Google BS algorithm optimized for China backlash
I'm not so certain about how I feel about this. On the one hand, it's a definite sell-out. On the other hand, is it better to give the Chinese people a little rather than none? I dunno.
Good Morning Silicon Valley: Google BS algorithm optimized for China backlash:
Google's sellout to Beijing (see "It's like watching little Anakin grow into Darth Vader") is an affront to the company's famed promise to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible, but to the company's founders, it's just the price of doing business in one of the world's most vital Internet markets. In an interview with Reuters yesterday, Google's Sergey Brin awkwardly defended the company's decision, saying offering Chinese users occluded search results (Google.cn search returns do indicate where censorship has occurred) is far better than offering them no results at all. "I didn't think I would come to this conclusion -- but eventually I came to the conclusion that more information is better, even if it is not as full as we would like to see," Brin told Reuters. "I know a lot of people are upset by our decision but it is something we have deliberated for a number of years. The practical matter is that over the last couple of years Google in China was censored -- not by us but by the government, via the 'Great Firewall.' It's not something I enjoy, but I think it was a reasonable decision." A reasonable decision particularly if your company's share of the Chinese search market is suffering a bit at the hands of some formidable new competitors.