China: Google is political and cultural imperialist

In a series of recent opinion pieces in Chinese media, Google is accused of being politicized and exporting U.S. culture. Is the situation more complex than it first appeared? In IT Blogwatch, bloggers offer a different world view.

By Richi Jennings. March 22, 2010.
(GOOG)

Your humble blogwatcher selected these bloggy morsels for your enjoyment. Not to mention  cooking with John von Neumann...
 
 
Meng Na, Li Yunlu, and Yan Hao opine freely; totally without Chinese government encouragement:

Google is politicalizing itself. ... [It] should understand an internationally accepted rule ... that no matter in which country you conduct business, you have to obey the laws and regulations there. ... The Chinese government regulates the Internet according to laws and will improve its regulation step by step according to its own needs. ... Google's recent behaviors show that the company ... is playing an active role in exporting culture, value and ideas.
...
Google is currently at a crossroad. Whether it eventually leaves the Chinese market or not, one thing is certain -- China's Internet market ... will continue to prosper. ... One company's ambition to change China's Internet rules and legal system will only prove to be ridiculous. ... Google should not continue to [politicize] itself, as linking its withdrawal to political issues will lose Google's credibility among Chinese netizens.

Deng Shasha adds this, with no referring to any PRC talking points whatsoever:

It is a great pity that ... Google ... seems ... to act as a tool to penetrate into the Chinese culture as well as into Chinese people's values. Google's relations with the US government cannot be deeper. ... Google was the fourth-largest supporter of Barack Obama in his election campaign. Four of the company's former executives ... are now serving the US government.
...
How can people believe that the company's search results are without any bias when it lacks independence [or] business ethics? ... China's openness to the world is widely seen. ... It is ridiculous and arrogant for an American company to attempt to change China's laws. The country doesn't need a politicized Google or Google's politics.

An anonymous op-ed writer at Hong Kong's Sing Tao Daily muses thus:

I’m not sure if Google knows that its arrogance can easily remind the Chinese people of the “big powers” who cracked open China’s door by warships and cannons in the 19th century. ... The only difference was military weapons in the past and Internet service today. ... China ... [has] a constant policy [of] opening up to the world. But Google has challenged the Chinese government’s sovereignty by demanding the government accept Google’s presumed definition of “opening up”.
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The current “China Threat” theory shows Western countries are actually in fear of being dominated by China one day. ... I was wondering whether Google is waiting for China to cater to it or trying get away from it.

And Tom Foremski bangs his anti-imperialist drum again:

Google has demonstrated a shocking lack of historical knowledge and lack of understanding of Chinese culture in its dealings with the Chinese government. ...Google makes those demands, angered by a "sophisticated" hacker attack, and brings up the issue of human rights when it was a non issue when it entered the Chinese market.
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I like Google's stand against Internet censorship but its pullout from China is becoming very messy and could have repercussions beyond China.

Terry McManus, Olive Li, and Amanda Zhang talk of smokescreens:

Making censorship the centerpiece for its China departure is partly subterfuge to divert observers from Google's failing hopes in China. ... Google has consistently failed to engage Chinese users; and the company last year ran into legal headaches from Chinese authors who accused [it of] copyright infringement.
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Google's top American executives have neither the balls nor stomach to continue fighting in China. ... We are still huge fans of the services the company provides in China. We will miss ... Google's fantastic travel metasearch feature, ... Froogle.com, ... Google's decent English-language mobile mapping features, ... its very cool Chinese domain name: G.cn.

William Bishop asks many questions; here are but two:

What impact did ... Hilary Clinton’s speech on Internet freedom have on Google’s negotiations with the Chinese government? Did Google lobby to have Secretary Clinton mention the Google China situation, or ... to have her omit mention of the issue?
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How is Google ensuring the security of the PRC citizens who have legal liability for any actions of the PRC company? ... How can Google guarantee that they and/or their relatives will not suffer repercusions, legal, financial or otherwise?

Tyler Waldman urges Google to stick to its guns:

The Golden Shield Project ... legislation in the late 1990s clamped down on what Web sites could publish and even the ability to link to overseas sites. ... If it has to do with the Dalai Lama, Taiwanese independence or unfriendly political commentary, you’re out of luck. ... Tiananmen Square [is] just a square. ... They have the unmitigated ego to believe they can rewrite their own history.
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I’m no ethicist, and I don’t pretend to be one. But is the involvement of American firms in this crazed system of censorship ethical? ... Helping a government ... to lie to its own people is far from a noble cause. American tech firms should follow Google’s lead.

Meanwhile, Rebecca MacKinnon offers this silver lining:

The "Google China incident" - as many Chinese call it - has greatly heightened awareness among normally apolitical Chinese Internet users about the extent of Internet censorship in their country. It has sparked a lot of debate and soul searching about the extent to which ... [they're] isolated from the rest of the world.
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This incident has sparked a debate among Chinese digerati about how Internet companies should be held accountable not only to - but by - the public.

So what's your take?
Get involved: leave a comment.
 
 
And finally...

• Cooking with John von Neumann

Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. You can follow him as @richi on Twitter, or richij on FriendFeed, pretend to be richij's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itblogwatch@richij.com.

 
 
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