IP Democracy: Google Tailors Government-Sanctioned Service in China

Google is a seeming paradox — on the one hand, the company is caving to the Chinese government’s demands by launching a censored version of its service in China. The new service, Google.cn, won’t have email or blogging capability and Google has removed some content from search results to yield to the government’s stringent demands to control information in order to control the people.

On the other hand, Google will fight with the U.S. government over a subpoena to deliver anonymous search records under the guise of protecting citizens’ privacy (and protecting its trade secrets). As John Battelle says:

Apparently, the DOJ and Wall St., Google can say no to. China….not so much.

Update: Another take on Google’s decision to cave to the Chinese authorities comes from John Murrell at SiliconValley.com.

Apparently you can scratch “censorship in pursuit of profit” off your list of Things That Are Evil. [referring to Google’s famed motto “Don’t be evil.”]

Update: OK, another favorite quote about Google’s decision to do this comes from Mike Langberg at The Mercury News.

Now is the time for Google to change its motto from the overly ambitious “Don’t Be Evil” to the more realistic “Don’t Be More Evil Than Necessary.”

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on January 25, 2006 7:23 AM to IP Democracy