Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Schmidt on Google’s China Self-Censorship

Google CEO Eric Schmidt, in defense of the cooperation between Google and the Chinese gov’t, according to MSNBC/ AP today said:

• “We believe that the decision that we made to follow the law in China was absolutely the right one”
• “I think it’s arrogant for us to walk into a country where we are just beginning to operate and tell that country how to operate”
• “There are many cases where certain information is not available due to local law or local custom”

Schmidt also said that Google hasn’t lobbied Beijing to change its rules, and that Google hasn’t tried to change such limits elsewhere (e.g. in Germany, where certain Nazi sites are self-censored in Google result). I think from the quotes above it becomes clear that, as time passes, Google is becoming a little more self-assured and cocky about their decision – after all, the issue was never about Google telling the Chinese gov’t how to operate, but about the Chinese gov’t (successfully) telling Google how to operate – even though Schmidt admitted that some of the criticism has “stung” their managers.

Also see sites Google agreed to censor in China.

Schmidt on Google’s China ... by Philipp Lenssen | Comments (5)

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