Google begining to fight censorship?


Economic instead of political

I haven't been so sure about Google lately (avoid the iGoogle Page at all costs!), but this is smart.

The online search giant is taking a novel approach to the problem by asking U.S. trade officials to treat Internet restrictions as international trade barriers, similar to other hurdles to global commerce, such as tariffs.

Google sees the dramatic increase in government Net censorship, particularly in Asia and the Mideast, as a potential threat to its advertising-driven business model, and wants government officials to consider the issue in economic, rather than just political, terms.

“It’s fair to say that censorship is the No. 1 barrier to trade that we face,” said Andrew McLaughlin, Google’s director of public policy and government affairs. A Google spokesman said that McLaughlin has met with officials from the U.S. Trade Representative’s office several times this year to discuss the issue.

Under the circumstances, this is probably the strongest approach they could take.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Mon - June 25, 2007 at 02:55 PM  Tag


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