Google defends China deal

You know, if it was simply Google working to observe a specific custom of China’s I would not be so sharp with regard to their take on China’s censorship. But no, it is the simple fact that they would like to work within the country and the users be damned. That is really a poor take on their motto; ‘Do no evil’.

Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt defended the search engine’s co-operation with Chinese censorship as he announced Wednesday the creation of a Beijing research centre and unveiled a Chinese-language brand name.

Google is trying to raise its profile in China after waiting until January to launch its Chinese-language site Google.cn. Activists have criticized the company for blocking searches for material about Taiwan, Tibet, democracy and other sensitive issues on the site.

“We believe that the decision that we made to follow the law in China was absolutely the right one,” Schmidt said at a news conference.

He said Google had to accept restrictions in order to serve China, which has the world’s second-largest population of Internet users after the United States, with more than 111 million people online.

Schmidt also announced the creation of a research centre in Beijing that he said should have 150 employees by mid-2006 and “eventually thousands of people.” He said the centre is meant to create products for markets worldwide, though he said planning was still in such an early stage that he didn’t know what they might be.

Schmidt was speaking at a ceremony to announce Google’s Chinese-language brand name — “Gu Ge,” or “Valley Song,” which the company says draws on Chinese rural traditions to describe a fruitful and rewarding experience… Source: The Star

[tags]google,china,taiwan,united states,chinese censorship,tibet,democracy[/tags]