On paper, it shapes up as a classic battle of titans: The immovable object vs. the unstoppable force, two number 1 seeds — both dominant in their divisions — meeting up in the final match. A clash so large in scale, it makes the finales of John Woo’s RED CLIFF and 300 mere skirmishes by comparison. And no, it doesn’t even involve the prodigious pugilistic talents of Manny Pacquiao. In one corner stands Google, the John Wooden-coached UCLA Bruins of technology and contemporary communication: Popular, powerful, seminal and ambitious. In the opposite corner stands the peerless champion of industry and manufacturing, China: Critical, consequential, calibrated and authoritarian.
This, YOMYOMF readers, is epic.
A between the lines read, though, betrays that it’s also a case of Titanic spin in full drive. From both sides.
Depending on whose side you tend to believe more, the crusade is either about anti-censorship and free-speech or a simple case of a sovereign nation’s right to define and defend its borders.
Google, seemingly “hecka-mad” over the issue of free usage, defiantly announced it was shuttering its base of operations in what could potentially be its largest market and thereby possibly causing a — thesaurus be damned — chink in its stainless armor and dent in its stock value.
The Chinese government of The Peoples Republic of China, aghast and unbending at the mere suggestion of a foreign corporation attempting to define its controlled flow of harmonious information for the Peoples, didn’t blink and in effect, told Google to “F off.”
So what happened? Google killed Google China and landed in propped up GoogleHK which, although now a part of China, remains apart from China in terms of certain freedoms. The PROC government, infamously adept at zapping anything not within party lines online, oddly didn’t do a thing to prevent uncensored Google searches from places such as Fragrant Harbor, Kowloon and Causeway Bay.
Prelude to the real battle or much ado about nothing? Collusion or collision?
What do you think?
In the global new economy, it, once again, comes down to who owns what.
Paging: Frankie Goes To Hollywood. You might want book studio time for a modern reworking of “Two Tribes.”
Eh, the whole thing is overblown. Information wants to be free and will find a way.
Google, with it’s vast financial resources, will just eventually buy China like it did YouTube.
I am definitely with Google on this one. I believe Yahoo! made a major faux paus by cooperating with the Chinese government and handing over private email information, landing journalists in jail. Most notable was Shi Tao, who in 2004 notified overseas journalists of a government order directing media organizations in China to downplay the 15th anniversary of the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy activists.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shi_Tao
For this violation, and with the help of information provided by Yahoo!, Shi Tao is serving 10 years in prison and other journalists are similarly serving time because their identities were revealed by Yahoo!. Yahoo! said they were ordered to hand over the information of the email owners because the government declared they were leaking “state secrets”. What’s even more embarrassing is that Yahoo!’s founder is a Chinese American. Jerry Yang should have been looking out for his brothers in China.
Operating in this type of environment could certainly lead to compromises in corporate social responsibility, so I applaud Google for making the right stand even at the risk of losing business. The fight is not yet over however, since China’s crackdown actually came from Yahoo!’s Hong Kong office.
Sorry, fellow Offenders, but simply by writing this comment, I’m sure China has just put up a wall to block this site.
I join Offender Iris in applauding Google for standing up and was also dismayed when Yahoo! (Jerry Yang) bent over several years ago. I am thinking that it was purely a “business” decision for him (aka GREED), and he left the morals/ethics of it alone as he was probably ill-advised by some of his advisors to do. I hope he sleeps well at night with his fortune.
I believe there should be a free press and freedom of expression, BUT I also do support China’s decision and authority to enforce it sovereign rights within its borders. The history of 19th-20th century China was filled with tales of foreign intervention, meddling, abuse, and disrespect for CHINESE law by foreign citizens, corporations, and governments within China’s own borders. Unfortunately, at that time China’s military was very weak in comparison to the foreign powers, and its government and many leaders were corrupt and their political will was lacking. Foreigners took great advantage. That is why Shanghai and some other cities have such a huge “western” influence. That is why there is still a deep undercurrent of mistrust of the Japanese.
Everyone sees China as the “Holy Grail” for sales (just think if you sold something for only $1 and all 1.3BILLION people bought it), yet nobody wants to follow the rules and customs of the Chinese. I spent some time in a very high-tech and highly regulated US industry doing sales and services into Asia and China. On the one-hand, there was a tangle of Chinese laws and business/cultural customs, but on the US-side there was the prohibition on divulging too much info and being extremely careful to protect our “secrets”….subject to severe fines and even jail. Both sides wanted to get things for
“free”. Needless to say, it was very difficult to get anything accomplished in a timely manner.
People forget that (as the old saying goes) “When in China, do as the Chinese (government, or local top-dog) says.” Just like when you want to do business in the USA, you have to follow the laws here. Whether or not the actual laws are right or wrong is a debate for another time, but the principle of sovereignty is paramount. There have been miraculous changes in China in just the past 10-20 years (many that I would never have thought to have been possible in my lifetime), but some changes may take longer and will not happen overnight. China should NEVER again kowtow to a foreign company or government.
Oooops…..now I hear/see black helicopters overhead and there are black vans pulling up to my house. And there are some red ones following right behind. Gotta go…