Google founder regrets censoring China

Google founder Sergey Brin told an interviewer that censoring China's search-results at the behest of the totalitarian government in Beijing was a "net negative" for Google. Before this, Google's position on China was the a kind of Orwellian doublespeak: "We have to censor China because they have lots of money and we can't have any without participating in censorship" and "If we censor China but tell Chinese people when they're being censored, they'll clamor for democracy." (Um... yeah... What about if you just send uncensored web-results to China about democracy? Wouldn't that aid the cause of democracy more?)

Since moving into China, Google has been compared to Microsoft because of its dominant position and power. "We are very sensitive to people talking about us in that way," said Mr Brin. Mr Page described the differences between the two technology companies by saying "we have very open partnerships, we are very clear about being fair with revenues."

Link (via Slashdot)

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