Zen of Emerging Events
Don't be Evil. That is, I've read, Google corporation's informal motto. I imagine it sounded good at the time. Google is having second thoughts
Think Again: Google - foreignpolicy.com about its Chinese market initiatives.
Google: we compromised our principles. Maybe a search engine that pretends not to know about things it does know about, isn't evil, but it ain't good either. While Sergey is walking the cat back from ledge, let's see if we can craft them an alternative slogan. How about: Don't be evil, unless it pays. Sounds like the sort of thing the average person could live with. China had briefly cut Google.cn off, and has been trying to build up its own Baidu counter initiative. "Meeting with reporters near Capitol Hill, Brin said Google agreed to the censorship demands only after Chinese authorities blocked its service. He noted that Google's rivals in China accommodated the same demands -- which Brin described as "a set of rules that we weren't comfortable with"" -- without international criticism."
MercuryNews.com | 06/07/2006 | Brin: Google `compromised' principles (this is the orignal AP story). Taking nothing away from Mr. Brin who is a very rich man, but this is not entirely true. Yahoo has gotten its share of bad press
Yahoo's Dirty Secret. US.Amnesty International has a petition against Yahoo
Yahoo! Don't Violate Human Rights | AIUSA. Further Reporters Without Borders (Reporters San Frontieres) weighing in on 22 June 2006: "...found Yahoo! to be the clear worst offender in censorship tests the organisation carried out on Chinese versions of Internet search engines Yahoo!, Google, MSN as well as their local competitor Baidu."
Reporters sans frontières - China. The Washington Post's angle on the same event was Net Neutrality: Brin came to lobby members of Congress about "network neutrality" -- the idea that phone and cable companies should not be allowed to block legal Web sites or slow down or otherwise discriminate against the ever-increasing volume of Internet content that surges over their networks.
"Americans are about to get a real choice to cable TV. But is Google going to blow it up?" said one print advertisement paid for by TV4US, a group whose financial backers include AT&T Inc., the largest U.S. phone company.
Brin said he had learned only yesterday [emphasis added] about the print ad -- which has a TV twin that has been running in Washington markets -- and he appeared surprised when asked if Google might run its own campaign to fight back
"I think it's worth a conversation. I am probably naive. I was very surprised to see this," he said.
Google Is A Tourist In D.C., Brin Finds
The past month was a seminar on how PR works. One that Sergey Brin didn't even know he was signed up for. Leaving it to Tim Berners-Lee to take up the slack with the only straight clear definition of net neutrality I've heard through the entire congressional/national debate.
Net Neutrality: This is serious | Decentralized Information Group (DIG) Breadcrumbs. The difficulties seen in China reminded me of this piece in the NYT from earlier this month
Online Throngs Impose a Stern Morality in China - New York Times on forces within Chinese society which the Chinese authoritys know they must keep within certain boundaries. a tiger they have attempted to ride before and may not really wish to see rise again. When the mob rules only the mob rules. In addition to this Nicholas Kristof, the New York Times columnist, has created Chinese-language web logs on the Web portals Sohu (SOHU.O) and Sina (SINA.O)
Blogs test political limits of Internet in China. On these: "Nicholas Kristof denounced the imprisonment of his Chinese colleague, Zhao Yan, and called for President Hu Jintao to set an example in the fight against corruption by disclosing his financial assets." Just to see what would happen. Atomized Jr is a polite cross cultural friendly web log that never mentions d*m*cr*cy in a conversation unless others have brought that subject up first. At the same time Atomized Jr believes it is not the role of governments simply to enforce order and harmony, because it seems to Atomized (as the poet noted) bees can do that already, and without politicians and parties. Events can move with a speed like the wind across the land, this can be a problem when consideration moves slower. Prudent and mindful of priviledge. A bill put under consideration by China's national legislature would require journalists to "seek permission from local authorities before reporting riots, disasters, strikes or outbreaks of disease".
Censors tighten grip on bearers of bad tidings - World - Times Online. Which would leave what, sports scores and party meeting minutes?
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