Free Speech Creates Wealth?
I've been absorbed in Google's testimony before the Committee on International Relations explaining their decision to self-censor their Chinese-language Google site (google.cn).
Its a stunningly pragmatic work, competely upfront in its admission of the inconsistency of Google's decision with its assumed core principles. What does one do when their core assumptions are insufficient for deriving the needed solution? Add another assumption:
"(c) Be responsive to local conditions."
Just how realistic is their commitment to "...not hesitate to reconsider our approach to China" actual is? Five years from now when Google is serving the estimated 250 million internet users in China and consequently making ad dollars hand over fist, how realistic is it to think they'd simply abandon that market? If it were me, I'd find an additional assumption.
The Coup de Grace is their spinning of the entire issue back on the US Government. "Got a problem with us doing work with China? Ya, well, what are you doing about civil rights violations?" Genius.
Next Steps: U.S. Government Action
The United States government has a role to play in contributing to the global expansion of free expression. For example, the U.S. Departments of State and Commerce and the office of the U.S. Trade Representative should continue to make censorship a central element of our bilateral and multilateral agendas.
Moreover, the U.S. government should seek to bolster the global reach and impact of our Internet information industry by placing obstacles to its growth at the top of our trade agenda. At the risk of oversimplification, the U.S. should treat censorship as a barrier to trade, and raise that issue in appropriate fora.
| By Josiah Roe | 12:11 PM
Comments
That was a crazy hearing. +7 hours long! It's a really tough issue--on the one hand I'm appalled with what some of the US tech companies have allowed (particularly Yahoo!) but on the other hand I think any increase in available information, even if it is censored, is probably helpful.
Posted by: justin at February 17, 2006 12:15 PM
Post a Comment About "Free Speech Creates Wealth?"
Email "Free Speech Creates Wealth?" to a friend!
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://chattablogs.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/29762
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Free Speech Creates Wealth?:
