It’s not news that Google is a gigantic conglomerate, whose decisions are financial first and foremost. However, this week marks a big change and a decision which was based on what’s right for mankind, and not money.
This week Google decided they will no longer censor their searches in China. This decision was made as a result of the extremely invasive hacks they were subjected to this past December. At first, they thought it was one of the more common and annoying hackers just causing trouble. But after thorough investigation it was found that the Chinese government themselves was the culprit. They were secretly and illegally reading gmails of human rights activists in China to get information.
So they put a Google branch in their country, under the guise of increasing freedoms. Then they they use these Google services to perform illegal surveillances of those people demanding human rights.
Google has announced publicly that it is taking a stand for human rights, and is willing to close their office in China in order to do what’s right. They will undoubtedly lose money from that action. But what they gain in respect points from the rest of us should more than make up for it.
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Great post about Google. Keep up the good work.