Googling Orwell

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Feature by Ben Norman - Student Activities & Development officer

Last updated: Thu 23rd Oct 2008 at 11:04

Google China

Ben Norman asks whether search giants’ censorship policies are a sign of the world’s descent into something we may have read about before...

According to the adverts recently run by AOL, ’Orwell was wrong’. The internet has apparently ushered in an epoch where free speech is unrestricted like never before. Its global nature leaves governments powerless against it. We are told that at last ’The power is in the hands of the people’, so lets all calm down, soothe our fears and whilst we’re at it purchase AOL’s new software (RRP $19.99, available in all good computer shops, and some rubbish ones.)

Simultaneously with these adverts , Microsoft’s bi-spectacled billionaire boss Bill Gates stated that in his eyes Orwell’s dystopic vision ’didn’t come true, and I don't believe it will’, which is comforting coming from a man who last year had a net worth of $50 Billion dollars which is more than the GNP of Chile or Egypt and twice that of Guatemala.

To say that Orwell was completely wrong and that 40 years after his death we’ve managed to create a society free of Orwellian terror is an exercise which at best is wishful thinking, At worst, it’s apathy induced naivety. To say that the internet is a safe haven for free speech and liberated from state interference is to forget the recent restrictions that China placed on Google searches, where typing the word ‘democracy’ can result in a one-way ticket to prison.

An example of this is the case of “political subversive” Kong Youping who was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in 2003 for posting articles on the Internet calling for a reassessment of the 1989 pro-democracy movement.

How can a company whose self proclaimed motto is “don’t be evil” actively cooperate with such a regime?

The Chinese government have been attempting to block and monitor internet users with varied success and how has Google responded to this? Did they cry out in the name of free speech? Did they use their great tool of communication to bypass the government and reach the people?

No. Instead Google offered to create a new site, Google.cn which would be self regulating and thus pandered to a government which has been denounced by Amnesty International as being one of the worst human rights offenders.

If any proof of the deplorable, wanton disregard for human right is needed look no further then a BBC report from April this year which claimed that prisoners were being selected for execution so that their organs could be harvested to sell for transplants.

How can a company whose self proclaimed motto is “don’t be evil” actively cooperate with such a regime? The answer quite simply is profit.

When Google was first founded by .com entrepreneurs Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 1998 it was a small operation which attempted to lay claim to the internet’s moral high ground.

Today however Google is a multinational company which is valued on Wall Street at over $100bn, and generates annual profits of $2bn. In order to compete with internet arch-rivals Yahoo who have no such moral scruples, securing the Chinese market is a necessity and to do it Google seem willing to sell any of their moral pretences.

Google spokesman Andrew McLaughlin stated that creating Google.cn is “the best thing for the principles we’re trying to uphold” and that the company was attempting to provide a “Meaningful disclosure” for Chinese users.

Google is a multinational company which is valued on Wall Street at over $100bn, and generates annual profits of $2bn

The only disclosure that Google is providing for the internet users not only in China but across the globe is that the company is willing to place profits before principles.

Human rights violations in China have been well documented and campaigned against by groups such as Amnesty for decades however it must be realised it is not only the far flung foreign governments which will use the internet in such a Machiavellian way.

The same is true in the United States the home of AOL and Bill Gates who publicly rejoice at the freedom they claim the internet has bestowed upon the world.

However it is in the United States where vast government owned computers sift though millions of e-mails searching for phrase which will result in some spotty teenager from Wyoming getting a knock on the door from the FBI.

In 2003 John Mclean received a visit from the FBI Joint Terrorist task force for asking questions about the structure of Chesapeake Bay Bridge, questions which the FBI believed were of danger to national security.

The sinister side of this incident is brought to light when it is realised that John Mclean is in fact 12 years old and was researching a school project.

Not only was the Mclean household searched and computers analysed but the FBI also thought it wise to search the school which had the audacity to give out projects which threaten national security.

It could be argued that China and the USA are unique cases. Chinese human rights violations are nothing new and the USA remains in the grip of post 9/11 paranoia.

It must be remembered however that the Internet is global and any dangers it poses to users in America or China could also be posed closer to home.

We may not have reached a big brother state just yet, but are we on cruising down the information super highway towards it?

It would be wise not to heed optimistic claims that Orwell was wrong, It stands to reason that internet provider AOL and Microsoft Chief Gates are never going to throw their hands up in the air in dismay and regret shouting ‘look what we’ve created’, they’re far too busy profiting from it.