Mgt - 622 Google in China
Autor: blake2227 • November 28, 2018 • Case Study • 2,808 Words (12 Pages) • 457 Views
Blake Steinborn
MGT-622
November 11th, 2018
Professor Donald St. Clair, Ph.D.
Google In China
Human rights prohibit censorship from being lawful. Why should some countries harness complete authority over the channels which give its citizens the ability to learn and share information? Prohibiting search, emails and other facilitators believed to be private in nature no longer become advantageous because of the strict policy placed again. Google has a strong platform and should use it to speak out against governments that partake in this sort of restraint on its citizens instead of working with them. Google should not be a part of the Chinese internet because of the censorship that their government has set in place.
The rapid growth of technology has reached a point where the internet plays a vital role in the day to day functions of many human beings. To acquire information, people seldomly utilize the closest library or seek other non-technical sources. With billions of websites having information readily available, all individuals need to do in this modern era is simply “Google it”. The phrase “Google it” is regularly used as an alternative of describing the process in which someone searches information on the internet. While there’s a wide variety of search engines to choose from, Google is seen as the standard search engine to helping discover footpaths for the information you desire. Simple things like changing your website logo to celebrate a season, creating security audits on links generated via search, and being a smooth, dependable source for e-mail and file sharing is what constitutes Google as the top search engine in the world. Unfortunately, not everyone who uses Google are allowed these same experiences. It’s not the choice of the user as to whether they can access everything that is available. It’s up to the government and its censorship laws which dictate what the user can access. When a government takes away the right to access everything that is available on the Google platform, you no longer get the full benefits of the search engine. Furthermore, some countries have implemented censorship laws that block specific types of information from being accessible on their network regardless of what search engine you use. The question at hand is whether Google should continue to operate in China, as they are one of the few countries whose government has amplified regulation on internet, e-mail, etc. Google should terminate business in China because its government regulations are becoming so radical it’s preventing people from practicing their basic human rights. Google is for the people; therefore, the company should support the people.
The Chinese government has a reputation of being draconian towards its internet policy. They believe that online content replicates how they are as a society. They have made many changes throughout the years that advance content filtering to the point of invading common privacy (Xu & Elbert 2017) . Below is a chart that features the plan and rules that were set in place in 2017 by the Chinese government.
January 22nd | China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology says it will clean up the domestic internet by March 31, 2018. |
May 2nd | The Cyberspace Administration of China introduces new restrictions that require online news platforms to be managed by party-sanctioned editorial staff. |
June 1st | China's new cybersecurity law goes into effect, which requires foreign businesses in the country to store crucial data on local servers. The move draws criticism due to vaguely defined terminology and worries over potential surveillance. |
June 22th | Beijing shuts down online video services of three Chinese media sites: Weibo, ACFUN and iFeng.com. Previously, authorities shuttered 60 popular celebrity gossip social media accounts for not being in line with "core socialist values," according to Reuters. |
June 29th | The Ministry of Culture shuts down 12 live-streaming mobile apps and hands out administrative punishments to another 20. |
July 10th | Beijing orders China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicomto bar the use of VPNs by Feb. 1, 2018, according to a report. |
July 18th | Reports say users experience difficulties sending and receiving photos on Facebook-owned WhatsApp messenger without a VPN. |
July 31st | iPhone-maker Apple pulls several VPN services from the local version of the App Store — the move is slammed by multiple VPN service providers online. |
September 4th | China bans streaming of dramatic video content that does not have government permits. |
September 7th | China issues new rules that require internet chat service providers to verify the identities of users and keep a log of group chats for no less than six months, according to Reuters. Those rules also require those who manage chat groups to monitor the online activity of their fellow forum members. The regulations also said that chat group service providers had to establish a credit scoring system. |
September 25th | Regulators fine tech giants Baidu, Weibo and Tencent for failing to deal with pornography, violence and other banned content on their social-media platforms. |
October 1st Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/26/china-internet-censorship-new-crackdowns-and-rules-are-here-to-stay.html | New rules require internet users to register their real names when using online forums. Authorities have attempted to push "real-name" registration before — users of social media platform Weibo and online portal Sohu have been asked to register their identities in the past — but those initiatives were not as strictly implemented. |
The goal of attaching this chart with each change being included is so you can see the manner in which the Chinese government operates. By only citing a few of these policies, you don’t get the full effect into how radical the entire situation is. When you’re able to see the details of each, you can see the governments inclination to monitor as much activity as they can as frequently as possible. They are also taking away the right to speak freely which every person is entitled to. Google has the opportunity to not take part and enable the way the Chinese government conducts censorship. Key features of Google are already blocked so what would be the harm in halting operations to stand up for the people? The number of people using the Internet in China is more than double the population of the U.S. (Stevens 2017). Google should be able to maintain its top rank even while it’s separating from the Chinese web. Below, you will find an image that shows the impact that Google has on the worldwide stage. [pic 1]
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