GOOGLE OPENLY PROVOKES CONFRONTATION WITH CHINA

Google's official statement today that it MAY withdraw from China due to hacks into the accounts of Chinese human rights activists is NOT a triumph for free speech and democracy, but, rather, the opposite.

Below are official Google blog post excerpts from TechCrunch's article of this morning, http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/12/google-china-attacks/:

"We have evidence to suggest that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists....we have discovered that the accounts of dozens of U.S.-, China- and Europe-based Gmail users who are advocates of human rights in China appear to have been routinely accessed by third parties."

TechCrunch's gloss: "The company ... has come to the alarming conclusion that the attacks were targeting the information of Chinese human rights activists. Google found that these attacks were not just going after Google’s data, but were also targeting at least twenty other major companies spanning sectors including Internet, finance, chemicals, and more. Google has also discovered that phishing attacks have been used to compromise the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists around the world."

SUBTEXT: THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT HAS ATTACKED THE CYBERSECURITY OF GOOGLE WITHIN AND WITHOUT CHINA, JEOPARDIZING THE VERY FOUNDATION OF THE SERVICE'S EXISTENCE -- ITS SECURITY WORLDWIDE. I emphasized "worldwide" to underscore the seriousness of the hack. If the attack had been confined to China alone, perhaps Google would have considered that an acceptable business risk of operating in the country. Attacks outside of China obviously undermine the confidence and jeopardize the security of ALL users.

To my mind, Google's blog posts and official statements are tantamount to openly accusing the Chinese Government of sabotaging and attacking it. Not a propitious or conducive manner by which to open a "dialogue" with the Chinese Government on whether it will be able to serve up unfiltered search results from now on in China. Moreover, Google's statement that it will operate in China without restrictions or not at all will undoubtedly dim such prospects further. For those of us who live in Greater China, we know that China does not react well to theatrical throw-downs of the gauntlet. Rather, China tends to squash such opponents mercilessly. Obama HIMSELF is cognizant of the right approach and would NEVER openly CONFRONT the Chinese Government with a publicly stated binary proposition of "DO this or ELSE.... "

Let's please remember that both Facebook and Twitter are blocked in China. Those incidents were not preceded by any public showdown between the Government and the companies. Moreover, those services are comparatively marginal (even if they do enable a higher degree of social mobilization) compared to the universal functionality and usefulness of the Google search engine. Why would China tolerate unfiltered search results from Google when it can hardly deal with social networks? Again, it's even less likely that China will engage in constructive discourse with Google after being called out as a blackguard of democracy and free speech.

It strikes me as impossible that Google does NOT understand the niceties of publicly interacting with the Chinese Government and has already taken decision to shutter its operations in the country. If they were truly sincere in their intention to doggedly persevere in that country, would they have so publicly challenged the Chinese Government? If they were sincere in their attempt to stay operating in China, they would have negotiated quietly with the Chinese government FIRST, before announcing their intention to operate in a manner which clearly defies long-established official government strictures (i.e., no filters).

Anyway, it's a dark day for both free speech and democracy -- with one less hope that China and its people will have the opportunity to be exposed to the moderating influence of more ideas and the open debate of the internet.

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