Google Threatens to Withdraw From China

[twu]

[citation][nom]wudiqiang[/nom]Americans are the son of the Chinese people[/citation]

And you are the BT of chinese people.

 

[marraco]

Yes, just leave that 1.3 BILLION population to Baidu.com.

this decade, (suppose it starts in 2010) Chinese will make 40% of any content on Internet.

Just cede that market, and order you coffin.

 

[marraco]

[citation][nom]TommySch[/nom]The whole western world should bring China down for good.
First: Kill the WTO
Second: Ban Chinese exports to the western world
Third: Watch them go bankrupt, starve and then go to civil war![/citation]

-Kill the WTO = Kill the dollar.

Next day you can't buy more petroleum.

-Ban Chinese exports to the western world

No, you can only ban it on NAFTA. next day, China stops giving the money to wall street, and world stops trading in dollars. See above.

-Watch them go bankrupt, starve and then go to civil war!

Chinese are smarter than that.

 

[Raishi]

[citation][nom]torque79[/nom]I don't understand why nobody is talking about internet censorship in other countries besides China. They are by no means the only one. Someone mentioned Australia has censored internet (I did not know that, thanks for telling us!), but even Canada does as well! There are very numerous websites that are inaccessible in Canada hosted in the US and Britain. For example, IPTV television services such as hulu either block canadian IP's from access altogether, or have a seperate product for Canadian audiences offering different and far reduced service. Though we are not censored from pornography or political websites like China, we ARE censored from ENTERTAINMENT.Am I the only one who is getting more and more angry every year that my entertainment is government controlled?? Why is censorship so extreme for television and movies? It just means there is less competition in our market and encourages monopolistic behavior. Canadian content rules mean I don't get to choose what to watch on TV?? Doesnt that sound stupid to anyone else??By the way, in the discussion about low divorce rates in China, I have to agree with the poster who pointed out that obviously having mistresses is a byproduct of divorce being culturally unacceptable. The other poster's own uncles and mentioned politicians are great examples. People are not getting divorces when they should, so they're finding other ways to try and be happy.[/citation]

If Hulu is blocking you from their services or offering an alternative, it doesn't sound like censorship to me. I'm not saying it's fair or right, but that's not the government stepping in and saying "you aren't allowed to see this," it's a private company declining to offer their services or products to a country. I don't know the reason, and if it's because of government control that perhaps it is something closer to censorship, but to the best of my knowledge it isn't, and again, censorship does not just mean not having access to something.

 

[Guest]

I am not sure if anyone of you notice a particular move by Google--the "flood gate" of Google.cn was thrown wide open immediately after the announcement was made. At that moment you can search for as much "sensitive" information as you can on Google.com, Google.ca or whatever.

Being a Chinese from Hong Kong, may I remind you how serious this challenge means to the PRC. By doing so, Google had practically "declared war" on China's censorship mechanism ---- A move that is no going back. From this moment on, Google will forever cast a long shadow on the psychic of the memembers of the CCP Polibuto.

Don't underestimate the implication of such move. Google has made a challenge to the very reason of existence of the censorship regime. When it comes to political power vs attracting foreign investment, political power always reign supreme, as this was the very reason why China openned its door way back in 1979.

Would you honestly believe that the CCP will welcome Google back with open arms, after such a "threatening" move? Like the Soviet Union before 1990, Communist-Leninist party by its very nature would not tolerate any powerful organised force which it can neither influence nor control, regardless of century.

 

[Kelavarus]

On the point of Internet Censorship, America has censorship too. Looots of hacking sites can only be accessed through a proxy. And it's not the site, it's the ISP. So it's not like we have an untarnished record. And it's not just hacking sites, either.

And people, Google is still a company. A company exists to make a profit. Yes, they may choose to do it in an ethical or what YOU decide is a non-ethical way, but either way, they need to make a profit.

What's funny is that if they DID pull out, then perhaps find they don't have enough money and have to cut some jobs, I imagine the majority of you would be screaming bloody murder and calling them as evil as you call Microsoft. Ironic.

 

[4trees]

I trust Google and don't blame them for backing down, particularly for the security of my/others use of its service. Obviously from most any perspective (world wide) this constricted influence by China's gov't is not polite to say the least but it is a sovereign country. Many think that a country should be left to its own choices and beliefs and others should not force them to concede to the practices of the majority. This brings up a huge debate involving human rights; equality, free speech, democracy, secularity, safety/security, and general freedoms many think should be inalienable. I can't say my views are as extreme as the "prime directive" or in contrast George w. bush's, but in either case a section of my principles argues for either group.

I agree PR has a large role in this. How many "for profits" wouldn't do the same? Public perception is a huge role from day 1 when a business opens. I don't fault them for it, I want Google to be successful. I would much rather see Google dominating the pc market over Microsoft any day and if PR helps with that then great.

 

[chunkymonster]

[citation][nom]chunkymonster[/nom]China survived quite well without Google and doubt it would even be a blip on the Chinese people's radar if Google were to leave. Heck, I imagine since Google has opened operations in China that there have been countless cheaply made knock-offs that will easily fill the gap if/when Google is gone.The only one who will lose if Google leaves China is Google.[/citation]I stood by the above statement when I wrote it and still believe the same!

[citation][nom]banthracis[/nom]Well considering I am chinese, and my entire family lives in China I think I know what I'm talking about.The government here makes a big deal about how the world invests in China, and how china is growing in important. So yes, it's a big deal if google leaves. It'll hurt the image of the government and it's grand vision of China becoming more and more critical to the world.[/citation]You may be Chinese but are seemingly out of touch with real life back home in China, recent articles only confirm what I wrote above; that the Chinese people really don't care if Google leaves. I think it's rather ironic that the Chinese people are more upset by the ban of WoW. The Romans were right, give the Mob what they want and you can do anything!
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/China-google-world-Warcraft-MMORPG,news-5710.html

The Associated Press reports that China consumers are unfazed by a possible Google exit. In fact, the search giant's threat to pull out of China over censorship has drawn virtually no reaction from the people. The AP even quoted one web surfer, saying that if Google actually does leave China, then the country will have only “lost one search engine.”