If you haven’t heard, there’s big news on the Google Blog about malicious attacks and Google’s future in China. Please take a minute to read the post.
I wanted to add three things:
- I work for Google fighting abuse, but I’m not involved in this so I can’t tell you anything more than what you see on the blog. If I was involved, then I definitely couldn’t tell you more. Standard disclaimers apply.
- I am very proud to work for a company with such a commitment to openness and free speech.
- I’ve worked with some folks from our Beijing office, and in my experience they are smart, capable people committed to serving users and helping people get the information they are searching for. I hope everything works out for them.
Yes, this has been a huge thing in China. I hear my fellow Chinese librarians, information professionals, professors, and many many others cry. They seemed to have lost hope. As you know, the Great Firewall has blocked YouTube, Twitter, FaceBook, and now even major translation websites and Chinese blogging site. My friends whose topics were about cataloging or Web 2.0 are even blocked or domain name killed.
But they are proud of Google’s being brave enough to fight.