Net censorship - bad for business

When governments around the world censor the Internet, restricting the sites their citizens can visit and the content they can see, it clearly has an impact on freedom of speech and of information.

The Associated Press (AP) reports that something a lot more tangible is also at stake: money; and not just anybody's money. Google is lobbying in Washington for the Bush administration's help in fighting off Internet censorship around the world, on the apparently novel ground that censorship is a barrier to trade, like a corrective tariff or an import quota.

Google sees the dramatic increase in government 'net censorship, particularly in Asia and the Middle East, as a potential threat to its advertising-driven business model, and wants government officials to consider the issue in economic, rather than just political, terms. "It's fair to say that censorship is the number one barrier to trade that we face," says Andrew McLaughlin, Google's director of public policy and government affairs.

The article suggests that American officials are guardedly receptive to the idea that a trade dispute may be a more useful way to confront web-censoring states like China, Saudi Arabia or Singapore than, say, hectoring them about human rights.

Last year, Google found itself having to self-censor its Chinese web site to keep it accessible to Chinese users, and it took some heat from human rights activists for doing so. The AP report says the problem is getting worse.

Censorship online has risen dramatically in the past five years, belying the hype of the late 1990s, which portrayed the Internet as largely impervious to government interference. A study released last month by the OpenNet Initiative found that 25 of 41 countries surveyed engage in Internet censorship. That's a dramatic increase from the two or three countries guilty of the practice in 2002. China, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, India, Singapore and Thailand, among others, are increasingly blocking or filtering Web pages.

The article noted that YouTube video postings in particular have been attracting the ire of some countries, notably Turkey and Thailand in recent months. Though it may create headaches for the likes of Google, censorship efforts are anything but foolproof, and Internet users have proven remarkably resourceful in circumventing restrictions on popular content. That rebellious, libertarian streak running through Internet culture has also meant that companies like Google have not tended to put much money or effort into government relations. But The AP report suggests that that is changing.

The company's trade initiative reflects Google's increasing acceptance of the value of federal lobbying. The company didn't hire a lobbyist until 2003, according to public filings, but paid a high-powered Washington based Group $160,000 last year to work on Internet free-speech, tax and other issues.

The most significant point that is tied to this move is the argument that the protection of civil liberties has its benefits not only on humanitarian grounds but also on economic grounds. Therefore, it adds one more reason for businesses and the civil population to unite in the protection of civil liberties and also for governments to look at the issue in a whole new perspective.
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