JESSICA HAWKINS ATG510 SU2 2012Week 3 Case Analysis Write-up: Google in China

Question 1 Response – Prior to the launch of Google.cn, what factors should Google have

considered in reaching their decision to comply with Chinese government censorship laws?

One factor Google should have considered is the financial perspective. From a financial

perspective, China represented for Google a dynamic and fast-growing, though increasingly

competitive, market (Wilson, Ramos and Harvey, 2007). According to Google’s 2006

projections, the Chinese internet market was expected to grow from 105 million users

to 250 million users by 2010 (Schrage, 2006). Another factor Google should have considered is

ethics. Google’s decision to self-censor Google.cn attracted significant ethical criticism at the

time. The company’s motto is “Don’t Be Evil,” and prior to entering China, Google had

successfully set itself apart from other technology giants, becoming a company trusted by

millions of users to protect and store their personal information. The choice to accept self-

censorship, and the discussion and debate generated by this choice, forced Google to re-examine

itself as a company and forced the international community to reconsider the implications of

censorship (Wilson, Ramos and Harvey, 2007). Another factor to consider was if the decision

was in total agreement with Google’s mission and policies. Google senior policy counsel

Andrew McLaughlin knew removing search results was inconsistent with Google’s mission, but

also believed that providing no information at all was more inconsistent with their mission.

Google’s objective is to make the world’s information accessible to everyone, everywhere, all

the time. It is a mission that expresses two fundamental commitments: (a) First, their business

commitment to satisfy the interests of users, and by doing so to build a leading company in a

highly competitive industry; and (b) Second, their policy conviction that expanding access to

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JESSICA HAWKINS ATG510 SU2 2012Week 3 Case Analysis Write-up: Google in China

information to anyone who wants it will make our world a better, more informed, and freer

place. In such a situation, they have to add to the balance a third fundamental commitment: (c)

Be responsive to local conditions (Schrage, 2006).

Question 2 Response – Assess Dr. Schmidt's statement "We actually did an evil scale and

decided that not to serve at all was worse evil." Was Google being evil?

In my opinion, NO, Google was not being evil. They were accommodating a country based

on their rules, and the internet users had limited access before Google.cn was launched. It

was definitely more about business than evil. Google made the right decision to build a

business in China a few years ago, and it's making the right decision now, by threatening to pull

out of the country if China doesn’t relax its censorship demands (Blodget, 2010). The company

concluded that it was better, for the sake of China’s millions of Internet users, to stay and offer

an experience as rich as possible, while transparently informing the users that they were not

getting the full experience (Tripathi, 2010). Google believed that it was against their policy to

censor information from the Chinese population but also that it was even more against their

policy to cease all internet search engines in China. The Chinese government blocked content

that could have been a potential risk to their country. That is the only information I agree with

Google blocking. Some examples of content that was blocked by Google are information

pertaining to Falun Gong, which is a banned spiritual movement in China, any site on Tibetan

opposition to the Chinese government, most links to human rights organizations and Tiananmen

Square commemoration sites (Keen, 2006). I actually think the Chinese government has gone too

far in blocking content and interfering with internet search terms. Supporters of Google’s actions

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JESSICA HAWKINS ATG510 SU2 2012Week 3 Case Analysis Write-up: Google in China

in China maintain that Google has not violated traditional business ethical standards by

censoring anti-Chinese information. The main reasoning for this statement centers on the fact

that Google is helping the average Chinese internet user gain more access to valuable

information from all over the world.

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JESSICA HAWKINS ATG510 SU2 2012Week 3 Case Analysis Write-up: Google in China

REFERENCES

1. Blodget, Henry. (2010, January). Google Has Played the China Situation Brilliantly.

Business Insider. Retrieved from

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2010-01-13/tech/30095881_1_chinese-internet-users-china-

site-chinese-government

2. Keen, Andrew. (2006, May 3). Google in the Garden of Good and Evil; how the search-

engine giant moved beyond mere morality. The Weekly Standard. Retrieved from

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/012/176wtlbv.asp

3. McHugh, Josh. (2004). Google vs. Evil. Wired. Retrieved from

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.01/google_pr.html

4. Schrage, E. (2006, February 15). Testimony: The Internet in China. [Web log post].

Retrieved from http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/testimony-internet-in-china.html#!/

2006/02/testimony-internet-in-china.html

5. Tripathi, Salil.(2010, January). Google China Decision: 'remarkable, courageous and far-

reaching'. Institute for Human Rights and Business. Retrieved from

http://www.ihrb.org/commentary/staff/google_china_decision_remarkable_courageous_and_far-

reaching.htm

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