Google takes a stand in front of China’s cyber tank

Google takes a stand in front of China’s cyber tank

Google will go down in history for a number of things, but the thing Google did last week could be its crowning achievement.

Google is one of the first companies — and certainly the most influential to date — to take a stand against China that risked putting principle over profit.

This was not a position Google was destined to take. Indeed, it is one was out of character with past capitulations to China over limiting the free flow of information on the Internet.

For years, Google complied with Internet censorship laws in the People’s Republic of China, rationalizing that providing some information to more than 300 million Internet users in China was better than being able to provide nothing.

It was a compromise that blocked a Google user in China from being able to access information on pro-democracy protests in China, but allowed, for instance, free access to the history of the Watts riots in the United States. Which is to say it was an intellectually dishonest compromise.

But now, apparently China has gone too far by, among other things, hacking into Google data bases to access the private communications of people the Chinese government considers subversive.

To its credit, and at no small risk to its bottom line, Google took a stand that none of its competitors has so far shown an inclination to duplicate.

What is vs. what should be

Google’s mission statement has always supported network neutrality, the principle that Internet users should be in control of what they view and do on the Internet, but its actions in dealing with China’s government did not always rise to that ideal.

But in the wake of clear evidence that China was behind an attack in December on Google’s infrastructure, Google announced that it would pull out of the Chinese market rather than aid and abet in additional subversion of the Internet.

Tuesday, the company put an exclamation mark on its threat by postponing the launch of two new mobile phones in China.

The new phones were designed to give subscribers access to a full range of Google products, and the company balked at selling the phones to customers under restrictions that would prohibit full use of the device.

China responded by threatening to shut down Google.cn.

This is becoming a battle of giants, with enormous implication for both. China risks cutting itself off from the most popular search engine in the industry. Google risks getting thrown out of the most populous nation in the world and the one in which the market for Internet products — even censored ones — has the greatest potential for growth.

“Foreign enterprises in China need to adhere to China’s laws and regulations, respect the interests of the general public and cultural traditions and shoulder corresponding responsibilities. Google is no exception,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu.

Can a company that believes in network neutrality coexist with a regime that believes only it can define what is in the public interest? Will others who claim to believe in an open and free Internet stand with Google or rush to fill the vacuum that would be created by Google pulling out or being thrown out? We’re about to see.