Yesterday, Google announced on their official blog that they’re ready to stop censoring search results on Google.cn, their Chinese website:
“We launched Google.cn in January 2006 in the belief that the benefits of increased access to information for people in China and a more open Internet outweighed our discomfort in agreeing to censor some results. At the time we made clear that “we will carefully monitor conditions in China, including new laws and other restrictions on our services. If we determine that we are unable to achieve the objectives outlined we will not hesitate to reconsider our approach to China.”
These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered–combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web–have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.”
“…this may wall mean having to shut down Google.cn” is quite an understatement. A move like this will be seen by the Chinese government as a foreign attempt at meddling in domestic affairs, something which is always countered with nationalistic indignation on its part. If Google really is willing to toe the line on this issue, then the people at Google’s Chinese offices better be getting ready to clean out their desks and update their résumés.
Nor will shutting down Google.cn provoke a significant backlash within the Chinese internet-using population. Google has about a third of the internet search market in China, so some users would likely be upset by the loss of Google but most would move on to the native and more popular Baidu.
Having said that, Google is making the right choice. It’s refreshing to see a large corporation making a stand for righteous values, despite how it might affect their bottom line.
