I know, there are other news in the World, and I am probably not paying enough attention to them. But I can't help it, I've been overclocking for the last 48h trying to understand Google's decision, I have read every single article appeared on the internet since. And I still don't get it.
I want to make this a collaborative page, I will keep it on top and I would appreciate comments with clues and POVs I might have missed. The objective is to come up with reasonable hypothesis and then cross out the wrong ones. I will also add interesting bits of info below as they come out:
Hypothesis: Why did Google stand up to the CCP? (UPDATES Below)
Business: We have seen that, with the info in hand, the decision doesn't make sense from a pure business perspective. Who knows, you might say, perhaps the goodwill earned in the West will end up compensating for the loss of China, perhaps democracy will come soon. Yes, que sera sera. But that's not how decisions are taken in business. There is a profit and a risk to consider, and when the gain is so uncertain and the loss so clear, it doesn't make business sense. More on this below.
Ethical: Yes, “don't do evil”, I know. Hello, all the corporations today have CSR and ethical codes, mine too, even if it is not as cool as Google. But really, a company doesn't have feelings, it doesn't respond to notions like love or ethics . Only people do that. And, in the case of Google, only Page, Brin and Schmidt have that kind of power. Did they suddenly get pangs of conscience and decided to follow their own principles at any cost? Some already suggest this might have been a personal decision influenced by Sergey Brin. More on the personal hypothesis below.
Checkmate: Google has some information about the Chinese industrial espionage activities that is still undisclosed, with evidence that would compromise the CCP, and possibly push it against the wall in some WTO proceeding. The victims include dozens of Western companies, and the crime is so outrageous that all those countries would be forced to stand up to the CCP as well. This could be Google's ace in the hole, and it would explain the style of their blog post. This is the only winning hypothesis for the G. It deserves strong consideration, based on the premise that the 3 leaders of Google are Very Intelligent Guys.
Legal: The muddled style of the message and the bad moment chosen (we should be speaking of Nexus One right now!) makes me think that there might have been some pressing matter that pushed Google to do this. Like we said, the same goodwill could have been obtained by simply uncensoring Google.cn without writing a public accusation to the CCP. Is this a move to deslegitimate the Chinese system and avert an upcoming Chinese lawsuit? Did some of the activists threaten to sue Google for the leaks, or was it the Chinese authorities that were getting dangerous? Google Books? Porn on Google Images?
Political: We saw as well that the most likely political outcome is an increase of censorship in China, a net loss for the employees of Google and the Chinese netizens, and perhaps even a rise of nationalism and protectionist policies . There is no way that this move is going to help the Chinese in the short term. Even if there was: it is not and it can not be the role of a public company to actively engage in politics hand in hand with the US government. Need I remember anyone that the US government is today responsible for evil as severe as the CCP? More news here.
IP Protection: Google might have decided to force its way out of China because really it has detected some theft of IP so severe that it puts in danger the whole business. It is hard to believe that Google is unable to hide its own IP from the Chinese government. We are speaking of the same government that couldn't even come up with a decent filtering software last year. Let's just say this option is unlikely. Update: this hypothesis is stronger after rumour of a CCP mole, see Update 2 below.
Conspirational: Google has something to hide. It is something very big and very very weird, like E. Schmidt is an alien, or an irrecoverable bug has been found on Larry's algorithm, or a Google databank in the US has been held by AlQaida and… and all this noise is just to distract our attention. This would be consistent with the quick messy post at the Google blog.
Personal: Larry Page and Sergey Brin are among the most admired persons in the universe, they are the Gods of the internet. They achieved that at a very young age, and they have spent the last decade sitting on the Google Search cash cow and freely recruiting the best intelligences in the World to conquer the internet and get more universal love than Jesus Christ. Their egos are shooting through the Googolplex roof, and they have decided to bring democracy back, coz them other CEOs don't know how to act. Girl.
Macroeconomic: Google has obtained insider info on the financial position of some Chinese Banks and the superhuman brains of P and B have come up with a new algorithm predicting that the Chinese system is going to collapse tomorrow. They leave while they are still in time, collecting bonus World goodwill and defying a CCP that will not be there this time next year anyway…
各种/壮观:从每日野兽经BoingBoing网站 :“他们知道这中国政府这些攻击背后的原因,因为谷歌给他们的关键”,“你的整个生活,作为谷歌的服务器上存储,可现在是服用有。 “和”谷歌正在试图建立一个分心“也从波斯纳在每日野兽 :红色危险又回来了,,Google阻挠中国的计划,以控制军队黑客世界。
更新: 单位“已经收集了一些信息,谷歌在中国越来越低利润。 这将给予一定重量以上的商业选项。 但是,它仍然没有任何意义。 他们可以有Google.cn刚未经审查,送走了所有的公关喧闹,而不能跨越电子邮件黑客公众指责中共太多。 因为有在Google.com和所有的G服务将被封锁的方式,在谷歌迫使事情是绝对没有的商业利益。 中国可以做的,很容易与桂枝茯苓丸 。
更新2:。 的痣理论 ESWN转化匿名中国博客自称内幕信息:谷歌相信其员工并给他们所有的代码,突然发现员工之一是实际上1中共痣谁是被传递不仅约活动家的信息,但谷歌自己的IP(实际上,从最初的G的职位,也没有明确的两个问题提出谷歌)。
戒指真正的我,解释了为什么在中国所有的员工都被发送假期 。 然而,这不会有太大变化情况。 是不是很明显,谷歌有中共特务一直? 每家公司在这里有工作,矿山,以及中共的成员。 而且很难相信G是如此天真,如不采取预防措施,对这种。
此外,在谷歌工作的人,是最好最好的大学,这些人的高比例是这里的党的成员。 本来令人惊奇的,是在谷歌中国没有痣。
我不认为大不了的痣。 是否被黑客通过痣或通过其他手段是次要的,什么是至关重要的问题是知识产权盗窃的严重性,以及证据的G有,可能涉及的其他公司。 对于本次调查中,这一理论包含在上述知识产权保护选项。
( h/t CDT ) Newsweek interview Eric Schmidt : Decision based on values, not business. 更新3:( H / T CDT )“新闻周刊” 采访时埃里克·施密特 :基于价值观,而不是业务决策。 提到的持不同政见者,而不是技术的知识产权盗窃的监测。 说指定的谷歌谷歌的IPO将是不同的,利润最大化并不是谷歌公司的目标,所以没有对股东的责任。
但是,为什么为什么? 为什么这样一个坏的形式? 他们能有更顺畅,并避免被彻底驱逐来自中国的风险。 为什么现在时相识多年在中国的持不同政见者的治疗? 它使任何区别,如果黑客通过在Gmail的痣或通过Baidumail一旦谷歌走了吗? 和正确的事情是不会打,更好的加密电子邮件,给那些持不同政见者的活路了急需的支持?
随时提出其他的假设,或者只是投下面:
(投票结束)
为什么你认为谷歌离开中国吗?
- 商业(26%,24票)
- 国际象棋(26%,24票)
- 个人(15%,14票)
- 政治(15%,14票)
- 知识产权保护(14%,13票)
- 道德(14%,13票)
- 各种/晚会(7%,6票)
- 宏观经济(5%,5票)
- conspirational(5%,5票)
- 法律(1%,1票)
选民总数:91
载入中...