NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Google's China Arc: Short Video Clip from the Epoch
Google's China Arc: Short Video Clip from the Epoch
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000698.html
Greetings. I've been taking considerable flak from some quarters, in
reaction to my unabashed approval of Google's shutdown of their
censored google.cn service in China, and my continuing condemnation of
Microsoft's apparently enthusiastic willingness to continue censoring
for China.
Some readers are questioning my belief that this decision on Google's
part was ethically based, not some sort of underhanded attempt to
extract itself from its status as a runner-up to Baidu. This despite
the fact that various Google execs, including co-founder Sergey Brin,
have been making it clear for quite some time that they were not
comfortable with the China situation vis-a-vis Google, and that the
attempt out outreach via google.cn might ultimately prove to be
unsuccessful given increasingly heavy-handed actions by Chinese
officials.
I've had a very similar perspective on the Google in China situation
since day one. I was admittedly quite uncomfortable with the
establishment of the censored google.cn, but I did understand both
sides of the issues involved and how simplistic analysis of the
situation was inappropriate -- and I've been saying that all along.
As I was noting this in correspondence, I remembered that I'd
discussed this topic briefly in my talk at Google's Santa Monica
facility back in January of 2006. In fact -- purely coincidentally --
that presentation took place literally hours after I learned of the
launch of google.cn -- so the issue was fresh in my mind. I thought
it might be interesting to review that talk relative to current events
now. I was pleased to find that I can still comfortably stand by what
I said at Google that day.
Since I had the video of the talk "in hand" this morning anyway
(thanks again to Google for providing it originally) I extracted a
very short (four minute) clip where I talked about China and other
issues related to technology's impact in the real world. The date was
January 24, 2006, in the midst of President George W. Bush's
administration, during a seemingly endless series of revelations
regarding prisoner abuses, unjustified warrentless wiretaps, and all
manner of other controversies.
I've bumped the video up to 720p and added info overlays -- so blame
me for any visual artifacts, not Google.
The brief clip is at YouTube as "Thoughts on Google
and China, etc. from 2006 Talk at Google Santa Monica":
http://bit.ly/bBVfFc (YouTube)
The original video of the entire talk is also available, if you really,
seriously have an hour or so to kill:
http://bit.ly/9eebrL (YouTube)
China has always been an enigma. Relationships between China and the
rest of the world have never been simple. I believe that Google's
actions to establish google.cn -- even though I personally wouldn't
have made that choice -- were at least understandable, and arguably
justifiable at the time.
And I feel that Google's shuttering of the censored google.cn -- a
decision with which I wholeheartedly agree -- is an appropriate ending
to an experiment that if nothing else, taught us and perhaps the
Chinese people as well, a bit more not only about Google per se, but
especially about the reality of China's government itself.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
- Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP - Global Coalition
for Transparent Internet Performance - http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein