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Google in China


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So, Google is voluntarily censoring its content in China to conform to the State's wishes there.

Google's decision to censor its search engine in China was bad for the company, its founders admitted yesterday.

Google, launched in 1998 by two Stanford University dropouts, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, was accused of selling out and reneging on its "Don't be evil" motto when it launched in China in 2005. The company modified the version of its search engine in China to exclude controversial topics such as the Tiananmen Square massacre or the Falun Gong movement, provoking a backlash in its core western markets...

http://business.guardian.co.uk/davos2007/s...1999994,00.html

But really, when did anyone let human-rights get in the way of money? Coke didn't let it stop them from selling to the Nazis. Nike has never let it stop them from making a pair of shoes. Who really expected Google to keep their hand out of this cookie jar, even when they know that its going to most likely get a lot of people killed?

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...well if the people running the chinese google site didn't do it on thier own, the Chinese gov. would've done it for them at some point. And anyway, the reason I think that people are disapointed in Google selling out like this is that its still a relatively new company that still has "independant spirit" image going for it, so naturally people are going to feel let down. Thats business though

tl;dr : lol business

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So, Google is voluntarily censoring its content in China to conform to the State's wishes there.

But really, when did anyone let human-rights get in the way of money? Coke didn't let it stop them from selling to the Nazis. Nike has never let it stop them from making a pair of shoes. Who really expected Google to keep their hand out of this cookie jar, even when they know that its going to most likely get a lot of people killed?

I think it's funny that you're comparing censorship to sweat shops and Nazis.

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I think it's funny that you're comparing censorship to sweat shops and Nazis.

The Chinese government will kill people who view the wrong type of material, which, with Google around is bound to happen.

Killing Political Dissidents = Nazis = Sweet Shops, more or less.

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Censorship alone is nothing compared to sweat shops and Nazis.

I think you're underestimating it, but you have to admit that censorship, when used to prevent people from learning about the history of a criminal government (i.e. the Chinese government) or even the current crimes of that government.

I mean, with proper censorship a Chinese citizen might not even know about what their government was doing. And I think we can agree that that would be pretty lame.

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  • 3 weeks later...

They're cooperating with a government that kills anyone who speaks out against it. They're helping one of the worst human rights violators of the current era.

If anything, they're cooperating with the government in order to still be able to bring a useful tool to the Chinese public.

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  • 2 weeks later...

If anything, they're cooperating with the government in order to still be able to bring a useful tool to the Chinese public.

I agree, whether or not china is the largest communist country in the world the US still spends billions upon billions of dollars in trade with them, so how is that form of support any different from google wanting to maintain ITS business with China? The way I see it is America cooperates with China despite their political differences to sustain our economy, Google being one of the largest web corporations is technically doing the same thing, cooperating with the doctrines of China in order to provide Chinese citizens with a useful web tool.

Its not like the executives at google are trying to change the world here, "China, Communism? Well if they want GOOGLE they're just gonna have to change something about that." Its corporate America, business before politics.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't see it as a big deal. Censored or not. its a very useful tool for people all over the world.Its not really communism in a true sense anyways. True Communism can not exist. its just not possible. The Closest is Cuba. and goddamn those are the happiest bunch of people My family and i have ever seen. Free Education. Free basic food. and the government will provide you with the things needed for you to start a business.

But look at how much China has changed because of the current way of government. People are educated. Have jobs. They can now own businesses*and have been able to for almost a decade now i think* and if you take notice over the entire time the current government has been in power. They are drifting farther and farther from a Totalitarian style dictatorship. as the country becomes richer and the people become more self-reliant and literacy and education rates climb more and more freedoms are unlocked. They are much more lax that they were say in the 60's. Not saying killing people for being outspoken is right but you have to look at both sides of it.

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I don't see it as a big deal. Censored or not. its a very useful tool for people all over the world.Its not really communism in a true sense anyways. True Communism can not exist. its just not possible. The Closest is Cuba. and goddamn those are the happiest bunch of people My family and i have ever seen. Free Education. Free basic food. and the government will provide you with the things needed for you to start a business.

But look at how much China has changed because of the current way of government. People are educated. Have jobs. They can now own businesses*and have been able to for almost a decade now i think* and if you take notice over the entire time the current government has been in power. They are drifting farther and farther from a Totalitarian style dictatorship. as the country becomes richer and the people become more self-reliant and literacy and education rates climb more and more freedoms are unlocked. They are much more lax that they were say in the 60's. Not saying killing people for being outspoken is right but you have to look at both sides of it.

Man, I don't know where you came from, but walking in here and trying to argue anything related to Communism or economics for that matter is opening a big ol' can of worms.

Just thought I'd warn you.

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Man, I don't know where you came from, but walking in here and trying to argue anything related to Communism or economics for that matter is opening a big ol' can of worms.

Just thought I'd warn you.

i know. i've been there to many times. i actually am kind of regretting posting all of it. cause i have been attacked so many times for saying that kind of stuff.haha. so any one out there. please be kind. i suck at defending myself. i tend to let emotion get in the way of giving a coherent answer

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ya. i tend to be honest and upfront about some weaknesses. i'm always working to strengthen them though. so maybe one day i can defend myself properly consistently. so far i've only had 2 that went well. both about smoking

That's good. Some of the people on this board (not mentioning any names...) don't always argue all that well, and when they go against each other, they'll just debate each other into the ground until one or both get fed up and leave :laugh:

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Well, imagine if we were fighting a war. I left the contested territory so GPS wins!

Really, though, just because he wins the arguments doesn't mean he's right. And I don't think like that, for the record.

I guess that's what I was thinking, that when people say someone won an argument it means that person is declared right or something, but I suppose that's probably just my imagination.

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