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A borderless world is an oft used term
nowadays, but happenings around the world
seem to suggest that the term is only a dream.
While the internet has been able to tackle the
problems that physical distance posed,
information continues to be blocked and
withheld. A case in point is Google's tryst with
China.
Google did all it could to push its services and
make them available for the people of China, but
as things stand now, the company has agreed to
purge its search results of any Web sites
disapproved of by the Chinese government,
including web sites promoting Falun Gong, a
government-banned spiritual movement; sites
promoting free speech in China; or any mention
of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
Probably this has to do with sensitive topics,
which exist for every nation and for every
economy. Yet, China's approach has been far
from global.
Google has been in a fix with this. The
proponent of free information created problems
for itself when it agreed to comply
with the Chinese Government's strict
instructions.
Why is China so restrictive? Well,
because it has its secrets and Google is
no close friend for China. 'Jue Mi' or
top secret is what China doesn't want
to be leaked.
The readers may find it interesting
that a Chinese journalist was
convicted of sending foreign-based websites
some 'jue-mi' which was sent and circulated to
journalists by the Chinese state security itself.
Particular among topics which the Chinese Government is keen to have
censored is information related to Taiwan independence.
It is China's status of a big and prospective economy that is making this
issue more significant. This becomes clear through an extract from the
Becker-Posner blog, reproduced below.
If China were a small, poor country, its violations
of human rights might induce international
sanctions, such as were imposed on Rhodesia
and South Africa before the fall of their racist
regimes. But because China is an enormous
country, rapidly developing, soon to be--perhaps
already--the second largest economy in the world,
and very much open to investment by foreign,
including U.S., companies, sanctions are out of the question as
practical matter.
Microsoft has also been complying with the stringent Chinese laws,
removing blogs that are found to violate laws of any nation, in that
particular nation.
What is the solution to Google's problem? A single, global policy on
information access? Or an understanding that information access
different from leaking a secret, at least in some parts of the world?