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And the one company highlighted in the article as speaking out is on the verge of being broken up by Western governments. The western world is being played like
by creato 8y ago
And the one company highlighted in the article as speaking out is on the verge of being broken up by Western governments. The western world is being played like a fiddle.
Negotiating power is everything, and western democracies and their private and corporate citizens have absolutely none compared to autocratic regimes.
- njepa 8y agoThe whole idea behind the western world at the moment is to have as little in common as possible. No government, no taxes and especially no regulation is the dream. So why would the average citizen care?
- math_and_stuff 8y agoThat one company has also completely reversed its stance over the last year and now openly defends censoring human rights and complying with the CCP's surveillance demands. Google has no reason to hold its head high.
- vatueil 8y agoWhy is Google singled out for reprobation when, as the article points out, they've spoken out more than other companies? Sure, no one is spotless, but as it stands it's Microsoft that runs a censored search engine (Bing in China) and Apple that handed over its Chinese users iCloud encryption keys. To be fair, you could say Apple and Microsoft had their reasons for doing so (as people including the Chinese themselves have argued). But why all the focus on Google then? Is the idea of a Chinese search engine (which has since been cancelled) worse than actually running a censored search engine such as Bing China? It's gotten to the point where people commonly think Google is cozier with Chinese authorities than other companies, when if anything it's the opposite. That seems perverse.
- math_and_stuff 8y agoI completely agree with the argument that Google is no worse -- and have publicly campaigned to this effect -- but I was responding to the claim that Google should be proud of its history of standing up against authoritarian pressure. It no longer deserves that honor. But, yes, Microsoft and Apple are equally, if not more, deserving of shame.
- HillaryBriss 8y agowhat makes me laugh about Google's expression of frustration in this matter is that Google extracts/copies info from other websites, summarizes it and displays it directly to the user in their search result page!
- selimthegrim 8y agoWeren’t people saying this shit wrt the USSR during the Cold War?