互联网时代的中国将会怎样变化 谷歌对中国政府的这个“将军”，会不会成为影响世界历史进程的一步棋？现在做出判断应该还是为时过早。最关键的还是要看国内政治格局和政治势力的较量。谷歌或许会给那些立志将中国做大做强的改革者一个好的契机，让他们趁机在意识形态的逐步放开方面做些工作。在中国经济已经发展到目前这种状态下，很多“历史性”的意识形态思想，是到了该改变一些的时候了。否则，中国经济的继续和深入发展也将变得更加艰难。 中国政府应该看到， 度的“让步”，并不是自己对美国的让步和害怕，而是与时俱进，变革自己的需要。美国人支持的并不一定都是坏事。 政治相关的消息，对于中国人的价值已经不再仅仅只是具有政治意义了。很多政治信息的及时获得，是确保金融投资和实业投资成功的基础和关键。作为一个政府，你怎厶能够知道，哪些信息是只有政治意义而没有经济意义的呢？如果你不知道，你又怎厶能够确保自己的“截肢”工作就没有破坏性呢？ 度减少对意识形态方面的强调，是中国成为一个大国的基础。再者，在这个互联网如此发达的时代，需要知道信息的人实际上都有畅通的渠道获得必须的信息。“截肢”工作损害的是那些无辜者。增加的是自己的成本开支，得不偿失。 不过，这次的“谷歌行动”，对于那些顽固的既得利益者，可能也是一次让中国倒退的机会。他们这些人可能会以此为借口，来继续捍卫很多实际上只是能够保证他们既得利益的“形态”。 中国的反腐年年做，腐败年年有的政治格局，实际上就在于政治方面的改革不够，政治改革严重滞後于经济改革。政治改革的成功应该是为经济改革护航的，可是，现在看来，这种护航的工作还是没有做好。 2010年对于中国是一个机会多于危机的年份，只是不要将机会变成危机才好。 附录∶Yahoo! Welcomes Google's China Move 1:53 AM ET 1/13/10 | Dow Jones WASHINGTON (AFP)--A Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) spokeswoman on Wednesday welcomed Google Inc.'s (GOOG) decision not to submit to censorship in China, as analysts said it wasn't immediately certain if other U.S. technology giants follow Google's lead.
The Yahoo! spokeswoman welcomed Google's decision and stressed that Yahoo!, "while maintaining a financial investment," had sold its China business and no longer has "operational control" over Yahoo! China.
"Yahoo! is committed to protecting human rights and takes our users privacy and security very seriously," the spokeswoman said. "We condemn any attempts to infiltrate company networks to obtain user information.
"We stand aligned with Google that these kinds of attacks are deeply disturbing and strongly believe that the violation of user privacy is something that we as Internet pioneers must all oppose," she said.
"China is one of the fastest-growing markets in the world," said Rob Enderle of Silicon Valley's Enderle Group. "It is a hard one to walk away from.
"Going against a government is problematic," Enderle said. "If you want to do business in China you have to follow their rules, and China's rules are particularly onerous."
Google, Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Yahoo! have come under attack in recent years from rights groups, members of the U.S. Congress and others, accused of abetting a Web censorship machine dubbed the "Great Firewall of China."
China exercises strict control over the Internet, blocking sites linked to Chinese dissidents, the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement, the Tibetan government-in-exile and those with information on the 1989 Tiananmen massacre.
A Cisco spokesman said the company had no comment on Google's announcement it would no longer filter Web search results in China after g-mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists around the world were hit by cyberattacks.
Microsoft declined to comment on Google's move, other than to say it has "no indication that any of our mail properties have been compromised."
There was no immediate reply from Apple to a request for comment.
Apple was reported last month to be blocking iPhone users in China from downloading applications about two figures Beijing considers separatists: the Dalai Lama, and exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer.
Danny O'Brien of the San Francisco-based Electronic Freedom Foundation said he hopes "other tech companies will follow Google's lead."
"Too many of them have been willing to comply with Chinese demands that they check their values at the border," O'Brien said in a blog post.
Clothilde Le Coz, Washington director of Reporters Without Borders, which organized a "World Day Against Cyber Censorship" in March along with Amnesty International, welcomed Google's move but said it was too early to say what impact it would have.
"It's courageous. It's something positive in favor of freedom of expression," she said. "But it's not immediately clear that others will follow and whether Google.cn not censoring its results will lead to more information becoming available in China."
Google said it had decided to no longer censor Web search results in China after g-mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists around the world were targeted by "highly sophisticated" cyberattacks "originating from China."
Google chief legal officer David Drummond also said Google might be forced to leave China.
"These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered--combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the Web--have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China," he said.
Leslie Harris, president of the Center for Democracy & Technology, praised Google for taking a "bold and difficult step for Internet freedom in support of fundamental human rights," and noted that Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! were all members of the "Global Network Initiative," or GNI, formed in late 2008.
GNI brings together Internet companies, human rights organizations, academics and investors and commits the technology firms to "protect the freedom of expression and privacy rights of their users."
During a visit to China in November, U.S. President Barack Obama pushed for an unshackled Internet, saying he was a "strong supporter of open Internet use" and a "big supporter of non-censorship." |
