When Google takes on China

BANGALORE, INDIA: We all know about the ongoing debate between Google and China. But if we see it more clearly then it is the clash of policies between a global firm and a government.

It is quiet commendable that for the first time, a global firm like Google is taking on a government, ready to lose one of its biggest markets in order to stand by its policies and objectives.

In this debate, only time will announce the winner and the verdict, on whether Google will operate in China without practicing any censorship and providing freedom to speech and information, or China will see its exit from its territory, deserting thousands of Google lovers.

In his blog dated, 12 jan, 2010, David Drummond, SVP, Corporate Development and chief legal officer, wrote that they 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," Drummond further wrote.

According to Kapil Dev Singh, country manager of IDC (India) Limited, “Google’s decision to move out of China, if and when it happens and what final form it takes, will not be an easy call, at least, from the demand point of view. However, from the environmental and regulatory regime point of view, it could affect China’s image and serve as a case study from the rights of businesses and copyright protection being offered there.”

If this is to be a new page in the book of Internet, then this revolution towards freedom to information must not die in China, and should be replicated in all the other countries and governments that practice censorship over the content. It should also gain strengths from all the search engines around the world and not only Google. And when it happens then, it will be worth watching whether a global company is stronger than a government or vice versa.

But what seems is that instead of uniting together, global firms are eying this as a prospect for more business. Microsoft is said to have high hopes for its Bing Internet search engine in China, which has only a small share of the market, but could benefit if Google, the No. 2 player behind dominating local rival Baidu Inc, pulls out.

Preston Gralla, the editor of GreenerComputing, and a journalist for more than 20 years in his contributory blog at Computer world, says, “This is one of the most courageous moves I can remember any tech company taking, particularly because the revenue implications over the long term are substantial. China has the largest number of Internet users in the world, and its growth will only accelerate. Google is opting for morality over profits in this case, clearly living up to its motto - Don't be evil”.

He adds, Microsoft should follow suit, and do the same thing with Bing. There are more important things in this world than profit, freedom being among them. Microsoft should join Google and stand on the side of the good.”

Interestingly, Preston also answered to a valid question that was rising behind back, that why did Google realize about these matters after four years of siesta? He shared, “A former top Microsoft executive played a key role in Google's Chinese business - and his unexpectedly quitting Google last year may have signaled the impending cyber war between Google and the Chinese government.”

Kai-Fu Lee founded Google China and was an early defender of Google's staying in China, despite the censorship laws. The relationship between Google and China was rocky from the beginning.

In China, Internet censorship has been a known culture. The People's Republic of China (PRC) government is said to have imposed more than sixty Internet regulations to state-owned ISPs, business companies, and organizations.

According to Wikipedia, in September 2000, the State Council Order No. 292 created the first content restrictions for Internet content providers. China-based Web sites cannot link to overseas news Web sites or carry news from overseas media without separate approval. Only “licensed print publishers” have the authority to bring out news online.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China ordered all ISPs to lock down their data centers from 1-25 August, 2008. During this time, no one could enter data centers to do maintenance. Sites with illegal information were blocked automatically. Authorities stated it was to ensure data security, to prevent hostile personnel from entering data centers and adding illegal information. ISP/IDCs had sent "lockdown notices" to customers.