Brin says Google compromised principles

[fulton savage]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060606/...e_censorship_3

Originally Posted by yahoo.com

WASHINGTON - Google Inc. co-founder Sergey Brin acknowledged Tuesday the dominant Internet company has compromised its principles by accommodating Chinese censorship demands. He said Google is wrestling to make the deal work before deciding whether to reverse course.

Time for a new motto.

[sportsguy]

I though the motto was "Do no Evil"... oh well, eventually they had to become a business, I suppose...

Someone tell Sergey it's OK - really, I'm not upset.

[St0n3y]

I'm curious if this is a genuine reverse course despite profits from China or the result of a business decision that didn't turn out quite they way they expected, and now the "principled" voice within is now being allowed to be heard!

[rcjordan]

ahh, another cynic. i'll admit that the word disingenuous did cross my mind, too.

[St0n3y]

ahh, another cynic

I just prefer to think of it as exploring all the options!

[phaithful]

ahh, another cynic

A perfectly crumulent assumption

[g7submit]

Awareness that the public really kicked against their Chinese compromise, instead of ignoring the public, I guess Brin and his colleagues have finally decided that money isn't everything. I guess India, with her accelerated growth, is making them believe that they can head for an alternative money barrel.

Business with moral ethics have never been ignored by the public, especially where there is a dominating party. The unethical or amoral business dealings may cause an initial public awareness and debate, but in the end once a viable alternative surfaces, people depart in droves.

If they really take a "reverse". You can bet that Google will win more public (en masse) backing. Of course, it may dent their turnover, but their positive public perception will skyrocket!

[rcjordan]

>that money isn't everything

OR, they've been watching the numbers of china queries getting around the government blockades and made a decision that the censored program was ultimately doomed to failure. In that scenario a mea culpa now would likely be the best strategy.

"Nothing sells like sincerity, when you can fake that you've got it made."

[ContentWorth]

g7submit,
I agree with your direction. I'm using the following quote in a blog post if you don't mind. With proper accreditation of course.

Business with moral ethics have never been ignored by the public, especially where there is a dominating party. The unethical or amoral business dealings may cause an initial public awareness and debate, but in the end once a viable alternative surfaces, people depart in droves.

It will be interesting to watch what happens. If Google backs out now what will they lose and what will they gain?

They may lose money, or business deals, or any number of things associated with the business market. As stated previously, Google is a company.

They may gain popularity amongst users at the detriment to stocks for a short while, but how long can any of this keep the interest of the press and the attention of the general public? Sure we can blab all we want on the topic, but it will eventually become a tick only we care about.

I think Brin was smart to make such a statement, I also am skeptical that the statement will carry much weight over the next few months. Let it blow over and what will people remember? Not the outcome, but the bold statement Google made amidst the controversy that other companies (Yahoo!, Microsoft, Cisco Systems) simply ignored.

So who are the good guys regardless of outcome? You got it.

[stoner3221]

There should be no compromise between ethics and finances. When finances start dictating your ethics you are headed towards a morally and ethically corrupted path.

[klown]

Living here i get all my news from the net because its the only place where i can go for reliable news (newspapers suck in china!!!). Very few places are blocked by the government to tell you the truth. Except porno sites that is. The majority of sites which become blocked by the chinese gov are related to taiwan independence, or tianmen square. But actually the only way that google has ever censored their results as far as i have been able to tell is that on www.google.cn google has different results then www.google.com

So basically if your in china and want to view unfiltered results just go to the normal .com address. An issue with google's filtering seems to be its going to an extreme of blocking a larger amount of sites then even the Chinese gov itself.

Another large chunk of sites that are blocked in china are blocked because one site in a large server of sites is being blocked by the chinese gov, which in turn blocks all the sites. I had that problem with my first paid website contract, which luckily was for a company in america who doesnt care about china being able to see it. Luckily i could still update it.

About a year after i had that problem where i couldnt see my own site on the net i had a friend tell me about http://www.anonymouse.org which is a site where i can access ANYTHING from china, which is nice and confirmed for me the amount the chinese gov is blocking.

Honestly i dont want to condone the censoring but the thing is China doesnt need to censor too much. Chinese education system effectively brain washes most people into their beliefs.