Google in the news - Round 2 (#52; Topic D)

While Google is yet to take care of Department of Justice's request of a million websites containing pornographic material (#43), today's media reports Google's entering China with a modified search service, "omit[ting] content that the country's government deemed objectionable" (as Washington Post puts it). This, of course, is big news in USA, being talked about from early morning debate over NPR/BBC, to day-long coverage over CNBC, to evening analysis over PBS. "Making a buck over moral responsibility" was hurled about, along with condescending remarks about China. I frankly do not see the difference between DOJ's and the Chinese government's aim: to protect the citizenry. If anything, the Chinese approach is superior; it is preventive, comparable to banning the importation of diseased cows or chicken, while the DOJ's is after-the-fact, comparable to assessing the extent of a virus's damage after it is allowed to spread freely. The DOJ's approach is also vague and expensive -- reasons advanced by Google for balking at compliance -- while the Chinese approach is both effective and simple: once in place, it is done. Come to think of it, no one twists Google's arm to enter China -- Baidu, a native Chinese search service, had a 46.5% market share in China in 2004, compared to second-place Google at 26.4%, as reported in today's Wall Street Journal. Perhaps critics gained satisfaction as Google's stock was down by more than $10 today.
Posted at 9:57 pm, Wednesday, January 25, 2006