The Old Codger
Google has found many supporters in America with its decision to move its search engine from mainland China to Hong Kong. More often than not, it is being hailed as a savvy, corporate hero for having the gonads to stand up to Beijing in a row over Internet censorship. Taking all the commentaries together, the general consensus seems to be that perhaps Google has wedged open the door for democratic reform in China.
With great acumen, Google has refrained from saying much of anything throughout the entire debacle. No one at Google is making any comments of substance. It says it does not wish to politicize the issues or points of contention. Beijing is saying the same thing, in as few words as possible. Google of course, wishes to continue doing business in China, though on a more limited basis than in the past, thus a good reason for its diplomacy.
It is not surprising that this fiasco has given significant numbers of Americans numerous opportunities to ratchet up their anti-China rhetoric. The majority of Americans believe strongly that the entire Chinese government is abominable at the very least. They want to see China adopt American freedoms. Many are now also bringing into the argument the trade imbalances, the undervalued Yuan and other economic factors, and blaming China for the economic woes America is now facing. China becomes a scape goat.
Whether Google has acted out of conscience solely about the censorship issue, or for political favor in America is the question. The entire fiasco began after China took a firm stand when Obama visited China in November 2009. Many in America believed that Beijing was out of line for standing up to Washington and saying “no” very firmly. Beijing, after years of kowtowing to Washington finally stood up. That of course is totally unacceptable to Americans.
Google, in explaining its seemingly sudden epiphany about censorship in China, blamed Chinese hackers for trying to hack into its servers and some dissidents e-mail accounts. What Google does not disclose is that there are continual hacking attempts from around the world on their servers and people’s e-mail accounts. Could it be that Google, after four years of providing censored Internet search results in compliance with Chinese law with few complaints, felt a surge of American patriotism in light of China snubbing Washington?
With some, there is speculation that Washington may have been complicit in Google’s decision. Conspiracy theories are interesting, but this one would be extremely difficult, if not impossible to prove, so it must be completely ignored as it involves only speculation that could be harmful to American interests.
Google of course is content to stand on its new position as being viewed as a responsible corporate entity in regards to censorship and free speech, and thus a strong proponent of human rights. It has received strong kudos from the White House and Congress, which certainly cannot harm Google in the future when it is scrutinized on any number of different issues such as acquisitions which might appear to create a monopoly, or on copyright issues.
Google regularly censors search engine results in numerous countries around the world including in Europe, Australia and Thailand. From a parochial standpoint, it would seem that if Google is truly opposed to censorship, it would cease all censorship throughout the world. Many countries also censor access to web sites on their own so that if Google does not censor an entry, a questionable website may be blocked anyway. (more…)
