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Google To End Google.cn Redirect
shmG writes "Google Inc. has announced a 'new approach' in China after the government said the company could no longer automatically redirect users to the unfiltered Hong Kong site. This gives Baidu Inc., which already has a greater than 60% share in Internet search in China, a chance to expand. It has announced new plans to hire US engineers to enhance its technical skills and propel its growth globally."
Update: 06/29 18:27 GMT by S : Changed the headline to more accurately reflect what Google is doing. They're ending the redirect and applying for a license renewal, so it's still in question whether they'll actually go dark in China. However, they say they're also looking for ways to continue allowing uncensored search, such as putting a high-profile link to their Hong Kong site on the google.cn landing page.
Yeah that's great, but if they continue following this path of disobeying Chinese law, then by 2020 Baidu will be the world's #1 company with 1.5 billion users while Google is just a has-been (like Atari or Amiga today). Baidu might even gain enough power to come to the US and dominate our market too.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
What's more valuable? 1.5 billion consumers with a very limited purchasing power or developed countries where eyeballs are actually worth paying for?
I think Google should not submit to Chinese bullying at all. It's not a market worth chasing given the effort and bad karma required to be a participant.
The reason I was reading comments was so I could find an appropriate one to reply to. As soon as I read this story, I pulled up both Google and Baidu, and translated Baidu. Searching for Tiananmen Square yields nothing about a massacre, and searching Tiananmen Square Massacre only yields FOUR results. FOUR. A couple of them are regarding civilians volunteering to patrol Tiananmen Square for a holiday or something. I am absolutely blown away and until today had no idea just how bad the censorship is. Incredible.
It's a tendency that gets bred out of the population, by and large.
Which incidentally is the reason why trying to control human population is rather hopeless in the long term... Our only hope is to develop technology faster than human population grows, because if we don't, we'll hit the carrying capacity of the ecosystem. Even with interstellar travel, expansion probably is ultimately limited by lightspeed in 3 dimensions, which leads to polynomial growth of living volume, while population growth is exponential.
IOW, we're screwed. Wether we deal with the problem intentionally, or let nature take it's course, it won't be pretty. All I can hope is, we don't hit the limit in my lifetime, perhaps not even in the lifetime of anyone I know directly.