Byebye Google.

[opionion]Google's recent decision to comply with the Chinese Governments "requirements" have brought things to a head for me. I'm not going to use Google anymore. I don't want anything to do with a company that is prepared to accommodate repression like this.

By doing this Google is setting itself at odds with humanity. It's saying "nevermind the repression, nevermind the intolerance and the injustice, there's 100 million internet users in China and we want a slice". Of course the stated excuse is "we're helping the free flow of information around the world" except it's not free and barely flowing in China.

You could justify this by suggesting that to move in with the tyrant is in fact an attempt to help the tyrant become less tyrannical by force of good example. Except this isn't what happened here. One of the Google execs appeared on Channel 4 News last year and said "we will not compromise with the Chinese Government"! What changed?

Also worthy of note is that in all the crowing, sneering news stories I heard yesterday all reporting on Google's caving in, not one mentioned the fact that Yahoo and Microsoft are also busy helping the same Government repress free speech and knowledge.

So Google join the ranks of the seduced. Just another company that couldn't keep it's principles in the face of money.



Byebye Google.