Search Companies Questioned About Chinese Policy

Romerican writes "The U.S. Government is questioning Google in relation to corporate behavior under anti-bribery laws. The government is also questioning Yahoo, Microsoft and Cisco about their dealings with the Chinese government. Where do Slashdotters see this going?" From the Red Herring article: "There is precedent for the U.S. government establishing laws governing the conduct of U.S. companies abroad. During 1977 the U.S. government enacted the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which was substantially revised during 1988. The provisions of the FCPA prohibit the bribery of foreign government officials by U.S. citizens and prescribe accounting and record-keeping practices. Opponents of the law said it would severely restrict the ability of U.S. companies to compete in many countries where bribery was part of the commercial fabric." ats-tech wrote to give us the link to Google's response to these events, via the Googleblog.

Comments

What are they talking about here?

[psykocrime]

just as we already do in those rare instances where we alter results in order to comply with local laws in France, Germany and the U.S.

Does anybody here know exactly which laws - and what search results - they are referring to, relative to the U.S.? I never knew Google removed any results in the U.S. I find that idea a little unsettling, to be honest. What is the U.S. strong-arming Google into hiding???

Google has to restrict information in US?

[Ruvim]

From the Googleblog: And yes, Chinese regulations will require us to remove some sensitive information from our search results. When we do so, we'll disclose this to users, just as we already do in those rare instances where we alter results in order to comply with local laws in France, Germany and the U.S.

Google has to restrict information to comply with US laws? Are there something I am missing?

Re:Good

[quantum bit]

This isn't something Google can fix.

You're right, it's too late for Google to fix it. It was too late the day of the IPO.

The shareholders would also sue under American Law...

Which is exactly why being a publicly held corporation and the motto "Do No Evil" are simply incompatible. The only way for Google to truly be able to maintain the moral high ground was for it to remain privately owned.

The lesson here is that if you own a company and don't want it to be forced to mindlessly pursue profit at any expense, don't go public. Just don't do it.

Isnt it a little late?

[night_flyer]

Mr Smith on Wednesday accused Google of "collaborating .. with persecutors" who imprison and torture Chinese citizens "in the service of truth".

Everywhere I look, I see "Made in China"... if that isnt collaborating, its definitally financing the imprisonment and torture of Chinese citizens, as well as financing our own eventual demise...