Google on Chinese Censorship

[Aemilius Paulus]

Hmm, too bad for Google and the Chinese people. I have seen this in the news a few days ago and was shocked. What sort of sane for-profit corporation discard a market of the size of China? Surely they are not pretending to be moral?

Supposing I was a Chinese national, I would be saddened by this, as Google provides far more relevant results than any other search engine I have tried. Gmail is just about the best mail I have ever tried, and nearly all of my computer enthusiast friends concede on this point. Now, Google Shopping is rubbish, but that is another discussion. For the sake of brevity, Google provides superb service to any-one with a computer and Internet. I feel that Google was correct in their initial statements, that the benefits outweighed the moral implications.

Not to mention, numerous other countries censor results. In Arab countries, some Google results are censored, although AFAIK, the censorship is by the government authorities and not Google itself. Surely there is something else behind this declaration of the cessation of service? Or perhaps Google is not revealing the full scale of the alleged "attacks"?

[Subotan]

I'm just praying that Google will pull through OK.

[drone]

Surely there is something else behind this declaration of the cessation of service? Or perhaps Google is not revealing the full scale of the alleged "attacks"?

Google is now defaulting Gmail to HTTPS. Probably should have started that way, but

Maybe companies are finally learning that dealing with the Chinese government is not worth the hassle, cost, or risk.

[A Very Super Market]

Mein gott, this is going to make my summer dragging's across the Pacific even worse.

China needs a good economic disaster to rile everyone up. That, or if industry starts moving into other places with too many bodies for any domestic product.

[Subotan]

China needs a good economic disaster to rile everyone up..

This. Some nice good old fashioned inflation would, and I think will, destroy the CCP.

M That, or if industry starts moving into other places with too many bodies for any domestic product.

India? Burma? Or dare I say it; Africa?

[Aemilius Paulus]

Maybe companies are finally learning that dealing with the Chinese government is not worth the hassle, cost, or risk.

Heh, yes, Economist ran an article several months ago about the immense difficulties of running profitable businesses in China. Very difficult - competition, corruption, illegal favouritism for native companies, red tape and overall inflexible as well as illiberal economic laws and regulations. And China is not exactly and unexplored market either, well, not overmuch so. For nearly everything Western companies make, the Chinese have a cheaper, indigenous counterpart. Or a knock-off.

Not to mention, let us not confuse trade with business. I doubt you meant to say we should stop trading with China - you merely said that actually selling in China was difficult. (correct me if I am wrong)

[drone]

For nearly everything Western companies make, the Chinese have a cheaper, indigenous counterpart. Or a knock-off.

The SOP is to offer a large marketplace and workforce, the only cost is your methods and IP through industrial espionage or "third shifts". Which kinda negates the "large marketplace" portion of the deal...

[Vladimir]

Hmm, too bad for Google and the Chinese people. I have seen this in the news a few days ago and was shocked. What sort of sane for-profit corporation discard a market of the size of China? Surely they are not pretending to be moral?

BBCA discussed this last night. A sane for-profit corporation discards a market that isn't profitable, regardless of size.

[KukriKhan]

Don Corleone has some personal experience conducting electronics business (or trying to) in China. Maybe he can offer some perspective.

[Beskar]

He left the forums in a fit of rage calling everyone eunuch Americans because they got no... well... you can add it up.

Also why Lemur had the tag-line "Eunuch American" for quite a while.

[Kadagar_AV]

He left the forums in a fit of rage calling everyone eunuch Americans because they got no... well... you can add it up.

Also why Lemur had the tag-line "Eunuch American" for quite a while.

He def left a legacy with that term!

[Kurando]

Don Corleone has some personal experience conducting electronics business (or trying to) in China. Maybe he can offer some perspective.

Ahh, that makes sense. I was wondering what that "Five Year Plan" post on Don Corleone's blog was all about...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[al Roumi]

Don Corleone has some personal experience conducting electronics business (or trying to) in China. Maybe he can offer some perspective.

I'll not purport to be a substitiute for a former/inactive Orgah, but I used to work for a UK manufacturer exporting to China. Our marketing strategy included sponsored links on local search engines. In the UK & US that meant Google, in Japan Yahoo and in China Baidu. This was 2 years ago but back then our Chinese employees were of the view that Baidu was bigger (or perhaps, I have to acknowledge, more appropriate) than Google.

Google could have grown in the last couple of years -does anyone know what the latest market share stats are for search engines in China? Or is that also classified by the PRC?

[drone]

Don't forget that Google's customers are not the users, it's the advertisers. So while there are lots of potential eyes for the ads, the ROI from advertising income might not be that high. I am not a bloodsucking toolmarketing exec, but I would imagine that the per-hit rate would be lower in China than the US or Western Europe. Given the large server and bandwidth costs for handling China's population, it might not be worth it when you stick the IP/PR risks on top.

[aimlesswanderer]

I have seen figure that suggest that Google has(had?) anything from 18-30% of the Chinese market. Baidu apparently has pretty much the rest, and they apparently have good 'connections' with the CCP. Given that there are many hurdles (government, regulatory, bribery 'entertainment expenses', etc) for furrin companies operating in China, Google have done well, and that share of a massive and growing market is nothing to scoff at.

[Whacker]

Bah.

I don't believe for one iota of a second that Google is doing this because of human rights or their hollow "do no evil" motto.

Google is a business, and will always look for a profit margin.

As pointed out by others, this turn of events is because of one or both of 1. they are not turning enough or any profit compared with operating costs and 2. pressure from both US and Chinese governments, in the form of national security BS. I have no doubt that Chinese hackers are trying to get in to Google's systems, they've been trying for years and years and years (and sometimes succeeding) to get into US government ones. People don't realize there's a cyber-cold war going on right now, and has been for a few years.