Both Google and Yahoo have been criticized for censoring their search results in China. What are your feelings about this? Why should Google, or why should not, produce different search results for different countries?
Different countries have different forms of government and different citizen liberties. While our government has tried to define and protect individual rights (in many cases), this is not so for many nations. China, in particular, has been known to censor speech and press, and it even has policies to limit the number of children each couple can have. Since the Chinese government is so watchful of it's population, it is not surprise that they censor what information is available through search engines, nor does it surprise me that companies like Google and Yahoo are willing to abide.
By abiding by different countries' censorship policies, like China, these companies are respecting their governments and, therefore, are avoiding getting blocked altogether. As a BBC news article reveals, Google has recently stopped censoring its search results in China. Since China's population is so large and the number of internet users is rapidly growing, it is important for the growth of Google to keep it's business in China. Google would loose business and growth opportunity whether it would be blocked altogether or there would be repercussions for citizens who visited the site, causing citizens to find a different, less risky search engine to use. Since the government monitors the internet activity of citizens, by removing certain sites from searches, Google and Yahoo are/were also, in a way, protecting the population who may otherwise stumble on one of these cites and face consequences.
Not only should Google continue abiding by censorship laws in other countries to protect their business, but it also would seem to protect authors from other countries whose names may appear on an uncensored web search. As Abelson states at the end of the first chapter of Blown to Bits, when books are bought in other countries, they are subject to the libel laws of that country. I'm sure there are articles and books that are less than complementary of the Chinese government. If these were to be found online and distributed in China, the author could probably face charges. I don't agree with censorship by governments, but if governments are already censoring, I think it is safe and economically smart to abide by the laws.
Sources:
Abelson, Hal, Ken Ledeen, Harry Lewis. Blown to Bits. 2008. Upper Saddle River, NJ
"Google Stops Censoring Search Results in China". BBC News. 23 March 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8581393.stm
"I pledge" KMR
Excellent posts. I enjoyed reading your perspective this week.
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