The role of the Chinese government in regulating Internet activity is far more elaborate when compared to the United States. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are not considered inherent rights in the people's republic of China. Therefore, the country makes a strong effort to eliminate any web content that speaks negatively about the government or its policies. However, the government is also very inviting to foreign businesses that can help increase the prosperity of the growing economy. Google's powerful technological advancements are something that the Chinese government could use to increase economic growth. It is essential for the two parties to develop a strong relationship that is mutually beneficial. Google must invest heavily …show more content…
According to Google representative Elliot Schrage ‘The requirements of doing business in China include self-censorship – something that runs counter to Google’s most basic values and commitments as a company. Andrew McLaughlin, Senior Policy Counsel for Google, also states ‘Filtering our search results clearly compromises our mission. In mitigation, the company emphasises that it has made some concessions to protect the Chinese people. It has, for example, offered to inform users when information is being censored and has decided not to launch gmail or other services that hold personal and confidential information until the company feels confident that it can protect users’ expectations in terms of privacy and security of confidential information. Google states that it would only add these new services ‘if circumstances permit’ and it ‘will carefully monitor conditions in China, including new laws and other restrictions. While it is a positive step for Google to indicate to users that a search has been censored, there are further steps that should be taken, such as making public the list of censored words and phrases. This is something that the Internet companies could achieve by collaborating with each other to exert pressure on the Chinese government to make the list public. What, if anything, would we do