An Open Letter to Google Founders from China – Don’t be Evil
As most of us know, Google is participating in internet censorship in mainland China by returning censored results for banned keywords (examples are Tiananmen Square and the Dali Lama). I like Google, especially since as an internet marketer they contribute to my livelihood. But when they started supporting censorship, I started thinking of them very differently. I am surprised that they are considered media darlings… when they do something like this.
Isaac Mao, a blogger from Shanghai, wrote a great open letter to the Google founders, asking them to live up to their motto "Don’t be Evil" – you can find it here.
Many users here were disappointed when they found Google.cn filtered many keywords. The compromise remarks by you in Davos made us more frustrated. Seems you are adopting self-censorship which hurts those loyal users a lot which also devalue your motto of "non-evil".
You may think that this is no big deal, since it is just a free web tool but a lot of important things begin as a result of an internet search. I found my most recent job as a search, found where to do my MBA and found my apartment. It is also a place where I will find information on belief systems, politics and my areas of interest (psychology, feminism, restaurant reviews etc.). Search is becoming more and more important in our lives, and for many of us (almost 80% of Canadians and 65% of Americans based on the last Media Metrix report I saw), the arbiter of that search is Google. When they are censoring their results, it shapes people’s experience in a real way. Good for Isaac, for posting this… and especially for posting it with his blogger tool 
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They are evil because of click fraud too.
Just try to lead a 1 billion+ person population and you’ll see how difficult it is to manage them. Communist turned capitalist and Google is part of that key of keeping things in check. It’s not all bad, so stop pushing your democratic crap on places where it doesn’t belong.
Thanks, and I am so glad that you are brave enough to be nameless while you voice your opinion. I disagree with you – and I think with the large increase in disaggregated information, China will be fighting a losing battle when it comes to centrally controlling information. The reason why I pointed this article out was because the call for a change in Google’s policy came from Shanghai. So – you can’t say that I am “pushing democratic crap”… he is asking for it.
For over 2000 years, China has succeeded to last despite all the civil unrest and rebellion over these years. They have proven themselves to be very adaptive even with the Internet. Now companies are clamoring there to do business because everyone knows it’s the biggest opportunity in the world. With this, these companies live by China’s rules, not another country’s. How would you like it if an international company pushes their unpopular ideals on you? I doubt much business would be accomplished. This is only the start of globalization – it is inevitable. Companies that adapt the best to each country will win.
I think that when companies go to different countries they have the opportunity to influence the culture. Examples are consulting companies treating women as equals in Japan or having minimum safety standards for factory workers in China. As I said before, I was interested in this article because the request for change came from China. We in North America have also been positively influenced by outside forces – such as our increase in productivity influenced by the Japanese.
So – I think that Google had a difficult ethical decision when they decided to enter the Chinese market, and it seems that Isaac from Shanghai is against it.
It’s no surprise that people in China ask for change. The difference here is that the internet has some leverage. But it’s still being patrolled by the communist party. People still get arrested for talking revolution or defying the government. So the only thing Google is interested in is global capital leverage of doing business (hence inflation of its stock). Google is China’s portal for other countries to do business with China. Period.
BTW, MBA = Missing Brain Association
Well- I think the argument is over. You displayed your credibility with your last remark.