Google CEO Eric Schmidt today defended Google's active censorship of political expression in China using the same false dichotomy that Microsoft so infamously employed. Here's Schmidt's reasoning:
I think it's arrogant for us to walk into a country where we are just beginning to operate and tell that country how to operate.Schmidt presumes that Google has only two choices, and that by choosing #2, Google is behaving morally and humbly:
False Choice #1 -- Arrogance -- Google dictates to China how China will operate
False Choice #2 -- Humility -- Google meekly follows China's orders and actively designs technology to censor thoughtcrime
But of course that is a false dilemma because Google has choices beyond these two fake options. For example, Google could continue to operate google.com even though it's sometimes blocked by China's firewall. Or Google could run google.cn, but without censoring results. Or Google could opt out of the Chinese market until Google can provide information without censoring political thought.
Nobody is arguing that Google should or could dictate China's laws to China. That's patently absurd, and for Schmidt to raise this as a strawman argument appears either naive or dishonest -- neither of which speaks very well for the leader of one of the most important organizations on the planet.
My 11-year-old daughter heard about Google's censorship at school, and knowing that I've been a raving fan of Google, asked me in disbelief if it's true. An 11-year-old can see that censoring legitimate political expression is wrong.
It takes a Ph.D in computer science to defend the indefensible and rationalize this one away.
It's Google's choice to actively censor political thought in China, which is prima facie evil. Even a sixth-grader can see that.