It has always been the concern of the human rights activists and the US government that China has been aided in its censorship efforts by hardware and software provided by major US technology companies. This was despite the global outcry against these companies because at 360 million, and growing, netizens the country was too big a market to fight its government.And even now, whether Google will really pull out of China or not remains a big question, since a few -- particularly from the Chinese government -- view the threat as mere saber rattling. Yet the most significant aspect of Google's threat two days back is that it has thrown down the gauntlet in a way that the world has not seen before, either from a company nor or a government against censorship in China.
From that aspect then, Google's backlash against Chinese censorship is indeed unprecedented and an extraordinary gesture.
Human rights activists are now hoping that governments and companies around the world would take this as a cue to not only develop policies that safeguard rights, but will also stand together to try to make Internet access the same for everyone worldwide.
Indeed, Google's actions have highlighted the growing unhappiness of Western companies and the growing problems foreign information technology companies in particular face with Chinese government policies. From government procurement policies that insist on "buying only Chinese," to widespread counterfeiting, to growing restrictions on foreign investments, the list of obstacles to doing business in China is growing everyday.
For IT companies the difficulties are even bigger. For instance, China not only devotes massive financial and human resources to censor the Internet, but also takes the help of Western companies to hunt down and punish netizens who hold views which the ruling Chinese Communist Party disagrees with.
Several US-based IT companies including Cisco Systems, Juniper Networks, Yahoo, Microsoft and even Google have succumbed to the Chinese government's demands of censoring information, "even as all these companies all along have been pushing for less censorship," says Sophie Richardson of Human Rights Watch. "It is heartening to note that Google has finally said enough is enough!"
Meanwhile, with Yahoo already siding with its rival to denounce the alleged cyber attack, and Microsoft still reportedly mulling their response, Google's threat has resoundingly echoed the world over. Except in China of course.
Reacting to the Google threat, Wang Chen, China's Minister of the State Council Information Office, said that China will not bow to pressure since the Internet through online pornography, fraud and rumors was emerging as a menace for the country.
"Our country is at a crucial stage of reform and development, and this is a period of marked social conflicts. Properly guiding Internet opinion is a major measure for protecting Internet information security," said Wang on the Ministry's website.
But this stance too is hypocritical, just like many others previously. Consider this: China conveniently describes the Internet as a menace while talking about contents and organizing capabilities that the Chinese government does not like. But when it comes to the extent in which the Chinese government has benefited or still benefits from the Internet -- like online snooping on other governments and eCommerce -- China then doesn't consider the cyberspace to be a menace.
But who is going to point this out to the Chinese government?
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I recall an article I read a few years back. It maintained that, from the beginning, Google had made agreements with the Chinese government to provide censorship and even block hyperlinks for web content that included certain controversial keywords (written in Chinese 汉字 of course) such as, Dalai Lama, Uigur, Tiananmen Square, & so on, etc, etc... The article, as I recall, sounded like a true insiders leak of what was supposed to be Google proprietary information. Having witnessed an orchestrated effort*, even in US-based blogs and in newspaper "letters to the editor", to have numerous people echo the old school Maoist doctrines, I considered the story probably to be true. So, OK. Google made some concessions with the Chinese government going in to get established.
Thank goodness Google maintained the control over what they started in China to eventually say, "enough is enough". Whoever at Google had the foresight to make sure that they would maintain control over it deserves a hearty bonus. I only hope Yahoo was as smart. Naturally, the Chinese government has the ability to develop their own search engines. And, if Google doesn't make some progress on reopening, hopefully with even less censorship that they started with, then we can soon expect a Chinese Google clone that they will name, Goolge, or something similar that International law can not touch.
*The hardline Maoist bloggers and writers of old school Maoist letters to the editors are very real. Look for them. They are out there. I would like to know if they are paid propagandists, or merely "died in the wool Maoists". Perhaps there are both kinds.