I am not sure, what Dave Winer is upto, but he is putting out some seriously meaty essays. Good…. we can now sit back and enjoy them. Today, for example, he writes a nice one about why for Google, China is just a business. Funny thing, he and JasonC are on the same page.
It’s just business. And when China said Google had to censor or be shut out of the Chinese market, they did the sensible business thing, they said okay. This of course is not a problem for Americans, because these rules don’t apply to us, but wait a minute, think it over, maybe they do.
om, i think you missed dave’s point (so did jason, by the way). read the second half of his post. the part you cite above is, uh, meant to be ironic i think. esp. when you put it in context of the entire post.
actually i did not miss his point. its ironic. and yes i agree, that it is do little evil. but it is also business. sometimes that happens. sure i could have quoted his last two paragraphs, but then i would have taken away the joy of you reading dave. just saying.
Is Google censorship in China really worse than a PR blunder? I do not get it, how is creating a new sourco of information without eliminating any existing one censorship?
Google is a strategic national asset. Just think of the searchtaps we can pull out of China once Google secures big market share. Better to let them become dominant rather than someone else.
Andrew, if that was a joke — good one. Otherwise, yikes . . .
China is a superpower, you don’t screw around with Superpowers. What was the US response when China invaded Tibet?
We should hold companies to a higher standard? The US govt. works with some countries that really are not all nice, yet it attains our goals.
Hell, companies sold them missile technology, so leaving out some search responses is not really that big a deal.
Put it this way, when Chinese citizens get involved with things their govt. doesn’t like, they get put in jail. Maybe Google is doing them a favor.