AsiaPundit’s initial take on Google’s foray into China was not that the company was committing a grave sin, nor that it was doing a good thing for Chinese users (see and ). Establishing the China portal was neither good nor evil, but it may yet prove to have been profoundly stupid. AsiaPundit believes that Google has diminished its brand to enter a market that is simply not (yet) lucrative.
That theme has now been picked up and argued elsewhere.
A Tech Central Station column by Instapundit Glenn Reynolds argues that Google has lost something that made it special.:
In taking this approach, Google doesn’t distinguish itself much from other big American companies — Microsoft, Cisco, Yahoo!, etc. — that have cooperated with the Chinese. (Arguably, its behavior here is “less evil.”) It’s a big market, offering over a billion customers, and the Chinese government itself is a big purchaser. Why make them mad? How many people, besides a few human-rights types, will care that according to the Chinese Google, that And how much money do they spend on IT?
There’s also a not-entirely-bogus counterargument, that Chinese citizens with access to a censored Google are still more powerful, relative to their government, than Chinese citizens with no Google at all. Though this claim seems a bit, er, convenient, it may still have a grain of truth to it. The experience of empowerment that the Internet provides seems to affect people in ways that go beyond specific issues, and make them less tolerant of bossiness elsewhere; the more Chinese surf the Web, the more will have that experience. Maybe. It’s possible. After all, plenty of people made similar arguments in favor of “constructive engagement” with the Apartheid regime in South Africa, and against sanctions designed to force an end to its racist policies.
But it’s kind of odd to find Google in the position of making those sorts of arguments. There was always the sense — despite its ruffling a lot of feathers over what sources were included in Google News, or various complaints about the limited privacy afforded by Gmail — that Google was something different: Not just another big corporation.
A Wall Street Journal column by Andy Kessler argues that Google is no longer cool.:
Americans have a long history of selling out - think Warren Beatty and “Ishtar” or politicians and Indian casinos. The public is trusting until proven otherwise, then turns on icons like rats on garbage. Never more so with culture: Being “cool,” “tight” or “wicked excellent” is a hard image to keep and one boneheaded move can send you to tomorrow’s cut-out bin. Ask Michael Jackson. Or Madonna.
Which brings us to Google. As a company, even more so than Ian Schrager’s hotels, it reeks of cool—Google Maps and Google Earth and gmail bring a kind of geek chic to the dull old media world. Plus, there are those lofty ideals like “organizing the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” It’s why we all use them. Google should do everything to stay cool. GM is spending millions on ads that say “Just Google Pontiac” to get in on the zeitgeist.
And now, poof.
a billion soon-to-be-online Chinese will forever associate Google with lame and censored search results
One of the ways urbandictionary.com defines “sellout” is to alienate core fans by changing one’s style to appeal to a broader audience—and becoming what one’s fans were rebelling against in the first place. The U.S. government wanted search history to help fight child porn and Google said no way, to cheers from their Big Brother-hating constituency. But for its search service in China, Google caved to the communists, removing offending results for “Human Rights” and “Things that are Democratic.”
And Nicholas Carr writes that Google simply did something stupid.:
I think the reason Google is getting its feet held to the fire is simple: It asked for it. As soon as the company broadcast its “Don’t Be Evil” pledge, it guaranteed that any time it stepped into ethically ambiguous territory it was going to touch off a firestorm in the press - and, in turn, draw the attention of the public and the public’s media-hungry elected representatives. It’s the old Gary Hart effect. Plenty of Senators get a little on the side without finding their dalliances on Page One, but as soon as Hart claimed to be pure, he guaranteed that reporters and cameramen would come knocking on the door of his lovenest. Whether it was hubris or just naivete that led Google to proclaim its moral purity can be debated, but from a business standpoint it was a surpassingly dumb thing to do - and the consequences were entirely predictable.
AsiaPundit has also expressed reservations about US legislation restricting activities of companies. While it would be nice if Congress can force the firms to be more open, this is not just a US issue. European and Asian firms operating in China are doing the exact same thing that their US counterparts are, although the bad publicity tends to only stick to the US firms.
It would not improve China to drive US firms out, in some cases it would likely make things worse. Even a “democracy-filtering” MSN Spaces does offer a service and promote greater openness in China.
So, what should concerned Internet users do? The criticism of companies is not a bad thing. In spite of protests that Western activism will do no good for Chinese users, it was Western protests that have just provoked Microsoft to adopt a more user-friendly censorship policy for MSN spaces. Still, AP would encourage people to do more than just write blog posts condemning companies as ‘evil.’.
A recently added link on the left-hand sidebar points to the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s bloggers’ rights campaign. A donation there would be a good place to start.
Among its many activities, EFF promotes one of the best proxy server packages available - allowing users in China to access any number of blocked sites. In lieu of a donation, users in the West can volunteer time or bandwidth to help improve the service.
AP picked EFF for support because of it’s blogging focus, because of its proxy tool and because he gets a really cool t-shirt.
As EFF may not be to everyone’s liking, there are other organizations that can be supported, either financially, through volunteering or by aiding publicity. They may or may not have cool shirts.
Technorati Tags: asia, blogs, censorship, china, cisco, east asia, EFF, , media, microsoft, northeast asia, yahoo
