Predominantly among Chinese immigrants, it is well known that mainland authorities have initiated a massive censorship project unofficially known as the Great Firewall of China, designed to combat “subversive” ideas as well as information deemed inappropriate or harmful. While we often witness multinational companies exploiting the situations in less developed societies, such as child labour in South-East Asia, the row between internet giant Google and China remains a rare bright incident of business ethics.
This issue began in January of 2010, following an alleged cyber attack originating from China targeted Chinese human rights activists via Gmail. Thereafter, Google decided to withdraw its services from the Chinese mainland, taking an open stance against the government in insisting on open information access. Despite the fact that this move cost the company dearly against its primarily local rival, Baidu, it has decided to stand by its commitment in the Global Network Initiative agreement against the potential gain within the enormous Chinese market. Through this unexpected stand against government interference in person freedoms, Google has once again given strength to its unofficial motto; “don’t be evil.”
Although the search engine has withdrawn from the mainland to servers inHong Kong’s looser legal framework, it retains business, mobile and export based services which target the growing internet community inChina.
Articles used:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13740893
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8455712.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/mar/22/google-china-shut-down-censorships
http://mashable.com/2010/01/12/google-dont-be-evil/