Google has been running a top-secret project, codenamed Dragonfly, to launch a controversial, censor-friendly version of its popular search engine in China, according to investigative journalism Web site the Intercept, which published an expose on Aug. 1. The revelations, courtesy of a Google whistleblower, have sparked a public backlash and a significant employee revolt by Google staff concerned the plan compromises the company’s principles and is at odds with its unofficial motto: “Don’t be evil.”
Google execs appear to be in damage control mode after a letter highly critical of project Dragonfly attracted signatures of more than 1,400 Google employees. Details of a recent internal staff meeting, in which Google CEO Sundar Pichai reportedly told employees the plan to re-launch Google search in China is “exploratory” and in the “early stages,” were “leaked” to Bloomberg. “We are not close to launching a search product in China and whether we would do so or could so (sic) is all very unclear,” Pichai reportedly said.
However, Pichai’s explanation runs contrary to information handed to the Intercept, which details how teams at Google have been working on project Dragonfly since spring last year. Several censored versions of Google’s Android search app have already been developed and demonstrated to the Chinese government, according to the source.
Photo: Reuters
照片:路透
Pichai reportedly travelled to China in December last year to meet with high-level Chinese Communist Party officials and, according to the whistleblower, employees were recently told they should have it ready to be “brought off the shelf and quickly deployed.” Despite Pichai’s attempt to play down progress, it seems Google is determined to re-enter China. This raises several questions.
First, there is a significant risk of causing self-inflicted reputational damage. Google famously pulled out of China in 2010, where its search engine is currently blocked, at the time citing the Chinese government’s efforts to limit free speech and block Web sites, as well as a cyber attack on its Gmail email service, as reasons for its departure. Since 2010 and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s rise, the political situation in China has deteriorated, with ever tighter limits on free speech, widespread crackdowns on dissidents and stringent censorship of online content. Having previously taken the moral high ground — and won kudos for doing so — how will Google avoid sustaining reputational damage if it re-enters a country whose record on human rights is demonstrably worse than when it left?
Second, how can Google compete against established local competitors, such as Baidu, following a “lost decade” shut out of the market? When Google exited China (although it continues to maintain a small amount of office space), it had less than 30 percent market share of the online search market, while homegrown Baidu had more than 76 percent. Baidu’s market share currently stands at 73 percent. Even worse, many Western companies operating in China often complain they are not competing on a level playing field with their local counterparts, due to enforced technology transfers, pervasive industrial espionage and state-support for strategically important Chinese companies. Google will clearly face an uphill struggle to break back into the market.
Perhaps most significant of all, by re-entering China on Beijing’s terms, Google may be inadvertently handing a major political coup to Xi and other totalitarian regimes around the world. “Make no mistake,” said Michael Posner, a professor of ethics and finance at New York University’s Stern School of Business speaking to CNBC. “This will be a huge victory for the Chinese government and anyone else who wants to severely restrict the Internet.”
(Edward Jones, Taipei Times)
根據調查性新聞網站「攔截」八月一日揭露的報導指出,Google正在進行一項行動代號名為「Dragonfly」的最高機密計畫,讓該公司的人氣搜尋引擎在中國推出適用審查制度的爭議性版本。這份由一名Google告密者披露的消息,引發大眾強烈反對,以及Google員工極大的反彈聲浪,他們擔憂此計畫違背公司原則,並悖離Google的非官方座右銘「不作惡」。
在一封超過一千四百名員工署名支持、強烈批判Dragonfly計畫的信件曝光後,Google管理階層似乎已開始進行損害控制。該公司日前內部員工會議的細節遭洩漏給彭博社,據聞Google執行長孫達爾‧皮查伊在會議中向員工表示,他們在中國重啟Google搜尋引擎的計畫「還在勘察中」,目前尚處於「早期發展階段」。據稱,他也指出:「目前距離我們在中國推出搜尋產品還有一段路,而且是否或能否實行仍然是未知數。」
不過,皮查伊的解釋與「攔截」網站收到的情報背道而馳,該網站詳述了Google團隊如何從去年春天開始投入Dragonfly計畫。根據消息來源指出,Google已為安卓介面開發出多個自我審查版的搜尋程式,並向中國政府示範操作。
據聞,皮查伊去年十二月曾前往中國會見多名高階中國共產黨官員,而且根據告密者指出,公司員工最近還被告知要將產品準備好,隨時「可從架上拿下來,迅速進行配置。」儘管皮查伊試圖淡化這項進展,看起來Google仍然決定重新進入中國市場,而這暴露出幾個問題。
首先,此舉具有極大風險,很可能導致Google自作自受遭到商譽損害。二○一○年,Google大動作退出中國──該公司的搜尋引擎至今仍然在當地遭到封鎖──那時,指證歷歷地舉出中國政府多項限制言論自由的舉措、封鎖網頁,以及Gmail電子郵件服務遭到網路攻擊,作為離開中國的理由。自二○一○年以來,隨著中國國家主席習近平攀升到權力頂峰,言論自由更加受到緊縮、異議份子廣受鎮壓,網路內容遭到嚴格審查,中國的政治情勢顯然已持續惡化。如果Google重新踏入這個人權紀錄明顯比當年離開時還要更差的國家,那麼這間曾在道德上處於居高點的公司──還曾因此贏得尊敬──如何避免遭受商譽損害?
其二,被擋在市場門外的「失落十年」過後,Google打算如何與百度這些已具規模的當地對手競爭?儘管Google至今在中國仍留有少量的辦公室空間,但該公司離開中國當時,市佔率在網路搜尋市場上已低於百分之三十,土生土長的百度當時握有的市佔率則超過百分之七十六,而且目前還維持在百分之七十三的高點。更糟的是,中國強制性的技術轉移、滲透各處的產業間諜行為,以及國家對重要戰略性地位公司提供的支持,使得許多在中國營運的西方公司經常抱怨他們無法和當地的對手站在公平賽場上競爭。顯然,Google會在重回此市場的上坡路段遭遇重重挑戰。
或許最值得注意的是,藉由接受北京當局條件回到中國市場同時,Google可能會不慎把一場重大的政變局面親手讓給習近平和世界上的其他獨裁政權。「不用懷疑」,紐約大學史特恩商學院的財政學與倫理學教授麥可‧波斯納向CNBC表示:「這絕對會是中國政府以及任何企圖嚴苛限制網路者的巨大勝利。」
(台北時報章厚明譯)
Follow up 課後練習
Facebook’s China charm offensive falls flat
In addition to Google, other major US tech companies including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have also been blocked over the years by China’s Internet police.
Perhaps no CEO has tried harder than Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to woo Chinese leaders in an attempt to regain access to China’s nearly 670 million-strong online population after the social networking site was blocked in 2009.
Zuckerberg’s charm offensive has included trying to learn Chinese, delivering a speech to Chinese students in broken Mandarin, meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and even hosting China’s propaganda chief Liu Yunshan (劉雲山) on a tour of Facebook’s US headquarters. During the visit, Zuckerberg gestured to a book strategically positioned on his office desk: an anthology of speeches and comments by none other than Liu’s boss, Xi.
On one visit to China Zuckerberg even posted a photo of himself jogging through a smog-filled Tiananmen Square, without a face mask — normally an indispensable accessory in Beijing — on a day the air pollution index in the capital was registering 15 times higher than WHO safe levels. However, despite Zuckerberg’s best efforts, Facebook remains unable to break through the “Great Firewall of China.”
(Edward Jones, Taipei Times)
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