As this row enters its second week, I wonder when, or if, the teeth of Google will ever show and their words turn to action. Everyone from Yahoo to the US government has denounced the overuse of China’s spy ware on American based search engines, but little has been done in terms of censuring the giant.
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The critiques from the US government have revolved around freedom of expression, while the search engines have cited their philosophy of access, privacy and open sharing of information, to defend their ‘reckless’ critiques (as called by Yahoo’s China affiliate). What I find interesting as this saga endures, is that search engines that have no problem selling their wares in a country that openly suppresses information and blocks democratic discourse to its citizens, are now up in arms over a few privacy breaches. I think it is safe to say that this amounts to saber rattling on behalf of Google and that at the end of the day, business will prevail. Google will stay. Yahoo will stay. Hacking and surveillance will stay.
People said…