What do you think of the ongoing dispute between Google and China?

Dear GW,

Someone has to play 'Devil's Advocate'! In truth, I'm a closet technophobe, well was, as I've now divulged it to you lot...damn it! Personally, I have a laissez-faire attitude to this issue and frankly my dear, I don't give a damn. I tell a lie ...line two.. of this contribution proves otherwise. Go shinpai naku is wot I say...type...write...etc. 'Virtual life' is, seemingly becoming preferable to 'real life' i.e. it's more cosy, covert and vapid but hey let's not take 'things' too seriously..yeah?

its good that some company is finally giving china the finger instead of bending over and grabbing their ankles for cash

I am very sceptical of the value of the internet in general, despite

making this comment. Google is not God. I use Yahoo anyway. The Chinese government is entitled to impose restrictions on the availabilty of certain web searches and internet facilities. Why do so many people place such value on unbridled internet access? It's only a tool for communication which is very often abused. I believe in restrictions, this initiative prevents American 'ne'er do wells' from spreading their so-called 'freedom'. Too much freedom for too many is anarchic and undermines wholesome values. LOL!! :-D

Only Google could leave China.

namakemono,

dont be like yr namesake, there is just a LITTLE more to this than blocking some sites, now get to it, get informed, hey you cud use the internet!!!!

just more proof to the reality that western companies in China do nothing to democratize the country. Google was hoping that the situation would improve and it has clearly not. The Olympics in Beijing likewise but nothing. Until we really do uphold ourselves and democracy, China and others cannot do that for us.

If it's a cheap labour issue go to India. At least it's a democracy.

I am very sceptical of the value of the internet in general, despite making this comment. Google is not God. I use Yahoo anyway. The Chinese government is entitled to impose restrictions on the availabilty of certain web searches and internet facilities. Why do so many people place such value on unbridled internet access? It's only a tool for communication which is very often abused. I believe in restrictions, this initiative prevents American 'ne'er do wells' from spreading their so-called 'freedom'. Too much freedom for too many is anarchic and undermines wholesome values.

LostinNagoya:

China is a "wrong" country, along with that other country who invaded somebody else's land, etc etc etc...so no wonder the civilized world can not accept its wrongness

That's a pretty stupid argument, unless you admit that countries which have invaded others (more agressively than China) includes US, UK and all other western European countries, Russia and Japan.

At the end of the day, it's the mainland Chinese who lose out.

Google bailed out of China because China was intent on controlling it's business in China.

That is not what google is about.

But China has a WHOLE lot to hide from it's people, imagine the horror if Chinese public were to become aware of the truth surrounding China's government? It would put them to shame...that is if any one of them had a conscience!

There are not many companies in the world that would choose the high moral ground above profits, and if they continue to do so, will earn my respect

Google and China try to find out root causes for this dispute. Competitors for Chinese IT companies can take advantage to get overseas IT projects by marketing (rumors) this (Google and China) dispute. It is too early to say Google is failed in China. Who were involved in this scandal and what profit they were looking from this dispute? Where is Google business shifting after closing its Chinese unit? Why it was so sudden?

It is not just a Google and China’s dispute; this fight may disturb other businesses in China.

Good for Google for exposing. Now the gov't will have a harder time lying about their censorship. Of course they will lie and say Chinese intrnet users can access anything and they will say Google failed in China. Google had 33% market share. For anybody who understands business, they know that is huge.

I think Google doesn't stand a chance. It may as well give up. But it's a shame for the Chinese people who are basically treated the way everyone else in the civilised world was until around 50 to 150 years ago. (It varies of course from country to country.) Few rights, and even those are withdrawn when the powers that be feel like it.

Kronos, if you think the Chinese government is the only government in this world that commits those cybercrimes then you should think again. It's happening far closer to home than you would like. And they get away with it too. Makes you sick when you think what they'd do to us if we got caught out committing similar crimes.

That old argument that doing business with China will democratize it seems pretty stale, doesn't it? Now if a few more large corp. decided to pull out, the communist leaders just might start to panic and who knows, THAT might loosen their grip.

good for google!

China is looking pretty scary these days with the things it forces on those who want to do biz there, Chinas actions in Africa & elsewhere are making it look like an incredibly selfish country.

Couple all this with China internal issues & who knows how it will go, I often say China cud both implode or explode or both, either way China is going to be both an opportunity & a huge problem, more of both as time passes until something hits a fan then watch out!

This is a very interesting dispute. Google seems to be standing up for what it believes is right. I do believe they are winning lots of supporters.

This also puts other foreign companies operating in China and the Chinese government in spotlight. Now I cannot help but wonder how much are the other foreign companies are letting things go since "they do not want to lose the Chinese market". Google seems to be coming out of this as a company with standards whereas the others are just looking greedy and immoral.

I say "seems to be" since this is still developing and we will all see how it turns out in the end. After all, "investors" might want Google to go back in. After all most of the "investors" are interested in money only and do not care about moral issues like crimes.

For the Chinese government; it is pretty amazing to see the things they are doing. I mean if someone else or some other organization did what they did i.e. cyber attacks, trying to steal personal information, etc...it would be criminal. But to them "No". Just what will it take to come out and say that they are committing a crime. I really hate how politicians are playing this out.

China is a "wrong" country, along with that other country who invaded somebody else's land, etc etc etc...so no wonder the civilized world can not accept its wrongness.

Google made a promise to do no evil. They are keeping their promise. Google has been an important force for social change. The day they become evil, they will lose my support.

We already know that China has different motivations, so this conflict was bound to happen sooner or later, and it is no surprise that China just could not leave it alone.

Good for Google - so far. I'm happy to see someone standing up to China on the censorship issue and actually follow through. I suppose China had no choice but to toe the line, but their stubborness really doesn't to them or their citizenry any favors and certainly shows the world how little interest China has in innovation. We'll see just how committed Google is, however, when China's market grows and grows and the millions of dollars they can afford to forgo now turn into billions they'd rather have.