4 ms·

I hope this increases the pressure on other search providers to do the right thing. It will be interesting to see how the Chinese govt responds

by credo 17y ago

pavs 17y ago
> It will be interesting to see how the Chinese govt responds. Chinese Gov will be glad if google leaves - they have nothing to loose. Their credibility as an ethical government will be bruised, not that there was any credibility to begin with.
- michaelneale 17y ago
  Don't assume that the Chinese Gov. are ignorant of PR dangers, they aren't irrational. It would be complex mixed feelings.
  - omouse 17y ago
    They can spin this easily. Google is showing porn images in their search results or some other bullshit story. They would do that, and it would make their local search engine Baidu look very good in comparison. They could also spin it as Google not being able to stand the competition and "look! Westerns can't help us, they don't know anything about us!" They aren't ignorant of PR and they know when to apply force and when to hold back.
    - damien 17y ago
      It seems they've already started that kind of spin. For example, in the wsj article: "Chinese internet analysts said they were shocked by the Google announcement, but at the same time they understood the reasons behind its threat to back out of China. They said the cyber attacks have exposed Google's inability to protect its users' privacy..." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126335402591827235.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126335402591827235.html
      - michaelneale 17y ago
        Yes they have spun things that way - spinning it as good news for them. But it won't hold forever. People are not ignorant - well at least not all of them, not all the time ;)
      - bad_user 17y ago
        > They said the cyber attacks have exposed Google's inability to protect its users' privacy This can always backfire on them ... once groups like those at 4chan get working on Baidu :) And I'd be willing to bet that Google has a much more reliable security. Not to mention that this statement is kind of hypocritical ... since when are they concerned about privacy? Also ... these PR spins won't work for them internationally ... since communism has a negative image, and this is one of the factors considered when extending a business to China. So they have a more relaxed communism, allowing privately owned companies to thrive ... but look, Google announced they were hurt by the Chinese government, and apparently they weren't the only ones. Whom would you be more inclined to believe? And Google is also good at PR :)
- CWuestefeld 17y ago
  On the contrary, the services that Google provides are very important. It's hard for me to imagine China in the role of technology leadership that they'd like, without the support of Google's services. I think that China's leadership needs to give serious thought to what it'll cost them if their industry and their people can't (legally) use Google.
  - gommm 17y ago
    They did use to block google regularly before Google came in China... And Baidu is quite a bit more popular with Chinese people than Google so I'm not sure if that will be the problem... What might be bad for China though is all the investment Google made on research and the PR disaster (and the chinese government is very concerned with face).
cakesy 17y ago
Ha, funny. Microsoft will follow the money, no matter that they have to do. They always have an always will. I wish it was different.
angelbob 17y ago
And interesting to see how Bing responds...
- mikeliu 17y ago
  I think this is the best thing that ever happened to Bing, not Baidu. Google users in China will not switch to Baidu, they will switch to Bing; they use google because they feel it has more unbiased results coming from a non-govt backed entity. To a chinese google user, Baidu is an ad search engine and a govt lapdog. I wouldn't be surprised if google's market share got snapped up by Bing if they do leave.
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
jwoodruff 17y ago
I hope this increases pressure on other COMPANIES in general to do the right thing, especially in regards to China.

I hope this increases the pressure on other search providers to do the right thing. It will be interesting to see how the Chinese govt responds

by credo 17y ago

I hope this increases the pressure on other search providers to do the right thing. It will be interesting to see how the Chinese govt responds

pavs 17y ago

> It will be interesting to see how the Chinese govt responds. Chinese Gov will be glad if google leaves - they have nothing to loose. Their credibility as an ethical government will be bruised, not that there was any credibility to begin with.

michaelneale 17y ago
Don't assume that the Chinese Gov. are ignorant of PR dangers, they aren't irrational. It would be complex mixed feelings.
- omouse 17y ago
  They can spin this easily. Google is showing porn images in their search results or some other bullshit story. They would do that, and it would make their local search engine Baidu look very good in comparison. They could also spin it as Google not being able to stand the competition and "look! Westerns can't help us, they don't know anything about us!" They aren't ignorant of PR and they know when to apply force and when to hold back.
  - damien 17y ago
    It seems they've already started that kind of spin. For example, in the wsj article: "Chinese internet analysts said they were shocked by the Google announcement, but at the same time they understood the reasons behind its threat to back out of China. They said the cyber attacks have exposed Google's inability to protect its users' privacy..." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126335402591827235.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126335402591827235.html
    - michaelneale 17y ago
      Yes they have spun things that way - spinning it as good news for them. But it won't hold forever. People are not ignorant - well at least not all of them, not all the time ;)
    - bad_user 17y ago
      > They said the cyber attacks have exposed Google's inability to protect its users' privacy This can always backfire on them ... once groups like those at 4chan get working on Baidu :) And I'd be willing to bet that Google has a much more reliable security. Not to mention that this statement is kind of hypocritical ... since when are they concerned about privacy? Also ... these PR spins won't work for them internationally ... since communism has a negative image, and this is one of the factors considered when extending a business to China. So they have a more relaxed communism, allowing privately owned companies to thrive ... but look, Google announced they were hurt by the Chinese government, and apparently they weren't the only ones. Whom would you be more inclined to believe? And Google is also good at PR :)
CWuestefeld 17y ago
On the contrary, the services that Google provides are very important. It's hard for me to imagine China in the role of technology leadership that they'd like, without the support of Google's services. I think that China's leadership needs to give serious thought to what it'll cost them if their industry and their people can't (legally) use Google.
- gommm 17y ago
  They did use to block google regularly before Google came in China... And Baidu is quite a bit more popular with Chinese people than Google so I'm not sure if that will be the problem... What might be bad for China though is all the investment Google made on research and the PR disaster (and the chinese government is very concerned with face).

cakesy 17y ago

Ha, funny. Microsoft will follow the money, no matter that they have to do. They always have an always will. I wish it was different.

angelbob 17y ago

And interesting to see how Bing responds...

mikeliu 17y ago
I think this is the best thing that ever happened to Bing, not Baidu. Google users in China will not switch to Baidu, they will switch to Bing; they use google because they feel it has more unbiased results coming from a non-govt backed entity. To a chinese google user, Baidu is an ad search engine and a govt lapdog. I wouldn't be surprised if google's market share got snapped up by Bing if they do leave.

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

jwoodruff 17y ago

I hope this increases pressure on other COMPANIES in general to do the right thing, especially in regards to China.