I’m a day late on this one, but I wanted to weigh in. After a cyberattack that looks like it was intended to hack the gmail accounts of Chinese dissidents, Google has threatened to pull its operations from China. See the Times story here. That’s right, no more dealing with Chinese censorship, no more dealing with the world’s slowest web, no more programming to create filters to sway the politics of the world’s most populous country.
I’m with Google on this one. I remember talking to a Japanese friend who said she knew nothing about Japan’s atrocities before leaving the country and meeting Australian victims of Japanese war aggression. She wondered how her government could lie to her for all those years. She almost felt it was a betrayal.
I don’t know how this is going to turn out, but Google should pull out. Censoring, filtering, and misleading according to the Chinese government’s wishes…just doesn’t meld with their “Do no evil” mission. Google doesn’t need their money, and the company can make a powerful statement by refusing to cooperate with the Chinese government’s manipulation of information. I would hope that Chinese people would someday question the world and wonder why they don’t have access to the same information that everyone else does, but who knows what is going to happen. Google almost certainly provides better international search than Baidu, but will the Chinese people ever know what they’re missing if they can’t access Google to begin with? Will it have any effect on Chinese students trying to use the internet to learn about the outside world?
It’s tough too because of Tiananmen’s bloody legacy against those who would speak out for the people. Although…if the Chinese don’t know about Tiananmen, perhaps they would be more willing to stand up again. Hopefully the rest of the world can better pressure China to act responsibly this time. When it happens. If it happens.
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> I would hope that Chinese people would someday
> question the world and wonder why they don’t
> have access to the same information that everyone
> else does, but who knows what is going to happen.
Maybe when the majority of them are no longer poor?
“I’m with Google on this one. ”
I’m also with Google on this one. They should get the F*Ck out of China and never come back. Chinese people arent smoking the white mans opium any more. Google is a tool of the west, and the CCP is smart enough to restrict it. Chinese people know the truth about Google here;
http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20100116_1.htm
Isn’t Baidu a Chinese Google imitator? No value judgment here. Just saying.
That’s what I thought…
First, let me say that I do agree China should slowly open up the media, and I also agree that Western Media are very biased against China (just look at most main stream report on Tibet riot, XJ riot, 2008 Olympics, etc), and will use the far superior “spin” skill to damage China.
But the best way to fight this is not through quarantine, but through immunization. Chinese people need to realize that the West, like everyone else, is serving their own interest.
That said, I don’t care if google is asking China to hug puppies or plant flowers, no government should ever bow down to a foreign corporation. Google is doing this because they are losing money. The minute you give in the pressure you are just asking to be bullied by powerful international corporations.
Baidu is a Google imitator? more like an improved/refined/advanced version of a search engine that was first modelled by Google. Baidu is not an imitation of Google. Baidu is an innovation/refinement of a business model made famous by Google.
Just like how the pen and paper is an improvement on using a stick and the ground to write messages, Baidu is a improvement over Google on how to websearch.
If Baidu is a Google imitator, America is a PRC imitator for using paper, gunpowder, compass, etc…….
btw, Baidu was financed by venture capitalists from Wall street including Morgan Stanley, so we cant say who is imitating who right?….