Many of us here in China have heard about Google-China's many battles in the last few months. Early this morning, Google decided to route all of its searches in mainland China through its Hong Kong based servers rather than servers located in the mainland. Why? Because as we all know, Google is very much against censorship and the servers in Hong Kong are not required to be censored. This move will essentially shift the responsibility of censoring the internet from Google to the Government.[1]
Many people both in China and abroad fall on both sides of this issue. For some, they think that Google is violating the laws of a sovereign country by refusing to censor its search engine. Some people even believe that the move will hurt business in China. Others feel that in this global environment, the Internet and all its facets should be open to anyone who wants access to it.[2] The Chinese government has its own set of complaints about Google. These include access to pornographic material and "unsuitable" webpages that encourage so-called subversive behavior on its search engine as well as copyright infringement.
Lets first address the last allegation of copyright infringement. This is a great example of the pot calling the kettle black. People in China have wondered at the reasons behind some companies refusing to sell their products in China. The answer is the complete lack of respect for international copyright laws or intellectual property rights. China is a place where anything goes as long as it makes money. You can buy DVD players here that have no restrictions about what formats they play. Likewise you can buy DVDs here in legitimate stores long before they are officially released by the studios that produce them. I highly doubt that the industries involved in this pay commissions or compensation to the studios for the right to distribute these DVDs. Now, I'm not condoning what Google did with respect to the Chinese authors, but let's be realistic here. For a country that does not protect intellectual property rights or international copyrights, it is funny that they are pressing this point.
As for violating the laws of a sovereign country, I ask what laws are you talking about? In China there are many different systems of government. Hong Kong maintains its own system based on British Common Law, while Macau and other regions have their own legal systems.[3] So what laws should Google abide by since they are a presence in all these regions? Should they be liable to any laws outside of their own country? This is a question that is probably better left to the legal big wigs of various organizations who know more about the matter than I do. What I can say is that the students I teach generally support Google's move and so do many of the educated elite of the world.
In fact, many people support this move if only because it will bring about greater understanding between the Chinese people and the outside world. It could also pressure the Chinese government to make some very important improvements with regard to Civil and Human Rights in this country. According to an ABC News article, Teng Biao, a Beijing law professor and human-rights lawyer stated, "I feel that people will greatly respect Google's action...China's censorship of the Internet search engine results is a violation of the most basic of human rights. By doing this, Google will bring more global attention to China's human rights situation."[4]
For my personal opinion, I think that it is about time! As a westerner teaching in China, I look forward to the day when the Chinese people will have access to the same information that I did when I was in grade school. As China becomes more of an economic and political force in the world, the Chinese government is going to have to come to terms with the fact that a key part of China's ability to rise will be information transparency.
My students have often asked me why the US and other Western governments seem not to trust the Chinese government and the answer has always been the lack of transparency. This move by Google is just one small step, but hopefully it will bring a greater awareness to the Chinese people about world events, politics, ideas, and most importantly perhaps how the rest of world sees China.
As of right now, there are very few resources to which my students can turn for information about their own country that is not the sanitized "correct" version approved by the government. This has been a major stumbling block not only for Chinese students, but for anyone living in China who seeks to better understand the world. If the Chinese government wants to be seen as a legitimate leader--and it seems that they do--then they must to come to terms with the concept that a key part of that leadership means transparency; including access to information online. Otherwise, other countries like the US and those in the Euro Zone will never be able to trust China. There will always be a stumbling block if the Chinese government insists on limiting access to information for its mainland residents.
Note: As of the time of this blog, the Chinese government is already blocking access to the Google Hong Kong search engine results. Currently, I have to use a proxy to access the article on Wikipedia about Hong Kong.
Sources:
[1] China Media Accuse Google of Violating Promises. Alexa Olsen. ABC News Article http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wirestory?id=10176097&page=1 .
[2] Google China Move Hurts Businesses, Academics. Lara Farr. CNN News Article. http://edition.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/03/23/china.google.impact/ .
[3] Hong Kong. Wikipedia Article. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong
[4] China Media Accuse Google of Violating Promises.
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