Google Admits China Censorship Was Damaging

pilsner.urquell writes to let us know about a wide-ranging interview with Google's founders from Davos, Switzerland. Larry Page and Sergey Brin admitted that allowing China to censor its search engine did harm to the company in its Western markets. Quoting the Guardian article: "Asked whether he regretted the decision, Mr. Brin admitted yesterday: 'On a business level, that decision to censor... was a net negative.'" The reporter concludes that Google is unlikely to revise its Chinese censorship policy any time soon.

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[drix]

But I titled it "Sergey Brin turns into a corporate douchebag." "On a business level, that decision to censor... was a net negative." I think I speak for a lot of people here when I say, wtf is that shit? I can think of a few more, say, pressing reasons why abetting the oppressive regime in China is fucked than the good ol' bottom line. Don't be evil my ass.

Sigh. Sergey, we barely knew ye.

Re:Agreed.. but why?

[Javit]

I don't agree with the nukes comparison either, but don't brush off the impact of censorship, a form of information control. It's not as simple as giving them access to information they wouldn't otherwise have; it's what they don't see. Consider, for example, if Google in the United States was disallowed from returning results that so much as acknowledge the existence of the Democratic Party or its principles. Do you think a citizen of this hypothetical USA should be thankful to get whatever information Google does provide?