By Jayson Jarmon, CEO, Lux Worldwide
One of great promises of the Internet is its democratizing effect; that is, it is freely available, largely self-regulating, and gives everyone - large or small - the ability to speak and post openly. For now, this remains a promise.
This weekend, Google announced that its agreement with the Chinese government to censor Internet content was a mistake. Google had originally made the decision in 2005 for financial reasons, essentially abandoning its much touted core value of "Don't Be Evil" - unless, of course, you see censorship of political thought as a good thing.
Sergey Brin, Google co-founder and president, issued a public apology Saturday saying that the deal with the Chinese government to censor and even alter information had damaged Google's reputation in Europe and North America. He said that it had been a "zero-sum game," and in retrospect the deal may have been a mistake as it directly affected public perceptions of Google.
Democracy in action, right?
I don't want to parse this too much, but it is a very disappointing communication, for two important reasons: 1) Brin said there was no plan on changing the censorship policy in the foreseeable future, and 2) he conceded error only insofar as the decision had affected public perceptions of Google, not because overt political censorship is fundamentally wrong.
For example, Google does not allow Chinese Internet users to see basic historical facts about the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Information about the Tiananmen Square protests is not allowed. Radical economic and political theories are suppressed (to the extent that free market capitalism and democracy are radical theories). For this, Google is sorry because it affects "public perceptions."
A sad irony, I suppose, for a company that is supposed to be different from other companies and has seen a wealth of attention, good faith, and investment based on its supposed core values.
