Google recently announced that it will no longer censor search results on its Chinese site. The sad aspect about this affair is largely the fact that that Google has been prepared to limit freedom of speech for some of its users. China has signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and therefore has a duty to allow its citizens freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, freedom of peaceful assembly and association. Yet China has simply paid lip service to that treaty and have no intention of living by this code.
My biggest concern here is not what Google is not doing now – that is what they should have always done. If any government wishes to censor the Internet they have to find a way to do it themselves and not expect co-operation from an international corporation.
The point here is that any company that is operating internationally has a duty, perhaps more than any single nation state, to function in association with international treaties. This type of issue will not be going away any time soon, it also applies to a variety of on-line services such as social networking sites. Twitter has found itself being blocked in China in relation to freedom of speech. In my view it is better to be blocked than to comply.
Now China is certainly not the only country to violate the basic freedoms or even make attacks on people’s rights of thought, conscience, opinion, speech, and expression. Switzerland with its ban on minarets attacks religious freedom. From a business perspective these can be complex questions, for Google in particular breaching their “Don’t be evil” motto has an impact on their business ethics. How each corporation acts is of-course entirely up to them, but it is important to make consistent policy and live by it.
