Censorship in China: Cost of Doing Business? - Whose Responsibility is it, Anyway?
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Are all of these companies simply selling out? China boasts a population of 1.3 billion, with more than 100 million Internet users. That market is practically impossible to ignore, especially if you are a technology company looking to grow your share of the marketplace.
But anyone who says the major search engines are merely selling out must explain why this instance of self-censorship is more egregious than the ones they have committed in the past. Germany and France, home of the very vocal Reporters Without Borders, insist that search engines accessed by their citizens censor certain Nazi-related content. Even users in the United States get censored results (though, for the record, I couldn't make Google turn up a SERPs page that had been filtered, despite several attempts and having a vague idea of the sort of thing Google would filter).
For most people it is clearly worse because Google and the other search engines are bowing to a dictatorship. But the argument that Google makes -- that some information getting through is better than none at all -- must be taken seriously. And it may not be alone in its opinion. Indeed, it has been engaging in a certain amount of outreach with other companies that face the same problems. In its statement mentioned earlier, Google said that, "Together with colleagues at other leading Internet companies, we are actively exploring the potential for Internet industry guidelines, not only for China but for all countries in which Internet content is subjected to governmental restrictions."
The action may not be limited to the industry level, however. There are politicians in the U.S. (such as the aforementioned Rep. Chris Smith, and Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat from Ohio) who are threatening to pass laws restricting U.S. companies from cooperating with the Chinese government on censorship. While Google does see a role for the U.S. government, these are not the regulations it is looking for. "In addition to common action by Internet companies, there is an important role for the United States government to address, in the context of its bilateral government-to-government relationships, the larger issues of free expression and open communication. For example, as a U.S.-based company that deals primarily in information, we have urged the United States government to treat censorship as a barrier to trade."
Who is responsible for standing up for principles? Is it valid to "knuckle under" in the hope that this will help achieve a greater goal in the long term? Is that even a valid argument coming from a company trying to do business in a market too lucrative to miss? Do we really have the right to try to force our beliefs on other countries with a very different tradition? And finally, if some human rights are so basic that we do have that right, when -- and for whom -- does it become an obligation? The way companies must do business in China, if they choose to do business in China, raises these questions, but gives us no answers that everyone can agree upon.
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