Tensions Flare between Google and China

Source: google.cn

Tensions at at an all-time high between the democratic internet republic of Google and the communist red china, causing Google to alter its policy on censorship of its China search engine, google.cn, search results. Let us take a closer look at why this is so.

Google has accused China of gross misuse and abuse of the Internet. One prime example, Google's spokesman's claims, is that there has been "a highly sophisticated and targeted attack" on Google and over 20 other major business companies worldwide. Sources pinpoint the hackers' motives as stealing the former's software code. "A primary goal of the attackers," as quoted from Google, was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. 

Even more shockingly, this is not surprising. Why should it be? After all, Chinese hackers launch cyber-attacks on businesses, and even government agencies routinely, almost on a daily basis. China has also demanded that Western governments aid them in snooping and prying on alleged human rights activists' email accounts and in their efforts to censor discriminating political online content. In this way, China is making human rights a nothing more than a farce, using the supposedly freedom of speech and opinions native to the Internet as cold, hard evidence to prosecute democrats.  Though Western countries have simply gone along with these policies in the past, Google has taken a bold step forward by it refusal to comply with Beijing's conditions, a refusal that marks the beginning of the fight for Internet freedom of speech.

Reflection:
I disapprove of China's heavy political censorship of the Internet. I believe that people should be allowed to know what they want to know, what they want to think, not what the government wants them to know and wants them to think. Hence, I support Google all the way for daring to be the first to oppose China. 

Furthermore, I find China's methods to restrict online political content and to keep tabs on human rights activists far too extreme and uncalled for. After all, haven't they heard of privacy? As human beings, we should be entitled to our individual privacy, something nothing should take away from us.