3 ms·
Google's withdrawal from China in 2010 stands out as perhaps the most eminently courageous move a technology mega-corp has made against a powerful nation state.
by jeswin 6y ago
Google's withdrawal from China in 2010 stands out as perhaps the most eminently courageous move a technology mega-corp has made against a powerful nation state. The tragedy is that the world didn't care - signaling perhaps to all future decisions makers that, well, the we don't really care.
Not only did we not appreciate the significance of what happened or reward the deed, we have adopted in these peak social media years a style of criticism that blackens every shade of gray. No leadership will ever make Google's mistake again.
- CharlesW 6y agoThe lore is that Google heroically pulled out of China because they wouldn't compromise the purity of their search results. The reality is somewhat more complex—in short, Google played chicken with China and lost. "In the end, though, it wasn’t censorship or competition that drove Google out of China. It was a far-reaching hacking attack known as Operation Aurora that targeted everything from Google’s intellectual property to the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. The attack, which Google said came from within China, pushed company leadership over the edge." https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/12/19/138307/how-google-took-on-china-and-lost/ https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/12/19/138307/how-googl...
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- tomComb 6y agoThe 'lore' that I've always heard is that Google pulled out due to both censorship and privacy, in that the attack succeeded against some user accounts. At the time they were the #2 search engine in China, and when they pulled out MS saw it as an opportunity to try to take their place. This came back to mind last week when spoke about their noble willingness to take Google's place in Australia - to do the right thing in support of a just law (/s).