Uncensoring China: Bravo Google
Commentary by Danny O'brien
Google has publicly announced that that it will cease censorship of its Chinese language, Google.cn website, and is reviewing the feasibility of its entire operation in that country. This follows its detection of malicious attacks on the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists and what Google calls an "attack on their corporate infrastructure originating from China."
When Google first launched a filtered search engine in China, EFF was one of the first to criticize it; we'd now like to be one of the first to commend Google for its brave and forthright declaration to provide only an uncensored Chinese language version of its search engine.
Our hope is that other tech companies will follow Google's lead. Too many of them have been willing to comply with Chinese demands that they check their values at the border.
Of course, whatever the reaction from Chinese authorities, this doesn't mean that Google will vanish from the Chinese Internet. There continue to be many ready means for circumventing China's censorship schemes, and we hope Google will continue to provide an uncensored Chinese language search engine, from servers outside China if need be.
We recognize that there may be short-term economic and political consequences for the company: but if it stands firm in its commitment to provide Chinese citizens with an uncensored view of the Net, we feel sure there will be opportunities and benefits not just for Chinese citizens, but for Google and companies that follow its lead.
The Internet is global, but it relies on a physical infrastructure that is vulnerable to national policies and clumsy attempts to block and censor. The Chinese authorities will no doubt continue to try to censor the Internet as seen by their own citizens, and malicious attacks will continue against those who seek to use uncensored services and secure communications in the exercise of human rights. Google has stepped up to this challenge: now it's up to technologists and policymakers to build the tools and to apply the political, economic and cultural pressure to allow citizens in repressive regimes to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through an uncensored Net and maintain their access to the collective knowledge of humanity that it makes possible.
First of all, please accept my apology for this late response that I'm sure a great many people were expecting out of me - I picked one great time to move, but rest assured, this was something that Ling and I were paying special attention too. Second reason for not having this up sooner, YouTubes new uploader is an absolute piece of junk.
The Right to Know - We should all have it.
On a related note, within the vid I talk about a potential economic gain for Google, should they pull out of China or become forced out by the Chinese Government - in terms of the gain, I feel that they'd see increased internet traffic due to the gains in trust that they'd make. Google could become something of a safe-haven for what I am now terming "internet-refugees." Granted, these gains would be marginal, but they could grow over time to include peoples from other "informationally-repressed" areas of the world. Just some added thoughts.
Peace.
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