Malkin Wonders Why on Google Story
An entry on her blog says that “Somebody at Google doesn’t like me”. Maybe Malkin should take a minute to consider the mainstream media style of writing that she has been feeding her readers into. Many of the recent Google stories in the blogsphere are a spin of partial truths much like the stories that she so often criticizes in the MSM.
You and Michelle can read HERE, HERE, and HERE for more on this story.
UPDATE: Most bloggers and MSM covering the Chinese censorship subject focused on the images.google.cn site when wrting stories concerning filtered searches on things like “Jesus Christ” or Christian”. Why not report on the hits on these searches on the main Google.cn site as compared to the Google.com site? The results were remarkably different, but no one including Michele Malkin is acknowledging that fact.
February 10th, 2006 at 1:54 pm
Google vs Cartoons vs Hypocrites
That is the point. When people come out and say they are for “doing no evil” and for “free speech” and for “women’s rights” etc. And they don’t live up to their talk … people kick in the nuts for it. You see that every day with the TV preacher who is cheating on his wife. It may tick off Christians to point out the hypocites in their midst, but it is fun for those on the outside of the faith.
BUT, it works both ways. It is fun to kick Google in the nuts for China. They can “spin” all they want. It is still against their core statement of why they exist. You can contort all you want, but it is still fun to point out they are Hypocrites.
Same for NYT and CNN and everyone else with “The Cartoons”. Have you really looked at those 12 pictures? They are in no way inflammatory. If they were then we should have seen riots when an Egyptian paper published them LAST YEAR year during Ramadon. No, it is fun to point out that people in the media are being Hypocrites and it is fun to kick ‘em in the nuts for it.
Of course people don’t like getting kicked in the nuts. To bad. Stop cheating on your wife, don’t hide the dead at the Tiananmen massacre, and stand up for free speech even if it means you will be killed for it.
February 10th, 2006 at 2:24 pm
arrow,
I am not saying that Google is spinning this story. I am saying that the bloggers are spinning it. Google’s doing what it takes to break into a huge market. I would probably do the same in their shoes. Their main search engine is still fully accessible to all including Chinese. The Google statement on this matter says:
“…the launch of Google.cn did not in any way alter the availability of the uncensored Chinese-language version of Google.com, which Google provides globally to all Internet users without restriction.”
I stand on my original question in an early post. Does anyone really know how the average person in China actually searches? The answer to that question will give insight to the impact of this whole subject.
I don’t think that Google is the bad guy in this deal. The Chinese government is ultimately behind the censorship requirements. Google had to make a business decision on whether to adhere to the Chinese requirements.
Thanks for the comment!
February 10th, 2006 at 2:55 pm
> Does anyone really know how the average person in
> China actually searches?
The govt controls the routers, dns, etc. Basically the entire backbone. That backbone decides what is accessable to people. For example if you purchase a cheap router for home you can logon to it and have it deny access to internet sites via keywords and/or address. It is a simple way to block the easy access to adult content ( or CNN
).
The average person can not just access google.com. There are ways around it with finding a server that the govt doesn’t block and have that proxy content via encryption/obfustication.
Or the govt could allow people to access google.com and then rip the content off before returning the pages. But, what is happening now is Google is doing that for them. This is the requirement for Google to sell personalized ads towards Chinese citizens just like they do here.
This is typical business behavior. But, Google went out of their way to claim they were not the typical business. Without that claim, there isn’t a reason to look at them poorly.
February 10th, 2006 at 3:18 pm
I realize that Google was in a catch 22. They could filter Google.cn or the Chinese government was going to do it for them. Google had to make a business decision to provide some content regardless. At least now Google has a stronger hand in controlling the content rather than relying on the Chinese government. Google COULD start to ease up the filters if they choose in the future and the Chinese government will have a hard time with detailed monitoring of that.
February 10th, 2006 at 4:32 pm
Googles options as a business were …
Do nothing. Just keep providing google.com and not be able to really target chinese citizens with ads.
Create google.cn and play by the rules of a govt that murders Christians all the time. Throws Christians in asylums for having “mental problems”. And start to help track down “dissidents” for the govt the same a yahoo does now.
My vote is keep running google.com and don’t create google.cn. If your future hope is that they may be able to “ease up the filters” … well … it is more likely Google will be helping round up people to be murdered than that happening. Just consider what Yahoo did … what does the future of Google really look like?