Google Stands Up to Australia
February 12, 2010
I am no legal eagle, but I found it interesting that Google, according to The Age’s “Google Baulks at Controy’s Call to Censor YouTube”, has another Google versus a country situation brewing. According the write up,
Google says it will not “voluntarily” comply with the government’s request that it censor YouTube videos in accordance with broad “refused classification” (RC) content rules. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy referred to Google’s censorship on behalf of the Chinese and Thai governments in making his case for the company to impose censorship locally.
Google has a big presence in Australia. Based on my experience in that part of the world, Australia does not fool around in some policy areas. My hunch is that Google will be faced with some clear instructions, backed by Australian authorities, and the Google will do what it is doing to keep its shareholders happy. The Google rich media opportunity is significant and making a misstep early in the tactical deployment of this business push is probably not a good idea in my opinion.
The gentle push back from Google makes headlines, but the actions of the company are what I find interesting after the PR dust has settled.
Stephen E Arnold, February 12, 2010
No one paid me to write this article. Next time I am in Australia I will report this to the authorities in Canberra, and I will take my pith helmet with the fly netting.
Comments
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
