This week, Google closed its internet search service in China. Whether its January pledge to do so was a threat or a promise might depend on whether you are a Chinese internet user or a global lover of internet freedom.
Government accountability today is revolving more and more around internet freedom. So-called freedom of the press is fast becoming an outdated term, increasingly irrelevant in face of bankrupt newspapers and investigative journalism in decline. It might have been hoped that television news would pick up where the press left off, but the quality is rarely as high and, despite 800 channels, news choices remain limited. The internet is the format where today’s muckrackers can expose the wrongdoings of the powers that be. The audience may not be captive, but that isn’t crucial to holding government accountable.
Google’s retreat from China is an admirable example of a company putting its principles ahead of the market of the future. The Chinese government censored Google’s search results and, the company claims, hacked its email service. This didn’t seem in keeping with Google’s motto: don’t be evil. But the company’s sacrifice was large. China may lag in percentage of population online, but it has surpassed the United States in number of users. As a company that makes its money through people surfing the web, Google better be seeking a Chinese Plan B.
Reporters without Borders’ map of Internet Black Holes
Internet restrictions are notorious in China. While the map here might have been a bit heavy handed (it is oddly missing from Reporters without Borders’ own site), the OpenNet Initiative judges China to have substantial filtering of internet tools. Of course the determined techies find ways around this, but most ordinary people simply give in. After all, did you circumvent NBC’s restrictions on alternate sources of Olympic coverage? I didn’t think so.
In the short-run, Google’s absence from China is a loss to the population, censorship or no. And it is unlikely that it will affect the government’s behavior. But the attention it has given to Chinese censorship can’t hurt (much the same for Google’s social responsibility). Meanwhile the world’s largest internet population is left to increase accountability through other channels.
