Professor Elam

Friday Jan 15 2010

Google is having second thoughts in its China involvement. 

While the internet is open in the US, at least so far, this is not the case in China. There the Chinese govt acts as a censor for comments it discourages about the government, which after all has never stood for election. (the kind where two candidates run…)

Google is providing internet services but they are of course being censored by the Chinese government. What to do?  

OH China responds

From wikipedia, I copy and pasted the links do not work

Crossing the Rubicon is a metaphor for deliberately proceeding past a point of no return. The original crossing of the Rubicon occurred in 49 BC when Julius Caesar directed his legions across the river towards Rome in defiance of the Roman Senate. At this occasion Caesar is reported to have said "alea iacta est" ("the die is cast").   By the way, have you read what happened next?

We will be discussing ethics this semester. Like Caesar crossing the Rubicon, Cortez burned his ship once he reached the Yucatan, there would be no going back to Spain for the time being. 

 Has Google crossed their Rubicon?  What leverage does Google have over China, if any? Is there a point at which Google says we are out of here?  Will the Chinese have learned enough about Google to mimic the service, they are famous thieves of intellectual property anyway. At that point will Google have sold its soul for doing business in the world's most populous yet repressive country?

Just wondering……