Google launches Chinese service

[Sportsdude]

 [DIV class=headline]Google launches Chinese service [/DIV]Google has launched its Chinese service with bullish growth forecasts and a robust defence of its decision to limit user access to certain internet sites. Chief executive Eric Schmidt said that sales growth "will obviously be large" and Google expects to have thousands of software engineers working in China.  He also said that Google had no choice but to accept restrictions if it wanted access to China's internet market.  The number of internet users in China is set to top 187 million in two years.  [DIV class=bo] 'Right decision' Mr Schmidt was speaking as Google unveiled the name of its Chinese service, which is "Gu Ge" or "Valley Song".  The search engine firm has offered a Chinese language service for a number of years, but "Gu Ge" is a new venture.  



[DIV class=bo] Google was criticised earlier this year when it agreed to adhere to Chinese government censorship rules in order to launch its new site.  "I think it's arrogant for us to walk into a country where we are just beginning to operate and tell that country how to operate," Mr Schmidt said.  The company has argued that it would be more damaging for civil liberties if it pulled out of China entirely.  "We believe that the decision that we made to follow the law in China was absolutely the right one," he said.  China's government enforces strict laws on internet use, blocking content it considers a threat, including references to the Tiananmen Square massacre and notable dissidents.  Google also unveiled plans to create a research centre in Beijing that should employ 150 workers by the middle of this year.



[DIV class=footer]Story from BBC NEWS:
vny!://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/4903434.stm

Published: 2006/04/12 13:42:46 GMT

© BBC MMVI


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[DIV class=footer] [img height=152 alt="Google's new logo in China" hspace=0 src="vny!://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41553000/jpg/_41553248_googlechina203ap.jpg" width=203 border=0]  [DIV class=cap]Google's move into China attracted a lot of criticism

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[DIV class=cap] [img height=152 alt="Internet users in China" hspace=0 src="vny!://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41358000/jpg/_41358114_china_internet203ap.jpg" width=203 border=0]  [DIV class=cap]More than 100 million people are currently online in China[/DIV][/DIV]

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[tenkani]

[p style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"]"I think it's arrogant for us to walk into a country where we are just beginning to operate and tell that country how to operate," Mr Schmidt said.  [/p][span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"]The company has argued that it would be more damaging for civil liberties if it pulled out of China entirely.  [/span][/p]
[/p]What a load of shit. The Chinese government is authoritarian. This is only the first "compromise" of many, I am certain. Profit is the only real driving factor here, and if the Google board of directors has to build a partnership that includes turning pro-democracy activists over to the secret police they will do so. Yahoo has already helped the Chinese government find and arrest a journalist. Yeah, it's just the beginning.
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[Sportsdude]

Exactly this why corporations have lost there way. Big businesses god is the greenback.

Walmart-China

GM- China

Google- okay lets bow to the forbidden city and kiss its feet.

Microsoft- see google

Yahoo- see google  

[tenkani]

Profit has always been important in capitalism (no shit, right?), but I keep hearing economists speak about how it has shifted in the past few decades so that now profit for the shareholders eclipses EVERYTHING else, including the well being of their own employees.

  Ok, the one thing it doesn't overshadow is CEO pay. But that's a whole other ball of wax. CEOs are generally in really tight with the board of directors, who set their pay and whatnot. This is partly why the pay (even the "bonuses") of CEOs is often completely unrelated to their performance.

  In any case, environmental concerns, human rights, worker health and benefits are being ignored largely. This is why the very basic assumptions of the Libertarian party are inherently flawed. Utopian visions have killed more human beings than anything else.

[soapbox]

i am very upset with google in the sense that they,for the first time,have intentionally modified search information to suit a market (rather a national government of a country).

  there is no defense for this.

  did you realize that media suppression is so widespread in china that 95% or over of people under the age of 20 do not know or have never seen the image of the "tank man" taken in 1989!!!!. (brave chap in front of the tank at the beijing protests)

    but the real problem here is companies like cisco and oracle providing the CCP with the hardware and software to monitor and support arrests of political dissidents. THIS IS ILLEGAL TO DO IN THE USA SINCE 1989.

  cisco recently responded by stating that the list of prohibited items were of militaty in nature.NOT TRUE...THE LAW IS NOT THAT AMBIGUIOUS.IT IS VERY SPECIFIC.

  why is there no hub bub about this?  

[tenkani]

Violations of human rights by governments we have targeted for overthrow are big news.

  Violations of human rights by allies/trading partners are generally ignored.

  Our "liberal media", at least when it comes to U.S. foreign policy, is a propaganda tool of the state department. Free press in the U.S. is a mirage.

[Sportsdude]

Big corporations are running this country. Just look at the china situation. The government here always tells Beijjing to loosen up on restrictions yet our companies gladly kiss Beijjings ass to get into China. So who's the bigger hypocrite China or the U.S.? The Answer as usual the U.S.