This & That, Ceci et Cela

Chinese authorities have blocked most domestic users from the main Google.com search engine, a media watchdog said. … But Google.cn, the controversial Chinese language version launched in January, has not been affected. The site blocks politically sensitive material to comply with government censorship rules. … On Tuesday, Google co-founder Sergey Brin defended his company’s decision to launch the censored Google.cn service, a move which drew heavy criticism. “We felt that perhaps we could compromise our principles but provide ultimately more information for the Chinese and be a more effective service,” he said (BBC).

Awww, don’t it just remind you of them good ol’ days of apartheid? You know, when people like Margaret Thatcher refused to impose economic sanctions on South Africa because her country’s business interests there were too important to risk by taking a stance against one of the worst eras of endemic human rights violations in history. Then again, her views are hardly surprising in retrospect; she was afterall, a true born and bred of the super-colonial, evidently with certain discrimminatory instincts of the earlier days ingrained. Even Winston Churchill was also one of those against the notion of anti-apartheid amongst other ‘greats’. Although, one would have expected an opposing view from an ex-colony like the US, but until the late 80s, the Reagan administration joined the UK in vetoing sanctions on South Africa, as they both believed in “free trade“.

If you missed that episode, well tune in, because we’ve got a remake going on now! Today it’s China (amongst others), and the focus is still human rights/freedom of expression. And Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Cisco, et al are all hiding under the banner of “obeying the law” while ignoring human rights violations, censorship, etc. in exchange for a slice of that juicy market to further fatten their coffers, a few oppressed souls be damned. In this case, what can Google give Chinese surfers that they can’t give themselves? Nothing unique. It’s not like China lacks the smarts or technology to provide such tools themselves, as proven by their highly sophisticated surveillance tools. So how is Google helping the plight of lack of free expression by providing censored search or information? Obviously, what Brin’s statement above really means is that they just wanted to penetrate that lucrative market at any price. “Don’t be evil” indeed. They might want to change their slogan to “Evil when necessary”. History does repeat itself; different faces, same underlying issues.