Danelle - Post #7 - Chinese media slam Google as 'politicized'

Below is an article I found to be of interest. Below the article are my comments.

Chinese media slam Google as 'politicized'

by Steven Musil

In an apparently coordinated effort, Chinese state media criticized Google on Saturday as having become a political tool--just days before the Web giant may announce its withdrawal from that country.

Google, which has been criticized by privacy and human rights advocates for censoring search results deemed objectionable by the Chinese government, announced in January that it intended to stop censoring search results and may stop doing business in the country entirely.

"Google's actions show that the world's biggest search engine company has abandoned its business principles and instead shows the world a face that is totally politicized," China Radio International wrote in an editorial. It continued:

American politicians may be glad to see Google being politicized but this is no doubt a tragedy for a famous multinational company which has gained its reputation and advantages by one innovation after another in the Internet field.

How can people believe that the company's search results are without any bias when it lacks independence as well as business ethics?

"It is ridiculous and arrogant for an American company to attempt to change China's laws. The country doesn't need a politicized Google orGoogle's politics," the editorial concluded.

China's official Xinhua News Agency followed a similar theme and accused Google of "politicizing itself," saying the Web giant was "groundlessly accusing the Chinese government of supporting hacker attack against it" and trying to force "China abandon the legal regulations on the Internet."Xinhua continued:

Regrettably, Google's recent behaviors show that the company not just aims at expanding business in China, but is playing an active role in exporting culture, value and ideas.

It is unfair for Google to impose its own value and yardsticks on Internet regulation to China, which has its own time-honored tradition, culture and value.

The English-language China Daily said in a commentary that Google's censorship complaint had become a "tool in the hands of vested interests abroad to attack China under the pretext of Internet freedom." According to China Daily:

China's regulation to censor the content that Google provides to Chinese Internet users has been interpreted as a breach to freedom in the virtual world. In some extreme cases, the vested interests have described the legitimate right of the Chinese government to regulate companies and control pornographic and related content as "spying" on its own people.

The magnitude of this absurdity is beyond comprehension and the motivated attacks, intolerable.

A Google representative declined to comment on the Chinese media's statements.

Tensions between Google and China have been mounting for months. Google, which has a significant share of the search market in China, identified China as the source of attacks in December on prominent U.S. Web properties and e-mail accounts belonging to human rights activists, though it has not revealed the specific people behind them. For its part, the Chinese government has denied any involvement.

Tensions between the two countries also escalated after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton formally denounced Internet censorship in a January speech. China, which has stated that companies doing business in that country must respect and adhere to its laws, responded by warning that the new U.S. stance could hurt relations between the two countries.

After months of negotiations over whether it can run Google.cn with or without restrictions, it seemed that Google was getting ready to make a decision in the near-term future. CEO Eric Schmidt told reporters at a media conference inAbu Dhabi earlier this month that a decision was coming "soon."

However, a Financial Times report earlier this month said the company was now "99.9 percent" certain that it would shut down its Chinese search engine. The Beijing-based China Business News on Thursday quoted an unidentified sales associate who works with the company as saying Google might announce on Monday that it will withdraw from China on April 10.

(http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20000847-93.html)

My Analysis:

The Chinese media's accusation that Google has politicized itself seems odd given the media sources making this accusation are state run agencies. For instance, the Xinhua News Agency is the official press agency of the government of the People's Republic of China. Xinhua is an institution of the State Council of China and reports directly to the Communist Party of China's Publicity Department and Public Information Department. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinhua_News_Agency). China Radio International is government-owned, and as such adopts the government stance on issues, such as Taiwan being an integral part of the PRC. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Radio_International). The China Daily is a state run publication. The eight page paper, published Monday to Saturday, is regarded as the English-language mouthpiece for the government and is often used as a guide to official policy. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Daily)

For any of these Chinese media sources to accuse Google of having search results that are without bias and lacking independence as well as business ethics seems hypocritical since none of these sources are independent and without bias themselves.

Despite knowing these media resources are biased themselves, I did some research to better understand how China came to the conclusion that Google and the U.S. government are working together. I found the following:

According to Xinhua, "Google provides U.S. intelligence agencies with a record of its search engine results. Google's high-level officials have intricate ties with the U.S. government. It is also an open secret that some security experts in the Pentagon are from Google." Google denied that it was influenced by the U.S. government, a spokesperson for the company was quoted as saying by AP.(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8578968.stm)

Searching a little further, I found at epic.org (Electronic Privacy Information Center):

EPIC Seeks Records on Google-NSA Relationship

Today EPIC filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the National Security Agency, seeking records regarding the relationship between Google and the NSA. The press reported that Google and the NSA have entered into a partnership following a recent hacker attack on Google originating from China. The EPIC FOIA request also seeks NSA communications with Google regarding Google's failure to encrypt Gmail and cloud computing services. In March 2009, EPIC filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission urging it to investigate the adequacy of Google's cloud computing privacy and security safeguards. Today EPIC also filed a lawsuit against the National Security Agency and the National Security Council, seeking a key document governing national cybersecurity policy.

I ran additional searches looking to prove Google is politicized but found nothing to support the Chinese media's claims. I do not think Google's relationship with the NSA justifies accusing Google of being politicized. Google is simply taking measures to protect itself against hackers. I think the real issue is that China wants to redirect attention on the fact that they are censoring internet searches and how little freedom their citizens have. I believe Google is making the right decision by taking a stance against the Chinese government. Whether China likes it or not, their country is evolving and becoming slowly but surely a more free society. I understand the government's concern with allowing too much freedom at once considering China's massive population however, if China is to be the next super power of the world they will need to loosen their reins on their ridiculous laws.