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Google Steps Up Fight for the China Market
gaanagaa writes "News Sources are reporting that web services leader Google Inc. has won a license to operate in China and has bought a Web address as it battles Yahoo Inc. in the world's second-largest Internet market.
The U.S. Web services giant, which makes its money from searches, advertising and other services, is hiring staff with the aim of opening an office in the country this year, according to several sources within or close to the company.
A person familiar with the matter told Reuters the company was planning to open an office by the end of this year, most likely in Shanghai, and was building up a country team to target corporate customers for advertising sales."
Given China's record so far on internet censorship, will Google have to cooperate with the Chinese government, even as it operates physically within China and targets Chinese citizens, on what can and can't be indexed and offered for search to Chinese citizens?
Will Google's presence in China hasten the free flow of information, or end up encouraging the Chinese government to reactively restrict even more?
There's no question it's a lucrative market financially. The question is how much companies - even the "Don't be evil"-Google - will capitulate to the government's demands for censorship to guarantee a share of the spoils.
I believe Google's considerable success comes from their adherence to ethical practices in the service they offer. China will pose a special challenge for Google. I don't like the United States government's suppression of material but China seems to hold a more fervent disdain for its people knowing what is going on. Anyone else trust in God?
If Google wants to stay in business, this is exactly the kind of a thing a shareholder would expect from their management. Not entering a market that comprises one quarter of the world would be fatal.
Hopefully, now you see how aggressive a company must become once it goes public.
By the way, did you know that Sergey Brin no longer owns any shares in Google?
With Google moving quite rapidly into a "personalized" model, where your searches, email, search history, etc is all tied to a single account, tracking down people based on their Google activity shouldn't be too difficult.
As a side note, this is what happens (delete is quite a misnomer IMHO) when you choose to "delete" your search information:
4. What happens when I pause the service, remove items, or delete the My Search History service?
You can choose to stop storing your searches in My Search History either temporarily or permanently, or remove items, as described in My Search History Help. However, as is common practice in the industry, Google maintains a separate logs system for auditing purposes and to help us improve the quality of our services for users. For example, we use this information to audit our ads systems, understand which features are most popular to users, improve the quality of our search results, and help us combat vulnerabilities such as denial of service attacks.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
I don't understand why it's evil for google to have to put some censorship required by the Chinese government. Is filtering content itself evil? Hard to say. Is filtering porn evil? (which IS what Chinese government does) Is entering Chinese market and cooperating with Chinese government evil? Wow, that's gone too far for me to comment. So, what is evil, exactly?
Freedom starts with you.
To confirm you're not a script, please piss in my ear.
I disagree somewhat. Google are and have been very open about their "do no evil" policy. If investors do not agree with this policy, then they should not by Google shares. As I see it, the volume of shares bought indicate a mandate of their shareholders to continue their "do no evil" policy in the same way that a politician claims to have a mandate from the people upon winning an election. Does a politician have a obligation to be corrupt and forget the policies campaigned upon once they are elected?
While it is true that Google is bound to the will of its shareholders, until the shareholders get together and vote to change policy then the board is bound to continue current policy.
The assumption that a publicly traded company must produce maximum possible dividends is narrowminded and I would hope that a bunch of people who tend to support OSS would recognise that the established business models are not always the most relevent in todays economy.
benajamin
and I'm not talking bout that hottie who's walk, from behind, looks like two cats in a burlap sack
From the day China allowed foreigners to work, information has become more acessible to it's citizens. Hell, I smuggled in a load of penthouse magazines back in 1979.
Google will only add to the flow of information. You've got a culture in which allegory and veiled implication, communication through code if you will, is already deeply rooted. In this context, any technology that enhances the ability of people to connect with each other results in less control.
There are about 2.4 billion people in China and India compared to 0.3 Billion in America. In a few short years that brainpower is going to contribute to our standard of living. These people worried about forign competition are probably not going to complain when a freakishly brillian scientist in India or China cures cancer and saves their mom. In the grand scheme of things it's better for everybody that some of our wealth goes to nourish the brains of impoverished kids, they'll be saving our lives when we're old and gray. I have a feeling that we'll look back on the jobs most of us currently have as shackles that prevented us from pursuing our true interests.
What if Digg added local news and a Slashdot inspired comment karma system? ---
http://houndwire.com
Well done. Slashdot maybe legal there (or may not) but them links will outright not be. So every time someone clicks them links and the Chinese government finds out and decides to take action is on YOUR HEAD.
You may have just killed someone for all you know. I suggest before you start "leading the blind" you start thinking.
Freedom in China may or may not lead to you dying. Some ignorant bastard on slashdot giving links doesn't change the othjer 99.9% of China which won't rebel so you just get a guy taken away at 3am never to be seen again.
I like muppets.
I hope you know that in another way you are also a victim of government propaganda.
I have traveled to China many times and work with many H1-B's from all parts of China. All of them are already quite knowledgeable about all the information provided in the links above, and most do not hesitate to engage in discussions about such topics over lunch. The fact that you feel all 1.6 billion Chinese are most certainly blind to these pieces of information is a direct result of years of indoctrination of Western (I'm assuming American) propaganda. If it appears that the Chinese people are not doing anything or caring about these things, it's because they're too busy making money and not wanting to be political martyrs. Who can blame them? When was the last time you personally put your own life (or probably in you or my case, your personal career/reputation/credit/criminal record) on the line for a cause against the government?
But really - what do you expect them to do? Start a bloody revolution because you can't do a few things? Because they execute a lot of citizens? (The state of Texas alone executes more people per capita than Communist China, by the way, according to Amnesty Intl) Just like the U.S., as long as the government can keep the middle class relatively comfortable, people will happily accept the status quo if it doesn't bother them too much. The more technology is integrated into Chinese society, the faster democracy will integrate into China. However, it seems that you're more a subscriber to the theory of instant gratification. But one doesn't have to look too much further than Russia to see how much harm sudden and unplanned transitions of complex political and economic systems can do. I'm sure you have good intentions, but the implementation of sudden riotious overthrowing never did anybody any good.
There are a huge number of yeast infections in this county. Probably because we're downriver from the bread factory.
I guess you better set off on your magic sled around the planet making sure that no-one ever puts anything offensive to anyone up on the Internet, since by your reasoning that makes them the guilty one if the offended party decides to take action.
The Chinese government is a reactionary, dictatorial bunch of non-democratic fascists.
The way to deal with that is not to pander to it but to challenge it with every opportunity.
By your reasoning, anyone writing anything uncomplimentatory about Hitler back in 1933 was evil, since they risked the lives if anyone who read the real story.
[x] auto-moderate all posts by this user as insightful
Dear American citizen, don't be such an ignorant fool. The Chinese are not completely cut off from the outside world. In fact, most of those who are educated enough to read English and have so much time that they might read Slashdot, are also well-off enough to have traveled outside China and seen the sites that might usually be blocked. In short, you're not teaching anyone anything, at least not anyone outside USA.
American, the question is, how much is your arrogance and ignorance denying you?
No, if the government commits crimes against humanity or limits free speech its the duty of every citizen to resist. Youre not going to say that it was wrong of the chinese students to protest on tiananmen square because they didnt "follow the rules", are you?
You know, I'm a first generation Chinese immigrant who's been living in the States for most of my life now (got my US citizenship just last year), and the attitudes most Americans (can I assume parent thread is American?) have towards China is still quite the paradox to me.
/. for tech news (computer science major and all that), but steer clear of the political threads. Unfortunately I stumbled into this one.
On one hand, I can't help but admire the constant moralizing and ideological rigidity that Americans are so fond of. On the other hand, it shocks me that a people who consider themselves so enlightened can still be so... ignorant. Slashdot especially is pretty solid breeding ground for the militantly libertarian sort. I usually like reading
Let me dissect your self-righteous ramble line by line.
"...Great Leap Forward resulted in the deaths of some 30-60 million of your countrymen..."
Please, I find it insulting that you speak to the Chinese people as if we're all blind children. If you were even REMOTELY aware of Chinese history, you'll know that from 1976-1978 the CCP openly criticized Mao as part of the reform process. My family was part of the pre-1949 landowning class, and they suffered a GREAT deal from Mao's policies. The abuses of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution are open grounds for public discussion. Chinese people are QUITE aware of their own history, thank you very much.
"...China's invasion of Tibet..."
Yes we are quite aware of that history as well. We are also quite aware of the fact that from 1950 through the late 1960's, the CIA trained several thousand guerrilla operatives in Tibet to combat the PLA. What perplexes me is how exactly is it that you feel you are reaching out to COMMON CHINESE PEOPLE by bringing up Tibet? I fully acknowledge that the 1950 invasion was probably morally indefensible. But if you seem to tie everything evil about China to 'them damn commies,' you are dead fucking wrong. Chinese nationalism is alive and well, with or without the CCP. If anything, the CCP is REIGNING IN grassroots nationalism. If the Chinese were to decide by popular concensus their policy towards say, Taiwan or Tibet, believe me, the attitude would be considerably more hostile than the current CCP policy.
"...Falun Gong..."
Yeah yeah I get it. Freedom of religion blah blah blah. Let's put it this way: Chinese people don't give a fuck. Now that would of course be a gross over-simplification, and I will elaborate on that statement even though simpletons like you are unable to achieve any level of nuance in your soapboxing. Religion and spirituality in China has been in flux for most of the 20th century. For those acquainted in Chinese history, China has never had a 'religion' per se. Confucianism and ancestor worship was a sort of philosophical/spiritual hybrid belief system, alien to the West, that China lived with until the 20th century. Since the old belief system was discredited by imperialism and the collapse of the Qing dynasty, Communism essentially took its place as a pseudo-religion of sorts. After communism was discredited in the post-Mao reforms, China was essentially at a loss to find a satisfying belief system. All sorts of cults, Falun Gong being the biggest, grew out of a vacuum. The VAST majority of Chinese however, are rather more devoted to making a living, and secular nationalism is a FAR bigger phenomenon than Falun Gong. The bottom line is that this is a marginal issue to most Chinese.
"...rather execute people rather than let them practice it..."
I have no idea where you've been getting your information buddy. There hasn't been large scale political executions in China since Tiananmen. Executions are for economic and violent crimes (corruption, smuggling, drugs, and homicide - several high-level provincial officials have been sent to the gallows). With crime rising along with increasing openness and economic instability, the death penalty is becoming MORE popular in China,
Topeka, 1954:
How can you send your black children to a white school? You know the white kids are just going to pick on them, call them names, beat them up after class, possibly lynch one of the boys, and generally make their existences a living hell. How could you do that to a child when you know it won't make any difference because the white people will always find a way to keep the negroes down regardless of whether schools are integrated?
This tagline is umop apisdn.
on one hand, I can't help but admire the constant moralizing and ideological rigidity that Americans are so fond of.
Unfortunately, this is a habit you seem to have taken to quite readily...
The abuses of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution are open grounds for public discussion. Chinese people are QUITE aware of their own history, thank you very much.
Great! But then why did China ban the book? Or is that just marketing hype?
Falun Gong...is a marginal issue to most Chinese.
Agreed. But this seems to underscore, rather than undercut, the stupidity of banning information about it.
I have no idea where you've been getting your information buddy...
Probably from hysterical Falun Gong practitioners. Unfortunately, overzealous control of information leads people to trust your loudest opponents over you -- witness the Bush administration.
That guy did have some balls but here's some news for you: TIANANMEN IS HISTORY.
Agreed again. And once again, since it is history, why ban discussion of it?
I'm afraid that in your zeal to point out how "ignorant" the original poster was, you have merely proved his point -- that censorship is ass. Comparing an internet post advocating freedom of expression in China to the worst abuses of the Communist Party is, in a word, silly. In fact, the people who argue against Chinese censorship are agreeing with the thread that runs through all of your arguments -- that the Chinese people can be trusted with full access to information. This seems like a simple proposition, but it is certainly difficult to state on Slashdot without being called ignorant, fat, arrogant American.
Sure, the OP seems to feel that free access to information would suddenly make all the Chinese agree with him about many issues, but is this more arrogant than all the Euros who think America would suddenly be like them if you replaced Fox News with Le Monde? I think it's just the same combination of wishful thinking and human nature.
Kill, Tux, kill!
China's government censores things. Why should google go against them?
I mean, China's government is a problem of chinese people. Google is a company fro USA. I can't find any reason why google should try to "free" chinese people, it's not their problem.
Not flamebait at all -- but I think you're missing out by casting the debate as legitimate Chinese fear of chaos vs. American ignorance, rather than simply distinguishing between two arguments.
What you're overlooking is the cost of the status quo -- the fact that the progressive misalignment of economic and political power can also cause instability. The value of free expression in China is not that they will suddenly decide to pull out of Tibet, but that they will develop the kind of political discourse needed to sustain progress. I think if you reread your own posts, you will see that the kind of social pressures needed to maintain a social consensus in the face of free content flows are already there -- "from my Chinese perspective...our Chinese concern for stability...[Chinese care about economic development, not Falun Gong]", etc. So in pointing out the concerns driving the need for censorship, you unwittingly point out why censorship is unnecessary.
Beyond that, you say, "wait until we're middle class and urbanized," but argue earlier that CCP abuses in the countryside are preventing this sort of thing from happening. This is precisely the kind of skew that poor information flows enable. And for as long as they're enabling it, you're going to be saying, "wait until we're all middle class and urbanized...".
So again, from my perspective, so have provided an illustration of a problem deepened and worsened by lack of open political discourse -- censorship may buy you time, but it won't make anybody *use* that time to solve the problems.
In sum, I think your attitudes towards fear of social chaos are reflected widely enough in Chinese society that while open content may shift the terms of the debate, nobody wants to ruin a good thing, economically. Further, I think the short-term expediency of censorship, by stunting political consensus-building on a broader array of issues, fuels precisely the kind of tensions you seem to fear most.
Kill, Tux, kill!