Free Speech or Globalization...Choose One

Sometimes, Google must wonder if the market in China is worth the effort. China has announced that Google is a "vulgar" website  that has failed to curb the pornography (Googleporn?) that can be found via a Google search. As is usual for an autocrat regime, China's accusations are made without evidence, and are made with threats of punishment and shut down. 

Google, of course, is not a "website." It is a search engine that searches other sites. When China complains about "vulgarity" on Google, it is really complaining about vulgarity on the Internet. And I hate to be the one that breaks this to all you hipsters and free traders out there, but China's definition of vulgarity would only appeal to someone to the right of James Dobson. 

Google must think they can work through this, but this is no ordinary corporate disagreement. Google is being challenged by the full weight of the Chinese government. I'm sure the kool kids at Google can be counted on to defend their free speech rights from the imagined oppression of GW Bush, but I have to wonder about their fortitude in the face of a truly oppressive and overweening government. 

China, like any nation with ambition, has long term goals. One of those is economic, political, and cultural dominance over the West, especially the U.S. What happens when China becomes so big that it can dictate, not just what its citizens see on the Internet, but also what we see?