China Criticizes Google's "US Ties" 280
krou writes "State-run news agency Xinhua has attacked what it calls Google's 'intricate ties with the US government' amongst its high level officials, claiming that it's 'an open secret that some security experts in the Pentagon are from Google.' They have also accused the company of trying to change Chinese society by imposing American values on it. Xinhua said that 'One company's ambition to change China's internet rules will only prove to be ridiculous.' Google has denied the claims. Google spokeswoman Jessica Powell said that 'The decision to review our business in China was entirely Google's and Google's alone.'"
Let's not forget (Score:3, Interesting)
that while some Internet users in certain Western countries may see the Internet as something which exists independently of society and is merely a medium through which two individuals may communicate, from the Chinese POV it is a part of society and therefore allowed to be controlled.
To be totally honest, I agree with the Chinese POV, since $People \in Society$ and $Internetusers \subset Society$.
Can't be (Score:1, Interesting)
They have also accused the company of trying to change Chinese society by imposing American values on it
When Chinese manufacturing firms outsource their core labor to the US then that might be true.
No NSA behind Google? (Score:3, Interesting)
Secret Services/Intelligence must get information
there is information in the internet
where is information seeked for: in search enghines
to know what is searched for you ought to sit behind a search engine, best Google
and you can then also influence what is being found
much cheaper than Echelon
And in the answer streams from a search engine one can embedd other things such as trojans etc...
QED
Ho ho ho. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Do we have to hear about every piece of propaga (Score:5, Interesting)
???
If I wanted to read chinese propagada, I would go to the source:
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ [peopledaily.com.cn]
You know, I wish I 1) spoke some variant of Chinese and 2) knew more about Chinese media outlets. I wrote a journal post [slashdot.org] about this situation back when it was developing and tried to find a diverse viewpoint in Chinese news related to Google's ultimatum. It turned out to be more humorous and an exercise in futility than anything else. Does anyone who speaks the language know of a 'subversive' news source out of China? Or anything at all offering balanced and multiple views in the reporting? All I see is multiple sources looking like they are offering you unbiased news when, in fact, they are regurgitating something to you that is within a government approved standard deviation of the government approved message.
...
Really, really sad. Also a stark reminder of how thankful I should be of the diversity of our press in the United States no matter how sorry it may look at times
spin baby spin (Score:3, Interesting)
Google only ever had one small bit of leverage when negotiating with China : Chinese citizens know that Google is more legit & honest than Badu. We're totally unsurprised that Chia spins away this leverage.
Re:Whoda thunkit? (Score:3, Interesting)
The best propaganda is based on truth. Of course Google wants to impose American values on the world - Sergey Brin is a US immigrant who moved to America precisely because he thinks American values are a good thing. Google publicly asked the NSA for help securing its network, so the 'ties' between Google and US intelligence are not exactly secret and, given that the NSA and Google are the two largest employers of data mining specialists in the USA, it wouldn't be at all surprising if both employ quite a few people that have worked at the other.
Re:Good grief! (Score:1, Interesting)
Nah, more like little children who's egos are hurt...
Google: Let's play, here, I brought a ball.
China: Cool! *plays with ball, then hits Google*
Google: Hey, that was mean! I'm taking my ball and going home!
China: Oh? Oh yeah? That's fine! I didn't want your stinking ball! It's a stinky ball! I bet your mom chose it, cause adults aren't cool, and it's an ugly ball!
Google: No she didn't! It's my ball!
Maybe accidental propaganda, but this is mostly posturing to avoid an ego loss because they chased the biggest search provider to the rest of the world, the world they so desperately want to be respected by, out of their country.
Re:Whoda thunkit? (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm not sure Google is actively working to further the interests of the US. Instead, Chinese leadership is incapable of appreciating the differences between US policy, US culture, and plain ole' innate freedoms. Chinese leadership sees everything through a Han cultural perspective, with everyone not Han is either a strong barbarian intent upon conquering China or a weak barbarian who should be conquered by China.
Re:Let's not forget (Score:4, Interesting)
The point is that both countries have their own view on what is allowed and what is not. The difference is that China only restricts it inside it's own country, while US tries to enforce their view all over the world (with ACTA too). It maybe doesn't make it OK, but in my view it's still a lot better when you aren't trying to enforce your views to people of other countries.
Re:Let's not forget (Score:5, Interesting)
Not really. Xhinhua is politicizing the situation where Google is attempting to receive protection from it OWN government when being intruded upon. Why is it a bad thing for Google to ask NSA for security assistance when their high profile account is being hacked with possible traces to the Chinese government? I am not saying Chinese government has a hand in it but the suspicion should warrant Google to seek governmental help to pin point the issue and prevent additional attack from happening.
Let's not forget Google is a US registered company with headquarter in California. Their stock is listed in US stock exchange. They pay taxes to US government. Seeking help and protection from your own government is well within their rights as a US company.
Further I don't think China has any leg on the issue either since they actively help their own industries and private companies with ties. It's all just a Publicity Stunt to keep its own citizen from sympathizing Google by playing a patriotic card.
Re:Let's not forget (Score:3, Interesting)
Not really. US law like DMCA is imposed on ~sites run by US individuals or companies~, who are subject to US law. DMCA doesn't apply to a sit running elsewhere. But it so happens that most popular sites are based in the US, or run by US companies (e.g. Google).
Having said that, I agree that it is irritating. I particularly love the constant "sorry, this content is not available outside the US!" on Hulu/Pandora/many YouTube vids/etc/etc.
Re:Let's not forget (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Let's not forget (Score:5, Interesting)
And what website was taken down? And how exactly did the US enforce this take down in a country that it has no power over?
Re:hate them, but there's some truth (Score:3, Interesting)
Most of the world is eating it up. A lot of people welcome it. Few of them made a conscious decision among alternatives on the matter of culture and spirit.
I said to a friend of 40 years running two days ago that this is not my America anymore. Complacency has led to political leadership where not long ago, t-shirts were seen in New York City saying, "Ever think you'd miss Nixon?" - and our cultural values have death spiraled into Western music being typified by Britney Spears, movies being typified by Transformers and our intellectual degradation is best summed up by the observation that there is actually a debate raging between evolution and creationism/ID.
I now live in an America where enlightenment and consciousness are no longer on the list of valuable prizes to seek in life = precisely because few of us in the USA made conscious decisions among the matters of our culture and spirit.
I'm not debating if the US culture is "good" or "bad" here, just stating the fact that the amount of culture that is in the american way of doing business is seldom reflected.
An interesting complimentarity - on one hand it's a great truth, but its opposite - that our way of doing business is an exact reflection of culture - is equally a great truth.