Google China

[john5746]

Well, I am a firm believer in the importance of corporate ethics, just because they are often abandoned doesn't mean they should be given up on.

 

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/83081/amnesty-dismayed-over-google-in-china.html

 

That is important, I don't like that Yahoo provided email info to China. Maybe Google could have or did give a fight before bowing to pressure. In any case, they are not taking anything away from the Chinese, but if they allow the communist government to snoop on their citizens, that would be a different case entirely.

[Pangloss]

I think it's important to keep in mind that one of the main reasons China has been able to dictate what it's people can or cannot have is because they simple have had so little in the past. But now there is a growing middle class, with a higher level of education, an automobile, and kids to raise whom they will want to have at least the same level of lifestyle. The genie, in a sense, is out of the bottle.

[Jim]

I think it's important to keep in mind that one of the main reasons China has been able to dictate what it's people can or cannot have is because they simple have had so little in the past. But now there is a growing middle class, with a higher level of education, an automobile, and kids to raise whom they will want to have at least the same level of lifestyle. The genie, in a sense, is out of the bottle.

 

It remains to be seen whether the democratization of China is inevitable. The first application of data processing by a authoritative regime was, arguable, the Nazi's use of data processing to effect the "final solution." We are now witnessing the next evolution of this application of computing power to people as data points. The result is not certain.

 

You can count on the rulers of China to use every technical means at their disposal to maintain control even as they jump start their economy. If they can spoon feed their view of history and are not contradicted by any outside source, indeed, if the credible outside sources seem to only point to supporting materials (albeit with a bland disclaimer), China's rulers have a chance. Couple this control over information with other possible future technologies (e.g. GPS banding of dissidents and perhaps more), then you have frightening picture.

 

While they may still fail, I can see a little more clearly today their path to maintaining control than I once could.

 

All of this said, I acknowledge this is a closer decision than I first thought. It is possible that the "corrupting" influence of McDonald's supersizing and of Britney Spear's navel (don't laugh- it destroyed Bob Dole!) will work it's magic in the Orient. The incremental difference of Google may not be that large given what other companies have already conceeded.

[Pangloss]

Yup, that's a distinct possibility (and well put). I also happen to think that the resolution of the question that you and I have just framed, however it ends up being resolved, will go down in the history books as the most central and pivotal geopolitical situation of the 21st century.

 

I think one phrase you used sums it up really well: "China's rulers have a chance".