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Google v China 2015

29 Jun 2010 by Graham Lyons - News , , No Comments


The year is 2015 and the world is a very different place…

It all began, back in January 2010 when China was allegedly the source of a cyber attack on Google. The resulting fall out saw Google redirecting its users to Google.com.hk, their Hong Kong based site which, unlike Google.cn, was uncensored. A tense political stand-off followed which saw the Chinese government calling this situation ‘unacceptable’ and that Google must do something. The life of Google in China hung in the balance and after some political wrangling; Google placated the Chinese government by closing the redirect and providing a link to Google.com.hk on the Google.cn page. Not knowing if this would be accepted by the Chinese and with Google having just submitted its internet licence renewal application, Google.cn users and lovers of free search everywhere held their breath…

…Meanwhile in the Congo, around the same time, Apple was answering some awkward questions in regards to ‘conflict minerals’. The crucial mineral ‘tantalum’ was causing serious turmoil in the region, with new atrocities unearthed weekly by the world’s media, and with fingers firmly pointed at tech manufacturers like Apple who use ‘tantalum’ in their hi-tech new hardware, to do something about the issues, pressure on CEO Steve Jobs was mounting…

Today is a different world entirely; we have been at war for several years now. The war in the East was instigated by Google on the back of China turning down their internet licence application after the ‘Freedom of Search Uprising’ which grew in China against all areas of search censorship. The blocking of access to YouTube and Facebook caused an unprecedented political and social backlash in China as the government underestimated the power of social media, which was the catalyst for the uprising. Soldier Googlebots were quickly developed via Google Wave and joined the Uprising in the East and have also provided Google Map intel to the Uprising forces.

In the Congo, Apple CEO Steve Jobs, in the wake of the increasing ‘tantalum’ debate has moved into his new position as President of The Congo. After a typo on his iPhone 4 in a reply to a blog on the ‘conflict mineral’ scandal, he inadvertently ran for President and won. Having seen him on YouTube the people of the Congo backed him due to his stance on human rights (and Flash) and he won by a landslide. Relishing the new challenge he is readying his iGov to end conflict in the country and make supplies of ‘tantalum’ open sourced. He has also lined up Congo to be the first nation which is a completely enveloped WiFi hotspot.

These are heady times.

In all seriousness, these big companies are getting bigger and more powerful in so many different fields. How long is it before they wield too much power to handle? And do we trust them?



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