China and Its Google Policy
March 27, 2010
I love it when big “real” news outfits run stories that cannot be verified easily from my mine run off pond in Harrods Creek, Kentucky. I thought that was the province of the faux geese, poobahs, and azure chip consultants. I urge you to read “Two Minutes Hate for Google Begins.” I have no idea what the title means, but the article summarizes alleged instructions from the Chinese government to those who work in “the Propaganda Department.” The admonitions are hardly surprising. Google is “a non person.” I don’t know too much about China, but I have visited and I have done some odd jobs for Chinese owned companies. My view is that I would prefer to be a person. A non person is a bit like the folks Rome used to invade in the salad days of 56 BCE. I probably treat my two dogs better than the average Roman centurion treated some farmer in what is now Belgium.
The comment in the write up I noted was:
All over the world people in power try to heavy journalists and stop them reporting the truth. In China, it’s usually over incidents or the actions of forlorn dissidents who, like Gao Zhisheng, just disappear and then turn up in jail.
My hunch is that more than journalists are going to be given some guidance related to things Google. How quickly will China have its own version of a mobile operating system properly Chinafied? If you were manufacturing gizmos for Google, would you brush off a government suggestion or would you give any guidance considerable thought? The Chinese market is too important for some companies and I remember the comment one wit made to me about China’s relations with its neighboring countries, “China can just ask 10 million people to walk across the border and order lunch.” Google is a company. China is a country, a big country. A non person in a big country is not a positive in my opinion.
Stephen E Arnold, March 27, 2010
A freebie. I will report this unpaid writing to the Department of State, a great outfit.
Comments
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
