I was a little behind on my reading
http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/business/article.jsp?content=20060220_121814_121814
Did you know that when people in China Google the word Democracy, thanks to new Internet programs designed by "free" countries , the search comes up negative???
Yes, the Chinese people type in any word the Communist Gov't doesn't like and thanks to Microsoft and Google, they get" No search results found"
Exerpts from Macleans magazine:
Yes, Master:How Western companies are selling their souls
for a piece of the massive Chinese market
February 20, 2006
"And with the world's three dominant Internet companies -- Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft -- in a blind rush for a piece of China's spectacular wealth, Beijing has found all the willing accomplices it needs to strip the Internet of its anonymity, its freedom, and to turn it into yet another tool of repression. Google and Microsoft have recently launched Chinese versions of their Internet software that block access to topics that offend China's ruling party, such as democracy and Tibet. Yahoo recently handed over a Chinese journalist to authorities after he posted information critical of the government on an Internet message board."
there's more....
"When Google agreed last month to launch a Chinese version of its Internet search engine that excludes information censored by the Chinese government and blocks access to the company's anonymous Gmail program, it blew a gaping hole in its carefully nurtured "good guy" image. Just a week before Google's bow to China's demands, the company flatly refused to co-operate with a U.S. Justice Department investigation into online pornography."
Capitalism at it's finest.

8 comments:
I keep trying to tell my free-market husband that free-market capitalism is not a perfect system. Nor is complete government control.
There's gotta be a good balance somewhere. Now if only we could find it!
I was also amazed that we would award any Olympics to China. With their record of human rights abuses, I don't think they deserve it.
We need to have a system that includes integrity.
But how the hell can you make people use or even have, integrity.
Yep shows just how much integrity Google actually has!
Hyprocrites that is for sure.
We kick "God" out of every area of public life and all of a sudden want to know what happended to our "integrity"?? Ironic, isn't it?
Extremism wears the same clothes, no matter from which country it hails. Those who oppress are no less guilty than those who profit from the oppression. But we've been doing that for years, haven't we? Can't run a sweat shop with cheap child labor here in the States, that's what a great deal of international economics is all about.
Finally - I have been trying to leave a comment for a while and blogger wouldn't let me. ERRRR - I finally answered your tag! Sorry it took so long.
This whole thing just infuriates me! And I have recently been informed that Google has a mission statement that states something to the effect: Do no evil.
Hmm.
This has been a topic of discussion in my house for some time. I saw a show on it awhile back. They interviewed elite students at a chinese university. They showed them the picture of tank man. None of the students knew what the picture was about. China has censored everything to such a degree that they are erasing their own history. At least when it comes to their next generation.
It is frustrating. It is horrible that yahoo helped imprison a man who only wanted to learn more of democracy. I hope the day comes soon when China's government's balancing act of kissing up to the west and repressing their people comes undone. Those will be interesting fireworks...
I might be wrong, but isn't it a crime or something in China to even think the word Democracy? Not saying it's right and I am not saying that Google or any other search engine should have offered their product there at the expense of the people...but I also know they aren't the first.
Post a Comment