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27.01.06
If you try to be ethical, that's your fault
In the last few days, most online news sites discussed Google's new Chinese search engine that is subject to Chinese regulations and censorship. Previously, unwanted (by the Chinese government) websites could be seen via Google's search results, but were filtered by the ISPs inside China. Now, Google does the filtering itself. Today, Google posted a blog entry detailing the reasoning for their decision.
The articles I read about the whole incident mostly imply that Google is trying to wiggle its way around its own rule “Don't be evil” in order to make more profits. Some articles at least mentioned that many major search engines and web services have already quietly succumbed to the demands of the Chinese government, and Spiegel Online even went as far as to imply that Yahoo was actually more honest by plainly admitting they introduced filtering to get more business in China.
The whole issue is not simple, and both Google's arguments as well as those of the critics have their merits. But one thing really struck me: While Yahoo and other companies had been criticised for their actions in the past, they drew nowhere near as much flak as Google. Many expect Google to explain themselves, without requiring the same of other companies in the same situation (I'd be interested in the terms of MSN's spaces service that is very popular in China, for example). So what's the lesson in here?
Rather than trying to not be evil (and sometimes failing at it), it seems people vastly prefer it if you're just openly evil.
Posted by crenz, 27.01.06 23:33
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