Government Censorship: China Blinks

I said in What Would Google Do? – and argued the point in a talk at Google (GOOG) in Washington – that Google and other technology companies have more influence than they know – and should use it – in protecting free speech and pressuring censorious governments. I see evidence of the strategy working – or hope I see it – in China’s decision Tuesday to delay its noxious Green Dam requirement for all PCs sold there. Government and companies put pressure on; China blinked.

Yahoo’s (YHOO) new CEO, Carol Bartz, said in July that it’s not her job to fix governments. But neither is it a company’s job to enable tyrannical governments in their tyranny. Technology companies from Cisco (CSCO) to Nokia (NOK) to Siemens that have provided technology to enable censorship and tracking, and companies from Yahoo to Google that have handed over information about users to governments that use it to oppress citizens should be ashamed. And we need to shame them. We need to give them cover by demanding behavior that is not and does not support evil.

In a digital age, censoring the internet, stopping citizens from connecting with each other, and using the internet to spy on and then oppress citizens is evil. We shame companies that helped enable fascist regimes in the ’30s and apartheid in the last century. Is it time for technology boycotts? I’m not sure. But it is time for the discussion.

Comments

[vpratt51:]

The deeper the question, the less likely to get responses, I see. You brought up a tough one. And very timely. Google will some day get special recognition for repeatedly drawing lines in the sand. We've been cheering on the opposition in Iran, and taking some satisfaction in the way they are using some of our technology to keep the movement together. Unfortunately, the dogmatic Iranian "leadership" is using state of the art western technology to suppress it.

As with struggles in the past, it's not always clear where the battles will be fought, which foes will clash, or what weapons they will use. Keep asking the hard questions.

Jun 30 07:25 PM

[dtvk:]

whose values system is really right though? i suspect even if "the West" is right, the will of Google and participating tech computers hold no authoritative influence in China.

the Chinese obviously traded (whether they opted to or not) a huge chunk of their personal rights for some semblance of predictability and governability, which does, ideally, provide nationwide stability. obviously there's a significant permeation of corruption through the chain of power but i see grassroots communities (online or off) gathering to move society one way or the other.
it's fairly apparent that chinese civil rights movement is just beginning to gather speed but i'm cautious about rushing evolution where there is no need for haste.

Jul 02 01:21 PM