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February 09, 2007

Googling for good in China

The Chinese blogger Isaac Mao has a three-part proposal for Google to help it get right in China. In an open letter to Google's founders he suggests: 1) Google set up a $1B venture fund to invest in leading edge companies in China. 2) "Develop anti-censorship tools and service for global Internet users." 3) "Increase the incentive to Chinese Google Adsense users."

When Google first announced that it would agree to censor certain search terms in China, I thought that it was a reasonable choice among only bad alternatives, given other steps Google took, such as hosting the Chinese service out of China so that the Chinese totalitarian government wouldn't have access to its records. I wasn't sure then, and I'm not more sure now, that Google made the right choice. Adopting Isaac's proposals would help explain why Google being in China is overall a good thing. (Thanks to Rebecca MacKinnon for the link.) [Tags: china google search isaac_mao]

Posted by D. Weinberger at February 9, 2007 10:09 AM


Comments

Google shouldn't be censoring anything. I don't see how them doing so is going to help with the oppressive dictatorship that is China. Not unless their goal is to curry favour with the governmnent itself.

Posted by: Danile Anuas | February 9, 2007 08:59 PM


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