Several days ago, internet giant Google threatened to pull out of China due to the very stringent censorship the government applies. Reports mention that the censorship was primarily to prevent exposure of the youth to materials that are sexually inappropriate, even pornographic. Somehow the government of China has found a way to censor almost all the contents available in the web, as vast as it may be (thus the emergence of the Great Firewall of China), and maintains that everything it has done have been compliant with its national laws.
As noble as the objective of China may be, it seems that many people see this kind of censorship as a violation of human rights already. The far-reaching censorship impinges on the basic right to information, and despite the Great Firewall of China, people inside the wall know that they are missing out. In the official statement issued by the chief legal officer of Google, it appears that there have been attempts (some successful to a certain extent) to hack Gmail accounts of some human rights activists in China. This incident seems to be the final straw to push Google to reevaluate its business position and presence in China.
It is clear here that China’s policy decisions, particularly on censorship and ICT, will be scrutinized more than ever. But it seems that the ones who should be doing the rethinking are the policy-makers themselves. Knowledge is power, as Earnie Baron used to say. However, maybe empowerment is precisely what the Chinese government is trying to prevent.
Read the official statement of Google here: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html
As noble as the objective of China may be, it seems that many people see this kind of censorship as a violation of human rights already. The far-reaching censorship impinges on the basic right to information, and despite the Great Firewall of China, people inside the wall know that they are missing out. In the official statement issued by the chief legal officer of Google, it appears that there have been attempts (some successful to a certain extent) to hack Gmail accounts of some human rights activists in China. This incident seems to be the final straw to push Google to reevaluate its business position and presence in China.
It is clear here that China’s policy decisions, particularly on censorship and ICT, will be scrutinized more than ever. But it seems that the ones who should be doing the rethinking are the policy-makers themselves. Knowledge is power, as Earnie Baron used to say. However, maybe empowerment is precisely what the Chinese government is trying to prevent.
Read the official statement of Google here: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html
6th
1 comment:
baidu anyone? while google is contemplating to abandon its ship for future chinese investment, baidu (ngayon ko lang din sila nakilala) will continue to grow and abide by the chinese laws and what officials will say on its censorship program.
google has to understand that china is china. communism and mao tsetung is its cornerstone. i think google is just royally pissed as it knows how large a market they are and at the same time would want to censor materials with such a clean and overarching sweep. and that is the complete opposite of what google stands for. go google! wag ka magpabully sa china ;)
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