Google in China
“…purity is an idea for a yogi or monk…
Well, I have dirty hands.
Right up to the elbows,
I’ve plunged them in filth and blood”
JP Sartre*
Google is going to censor results for Chinese users.
Andrew McLaughlin, Google’s Senior Policy Counsel, puts the problem well: “While removing search results is inconsistent with Google’s mission, providing no information (or a heavily degraded user experience that amounts to no information) is more inconsistent with our mission.”
It’s a tough world. Most of what we do is morally mixed. The consequences aren’t unambiguously good and our intentions are never pure. Google has apparently gone through some genuine soul-searching. I know Andrew and have the highest respect for him; if you had the privilege of spending time with him, you would too.
So, I find myself torn. Doing the work of a totalitarian state is bad. Of course. But Google plans on noting on results pages when results have been censored; alerting Chinese users to the fact of censorship could have a positive political effect. Apparently Google also plans on having a link to the US-hosted version. And they won’t host user data on servers under Chinese jurisdiction so they won’t have to turn users over to the Chinese police.
That helps. But is it enough?
If forced to choose — as Google has been — I’d probably do what Google is doing. It sucks, it stinks, but how would an information embargo help? It wouldn’t apply pressure on the Chinese government. Chinese citizens would not be any more likely to rise up against the government because they don’t have access to Google. Staying out of China would not lead to a more free China.
I’m not sure I’m right. Maybe my assessment of the likely consequences is wrong. And the high ground has its appeal, not least of which is that it keeps my hands clean. But the Chinese government is a big gob of repression plopped onto the middle kingdom, spattering our clean white robes.
At least it shows once and for all that Google’s motto is just silly in a world as complex as this one.
*I found the quote in this interesting discussion of Elie Wiesel’s Dawn.
Some other opinions:
At the end of the day, this compromise puts Google a little lower on the evil scale than many other internet companies in China. But is this compromise something Google should be proud of? No. They have put a foot further into the mud. Now let’s see whether they get sucked in deeper or whether they end up holding their ground.
Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Watch:
Oh, the irony. Less than a week after we hear that Google is ready to fight the US government in part to defend its users, now comes news that Google will cave into the Chinese government’s demands for its new Google China web site. However, the issues aren’t directly comparable. Moreover, while I’m no fan of Chinese censorship, I like some of the way Google is reacting to the demands. Come along, and we’ll explore the entire censorship situation in China, the US and some other places you rarely hear discussed, like France and Germany.
The devil’s in the details. And the attention taken to detail tells me that Google has thought long and hard about what they were doing and come up with a compromise. It’s a compromise that doesn’t make me happy, that probably doesn’t make most of the people who work for Google very happy, but which has been carefully thought through. And that, I think, gives some reason for optimism.
Categories: Uncategorized dw
