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Delivered-To: clips@philodox.com
Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 08:43:23 -0500
To: Philodox Clips List
From: "R. A. Hettinga"
Subject: [Clips] Don't be Google
Reply-To: rah@philodox.com
Sender: clips-bounces@philodox.com
http://www.townhall.com/print/print_story.php?sid=184032&loc=/opinion/columns/debrasaunders/2006/01/26/184032.html
Townhall.com
Don't be Google
By Debra Saunders
Jan 26, 2006
Google gives life to the Eric Hoffer observation, "People who bite the hand
that feeds them usually lick the boot that kicks them."
Google painted itself as heroic in refusing to help the U.S. Department of
Justice's efforts to reinstate a 1998 federal Child Online Protection Act,
then revealed that it was going to help the Chinese government suppress
free speech. That sort of goes against the company's informal corporate
motto, "Don't be evil."
I realize how eager those in the Bay Area are to believe that the evil
Bush administration wants to double as Big Brother and eavesdrop on
well-meaning peaceniks. So it doesn't matter that the DOJ isn't looking for
information on individual accounts -- but instead wanted data on how the
Internet is used during a given week to see how users access porn.
Personally, I'd be more supportive of the Department of Justice's subpoena
if the feds were trying to locate specific individuals --
child-porn-aholics, for instance -- just as I would support a government
subpoena for bank accounts used to launder mob money. My issue with the
subpoena -- and I agree with Google on this -- is that it asks for a huge
chunk of information to support the government in a civil suit. It's a
fishing expedition, in which corporate America provides free research.
Yahoo and Microsoft, however, were able to comply. A Yahoo spokesperson
said the company did not release personally identifiable information.
Care about rights? Be it noted that exposing children to porn on the
Internet violates their parents' rights. Still, Google emerged from the
controversy as a defender of privacy. Columnist Robert Scheer in
Wednesday's San Francisco Chronicle duly lauded Google's refusal to comply
with the Justice Department's request, as he wrote that the "latest
high-tech upstart giant dared to challenge the government's claim of an
unbridled right to break into our information-age virtual homes." The
Washington Post's Eugene Robinson described the subpoena as "more of an
Orwellian threat than the National Security Agency's snooping on phone
calls and e-mails."
You have to marvel at Google's great marketing ploy. The company amasses
founts of information on users of its service. Yet, by riding on the
coattails of anti-Bush sentiment, Google claims the mantle of champion of
privacy rights. "We intend to resist (the government's) motion vigorously,"
said a Google lawyer in a statement.
All hail Google. The Google-philes fawn as if bashing the Bushies in the
Bay Area is an act of courage, when it's the most popular -- and probably
profitable -- thing a company can do.
Meanwhile, back in Beijing, Google has agreed to filter out sites that the
Chinese government doesn't like. The Chinese government won't have to rely
on its fleet of monitoring devices that block out "subversive" content from
the West, such as information on the Tiananmen Square protest, Tibet and
Taiwan. Google will do the dirty work.
The Mountain View, Calif., company will withhold e-mail and blogging
services, it says, to protest the Chinese filtering. A Google statement
explained that "while removing search results is inconsistent with Google's
mission, providing no information" is "more inconsistent."
It may be only a matter of time before Google starts acting like other
Internet providers that also censor for China. Last year, Yahoo helped the
Chinese government prosecute a dissident reporter. This month, Microsoft
shut down a pesky blog. As The Associated Press reported, Microsoft's
service in China bars such terms as "democracy" and "human rights."
Here's a thought: Google could ban the phrase, "Don't be evil." I
understand that Google wants to make a profit. I just don't know how
company execs garner the image of little guys standing up to big, bad
government.
Google can say no to the Bushies and know that it won't lose any business,
its executives won't go to jail and their children will not get run over by
tanks. In the country where those things could happen, Google is a
collaborator.
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R. A. Hettinga
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation http://www.ibuc.com/
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
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--
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R. A. Hettinga
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation http://www.ibuc.com/
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'