Opinion
Google violates own motto
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Also by Josh Moskowitz:
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- Investigation into charges pointless (September 1, 2005)
- Corporate control harmful to media (February 2, 2006)
- Domestic readiness takes backseat to foreign entanglements (September 14, 2005)
- Public funds not for sex changes (February 10, 2006)
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While the cartoon controversy between a significant percentage of the Muslim world and defenders of free expression continues to rage on at home and abroad, another contentious issue concerning censorship has received relatively little attention. Though it has not created the same sort of violent, destructive response we are witnessing in the Middle East and Pakistan, it may be an even more important component in the free-speech debate the world finds itself engulfed in.
In the totalitarian dictatorship that is China, freedom of expression is a series of words void of meaning. Political criticism, satire, or dissent directed at the government is unacceptable and is often met with a swift and heavy hand. Political dissidents are imprisoned, tortured and jailed for their "subversive" thoughts, ideas and commentary. In perhaps its most visible subjugation concerning freedom of expression, the Chinese government killed 300-400 citizens and injured 8,000 more in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, hoping to permanently quell any advocacy for governmental reform.
While public dissent in China is undoubtedly a dangerous endeavor, a number of politically savvy Chinese dissidents have begun to use the Internet as a platform for their goals. Disguised by their anonymity, these political rebels have created a marketplace of ideas where criticism of the government retains top priority.
According to the Washington Post, China has 111 million people online and 20,000 more joining them every day. Second only to the United States in Internet users, China had become breeding ground for an information highway that knew no end. That is, until the government colluded with American tech-companies eager and willing to help.
Armed with an expansive firewall, the Chinese government has been able to police the Internet for subversive material since joining the global web in 1994. According to Amnesty International, at least 30,000 state security personnel are reportedly monitoring websites, chat rooms and private e-mail messages on a daily basis. Punishment for subversion can be as extreme as death — in January 2001, a new regulation made it a capital crime to "provide state secrets" to organizations and individuals over the Internet.
While a number of prominent dissidents were arrested for their publication of words or thoughts on Internet sites, the Chinese government has grown increasingly wary over its inability to fully monitor the expansive web. In order to combat this emerging problem, it has elicited the help of a number of high-tech businesses and media companies in our own backyard.
Companies include Yahoo, which provided information about its user's email accounts that aided government officials in their conviction of political dissidents in 2003 and 2005. Microsoft decided to a close a popular blog that offended Chinese censors. Additionally, Cisco has sold technology that helps the government restrict Web site it considers detrimental and harmful.
However, no company has cooperated as openly with the government as Google. Hoping to gain access to a market of 1.3 billion people and a nascent economy, Google unveiled its search engine specifically tailored to government censor's approval two weeks ago. Google.cn replaces a Google.com that was almost inefficient and ineffective inside China, due to government restrictions and blatant censorship.
Working with government officials, Google staffers have ensured the totalitarian regime that information, images or links to Web sites deemed inappropriate or objectionable are never seen. Images of Tiananmen Square are sugarcoated. Information about the banned religious group, Falun Gong, simply does not exist.
Defending itself and its corporate motto, "Don't Be Evil," Google representatives have remained largely silent about their partnership with the Chinese government. In its one public statement, senior policy counsel, Andrew McLaughlin, said, "While removing search results is inconsistent with Google's mission, providing no information — or a heavily degraded user experience that amounts to no information — is more inconsistent with our mission."
Google's reticence is not surprising, nor a novelty act. Driven by profit, it has subordinated its worthy objective of facilitating the sharing of global information for avaricious gains. Its decision to see its stock price rise at the cost of protecting and spreading one of the most fundamental tenets of a free society is disappointing and alarming. China continues to cast an iron grip over those who summon the courage to think, speak and act freely. Google's latest business move has only served to strengthen the firm hold China retains over its citizens hearts and minds.
Josh Moskowitz (jmoskowitz@wisc.edu) is a senior majoring in political science and journalism.
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Much like the current flap going on over the UAE company purchasing our ports, there is no greater good than the all mighty dollar when it comes to America. Every free trade agreement that we have made in the past decade has turned a blind eye to whatever atrocities our partner commits, be it human rights violations or national security concerns.
If only you knew how wide spread this practice becomes in former Soviet countries... Its sad and real people suffer for only the fact that they have broader mind and are striving for free life. Thank you for the article, at least someone has guts to talk about these things openly. Hopefully they can make things change, who knows?
Google essentially scrapped their 'Don't Be Evil' mantra when they went public. Their responsiblities are to their shareholders now.
I disagree. Better for Google to enter the public domain in China in a limited scope rather than to be forbidden from the country as a whole. They've got their foot in the door, and the Chinese hackers are already finding ways to get around the censors. Google's short-term "evil" will turn out to be the first step towards total freedom of information. As long as they don't start tracking users down and ID'ing them like Yahoo, I stand by Google's decision.
The printing of a the infamous cartoons is not about freedom of expression it is about racist and more specifically anti-Semitic cartoons which resulted in the assault of several Muslim students on campus and violation of University policy.
Those responsible for printing the cartoons on campus should be expelled.
-Khaja Din
UW Law Student
what about the Muslims protesting in violence in other countries?
Hey Din,
What's racist? Is Islam a race?
Anybody get beheaded?
No cartoon is worth killing for.
Law Student????? What kind of law? Sharia?
I want to see a "Piss Mohammed" to go along with the "Piss Christ" in tha art museum.
"the assault of several Muslim students on campus and violation of University policy."
While it's perfectly in accord with Sharia to murder and burn innocent people alive?
U. S. Cartoonists fight back
http://www.eclectecon.com/posts/1140731165.shtml
I wholeheartedly disagree with this article. It is true that Google has been far more public about its new service than the other search companies, but it cooperates with the Chinese government far less.
In order to do business in China, any company must comply with the law in self-censorship. Google, Microsoft & Yahoo all also censor results in the US, Germany and France, which each have various censorship laws.
Where Google differs is in the following: 1) wherever it omits a search result in any country, the user sees a notice that explains why the results have been omitted. 2) Google does not offer email, blogging, chat, or other services that might require personally identifiable information to be collected - which shields their users from any government action (unlike Yahoo, which recently was required to turn over the emails of two dissidents, who have since been jailed).
The Chinese government currently has a sophisticated - yet vastly underperforming - firewall, periodically failing due to the heavy volume of pages they attempt to censor. Consequently, they can only censor the outbound search queries, rather than the inbound search results. As Internet use becomes more prevalent (partly thanks to the availability of useful online services to the Chinese market), and the number of searches made grows in kind, the Great Firewall simply will not be able to keep up.
'Do No Evil' is a naive and slightly ridiculous mission, but in this case, where there are only imperfect responses to the problem, Google seems to have chosen the better of the options.