Google’s “New Approach To China”

January 12, 2010 11:42 pm mneptok digital

This announcement is a big one. Wow.

8 Responses

  1. John R. Carlisle Says:
    January 13th, 2010 at 00:00

    I will be shocked if Google really follows through with pulling out China Operations because of the compromised emails. I think Google is just trying to win points with the US Gov in an effort to gain traction in other areas they have having problems in , such as the copy righted materials being scanned and broadcast to the world. I asked a few people here at the John R. Carlisle Institute if they thought Google would really pull out of China and no one thought they would really do it. Time will tell and we will see, probably sooner than later.

    John R. Carlisle

  2. Lefty Says:
    January 13th, 2010 at 00:10

    It would be nice if this represented the beginning of a trend.

  3. btmorex Says:
    January 13th, 2010 at 00:20

    They shouldn’t have been censoring results to begin with. On the other hand, this “let’s make human rights exceptions for China” is pervasive in the U.S. all the way to the federal government, so it’s not surprising.

  4. Kurt von Finck: Google’s “New Approach To China” | TuxWire : The Linux Blog Says:
    January 13th, 2010 at 00:52

    […] more here: Kurt von Finck: Google’s “New Approach To China” Share and […]

  5. David Says:
    January 13th, 2010 at 02:19

    Hopefully they’ll follow through with it, though I do think it was awfully naive of them thinking they could make it work in China in the first place without compromising “don’t be evil” (or whatever their promise/corporate motto exactly was).

  6. Stu Says:
    January 13th, 2010 at 09:09

    This is a very good step, and hopefully it will be very hard to take a step backwards now that the statement has been so widely reported.

    China first, then every other country where corporate greed drives complicity with unpleasant treatment of citizens.

  7. James Says:
    January 13th, 2010 at 09:29

    The “real Google” in China is not Google itself, but Baidu, that is used by the vast majority of Chinese internet users. Just have a look at its services: http://ir.baidu.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=188488&p=irol-products

    Furthermore, the “Google censorship in China” issue is overhyped IMHO. The chinese regulations are related to the “.cn” domain and the possibility to make business in the internal chinese market (where Baidu is definitely stronger than Google). When Chinese people want to see the uncensored Google, they just need to type e.g. “www.google.co.uk” instead of “www.google.cn”.

    This “Google is different and cares about human rights” campaign just seems to me a publicity stunt, covering the loss of interest in investing in the Chinese market.

  8. EtienneG Says:
    January 14th, 2010 at 21:57

    Wow. Just wow. Such candor is quite unusual coming from Google, and leaving me speechless …