GLOBE EDITORIAL
Google: Free speech meets the inevitable wall
January 15, 2010
When Google launched a censored Chinese version of its search engine in 2006, despite concerns from some within the company and fierce protests from free-speech activists, it was clear that the saga would end in one of two ways: either Google would help loosen the Chinese government’s grip on the flow of information, or China’s harsh anti-free-speech climate would rebuff its attempts to do so.
This week, the latter scenario seems to be unfolding. Startled by a massive cyber-attack aimed at breaching the email accounts of dissidents and human-rights activists, Google announced on Tuesday that it is considering pulling the plug on its China presence, unless the government agrees to allow it to operate an unfiltered version of Google.cn - which is unlikely.
Google should be lauded for its willingness to withdraw from an exploding Internet market, and hopefully the countless other American corporations that contribute, either actively or passively, to China’s repression of its people will follow its lead. But it’s still strange that a company with the informal motto “Don’t be evil’’ would have ever set up shop in China in the first place. Google’s goals as a company and China’s Internet policy are completely antithetical, and Google never should have agreed to implement the censored version of its search engine.
China’s Internet users have alternatives for online searches - Google’s popularity there lagged far behind that of Baidu, the nation’s dominant search engine, which adheres stringently to the government’s censorship demands. But the Chinese will still be left, as usual, in search of an unfiltered view of the world.
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