Google to Exit China

A new article from MSNBC states that Google’s vaunted content filtering software seems to be leaking like a broken collander.  In a personal test, both information about Tibet’s history (from Western sources) and Tiananmen Square returned meaningful results on www.google.cn

The same article also mentions the projected effects of Google’s predicted pullout from China on China’s economy and IT development ecosystem.

My personal take on the issue is: If a company is not willing to work within the laws of a country and the country is not willing to change the laws to work with the company, then a split is inevitable.  Logically, if neither side is willing to compromise on the issue at hand, then a relationship is not feasible.

From a moral standpoint, the idea that Google pulling out will put a lot of people in China out of job is a sticking point.  However, if Google is willing to give up revenue (however much or little revenue it might be) in order to stick to its morals, then that is their choice to make.  Just as no one can keep you as an individual from standing on the corner and handing out your money to passerby, no country can force a company to not do something that will hurt its bottom line.  Is it unfortunate that people will be put out of a job?  Sure.  Does that matter in business? No.  Should it matter in business? Absolutely not, businesses are moral-less entities and as such people’s employment does not affect a business.  It might affect individual people, but not businesses as a whole.

Overall, I am firmly against censorship so I am firmly on Google’s side on this issue.  If they don’t want to follow the law, then they should leave.  Otherwise they would be breaking the law and could be fined (or maybe even jailed although the logistics of that are kind of tough) for breaking the law.  If the Chinese government does not want to allow free flow of information, then they should not get access to the services provided by Google.