The Empire of Google
Published in El Tiempo
(Colombia) on 24 June 2012
by Editorial (link to original)
(Colombia) on 24 June 2012
by Editorial (link to original)
Translated from
by Esther French.
Edited by Audrey Agot.
As if it were any other government on the planet, Google Inc., the gigantic multinational that practically rules the Internet world, has presented its fifth “transparency report” to international public opinion. The document, which the most celebrated search engine has been publishing since the middle of 2010, reveals details about the requests that particular groups such as governments are used to making so that they can censor certain search results. The number of requests of state origin, according to the report, keeps growing.
But perhaps the most surprising part of this story is that the company, whose slogan is “Don’t be evil” and who firmly believes in the neutrality and democracy of the Web, flatly refuses — with the solidness of a first world state, of an empire — to hinder millions of Web users’ access to information. Google, which immediately pays attention to reasonable petitions such as one for removing from its search engine videos that promote terrorism, has the luxury of saying no to whichever country it wants. In no way is it above the law of any state, but it resists the absurd calls that governments make for censorship.
The report says the following: “And just like every other time before, we’ve been asked to take down political speech. It’s alarming not only because free expression is at risk, but because some of these requests come from countries you might not suspect — Western democracies not typically associated with censorship.” The report puts forth the example of the Canadian government’s request to block a YouTube video in which a citizen urinates on his passport. It also speaks of a U.S. judge who asked that Google take down 218 search results that led to supposedly defamatory websites.
It’s encouraging that Colombia, which a few days ago succeeded in approving a law that fosters the right to public information, does not appear in the list of countries that have solicited Google for censors. Access to information, as Alvin Toffler predicted, will start the wars of the future. And it is best to be prepared for it.
But perhaps the most surprising part of this story is that the company, whose slogan is “Don’t be evil” and who firmly believes in the neutrality and democracy of the Web, flatly refuses — with the solidness of a first world state, of an empire — to hinder millions of Web users’ access to information. Google, which immediately pays attention to reasonable petitions such as one for removing from its search engine videos that promote terrorism, has the luxury of saying no to whichever country it wants. In no way is it above the law of any state, but it resists the absurd calls that governments make for censorship.
The report says the following: “And just like every other time before, we’ve been asked to take down political speech. It’s alarming not only because free expression is at risk, but because some of these requests come from countries you might not suspect — Western democracies not typically associated with censorship.” The report puts forth the example of the Canadian government’s request to block a YouTube video in which a citizen urinates on his passport. It also speaks of a U.S. judge who asked that Google take down 218 search results that led to supposedly defamatory websites.
It’s encouraging that Colombia, which a few days ago succeeded in approving a law that fosters the right to public information, does not appear in the list of countries that have solicited Google for censors. Access to information, as Alvin Toffler predicted, will start the wars of the future. And it is best to be prepared for it.
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