[ILUG] Mother of God!

[kevin lyda]

On Thu, Feb 16, 2006 at 04:57:47PM +0000, Colm Buckley wrote:
> I assume that many of you have seen it by now, but there's a fairly  
> comprehensive statement on Google's position on China at http:// 
> googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/testimony-internet-in-china.html

unlike other companies, it seems that google has hired a load of people in
management who actually care about the effects of the business decisions
they make and act accordingly.  and they're pretty transparent about how
they reach those decisions.

i think google chose one of several crap options.  but crap options
were all that were on offer.  all the options had good sides, all of
them had huge down sides.  so no matter which option they chose, they'd
be open for criticism.

that's what happens when you have loads of poor options to pick from.

i don't think ignoring the chinese market is tenable though.  the united
states has a policy of excluding cuba in nearly every way it can because
it objects to human rights abuses there (yes, there are other issues).
it's the only country it has consistently applied this policy towards.

it has been a spectacular failure.

not engaging different sides in a discussion is a terrific way to go
nowhere.

unlike other companies, google managed to get a warning label attached
to their page when censorship happened.  will it immediately cause human
rights abuses in china to end?  no.  could it be a step towards that?
yes.

google's corporate motto is "don't be evil."  it is not, "solve all
the world's problems tomorrow."  eveyone and every company can play a
small role in making the world a better place.  but no one will play
the whole role.  criticising google for a victory that isn't big enough
(or is too bitter) is in my mind pointless.  and to be honest lazy.
they got a concession out of the deal.  they got lawmakers in the states
discussing corporate ethics overseas.  and all the while they're telling
chinese google users when their gov't is censoring things.

they did their bit.  what have *you* done lately?  we still have a film
censors office.  we still have the offences against the state acts.
we still have flights that support the war in iraq going through shannon.
we still have this bizzare situation where a person has to use illegal
software to watch a dvd they paid for on a box they paid for.  we still
have a justice minister who sees fit to destroy people's careers.
we still have charlie mccreevy trying to stick us with software patents.
we still force women to fly to england to be able to have a full range
of decisions regarding their own bodies.

google picked one small step forward from a range of small, bitter steps
forward.  it's an argument of style, not goals.  arguing about style
isn't a bad thing, but it eventually reaches a point of diminishing
returns.  personally i think we're well past that point.  there are
loads of other things to work on.

kevin

-- 
Kevin Lyda                     <diamond> kevin is my comic idol
kevin at ie.suberic.net