,” said Julien Pain, head of Reporters Without Borders’ Internet desk. “When a search engine collaborates with the government like this, it makes it much easier for the Chinese government to control what is being said on the Internet.”
Additionally, Google’s services in China will not include its popular Gmail product for email, or Blogger either. Both services could pose problems as they could be tapped for the data they would collect, in the form of emails and blog posts and profiles, by the Chinese government.
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David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
