Google's control in China also involves protectionism _it industry

The FT Andrew Edgecliff-Johnson (Andrew Edgecliffe-johnson) Davos report
Sergey Brin, founder and Technology chief executive of Google, the US search engine, said in Friday that China's attempts to "purify" the Internet by imposing stringent controls on websites such as Google might be driven not just by ideology but also by protectionist reasons.
"I think many of these challenges and controls may have been a side effect of lobbying by local Chinese competitors," Mr Brin told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, economic Forum. ”
Google has previously decided to review its Chinese version of its Web site to meet Chinese authorities ' rules. This decision has aroused widespread controversy. Commenting on the issue, Brin added: "From a commercial standpoint, the decision to enter the Chinese market is purely negative, and it leads to damage to our reputation elsewhere in the world." ”
"I was born in the Soviet Union under Communist rule," Brin said. Those who have felt the oppression instinctively refuse to compromise. ”
However, he changed his mind when he found a better way to provide Google services to China and negotiated with the Chinese. In China, Google does not store the user's personal information.
"In fact, their feelings are very different, including those who have lived in Tiananmen Square for 1989 years." They are indeed proud of what China has accomplished over the past 20 years. ”
Brin admits that Google has not made the expected progress in the Chinese market. In the Chinese market, it ranked after Baidu, ranked second.
Larry Page, Google's product chief, hinted, however, that Google would not pull out of China. "As a company, I do not want to make what we think is wrong with the fear of reputational damage," he said. ”
Google, the two co-founder, points out that the company has faced similar challenges outside China. Different Internet service providers are treated differently depending on how their data networks are used. Mr Page says unless such networks accept the principle of "network neutrality" (net neutrality), they will not bring them economic benefits.
"In the end, we will pay the cost of productivity. ”
He added that it was hard for Google to tell whether the network was running slowly because of a real technical glitch or "should be".
At the moment, Silicon Valley is stepping up its lobbying for net neutrality, and many executives are trying to persuade political leaders to Silicon the issue as a trade issue.