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Role Of Search Engines In China

In China, the Chinese Government’s internet censorship policy has raised international concern about freedom of expression and human rights violations in a country that has historically obstructed the free flow of information. Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the Internet censorship regime employed by the Chinese government is the complicity of major American companies in facilitating the process. Any U.S. company who chooses to do business there is going to be stuck in a very hard position of trying to figure out how to handle the repressive Chinese regime, particularly with respect to civil rights, civil liberties and human rights, while doing business there. Ultimately, U.S. companies in China face a choice: follow Chinese law, or leave. Although operating in China may benefit the stakeholders and improve global reach, I believe that the U.S. internet companies have a social and ethical duty to withdraw from operations in China if it requires the prevention of freedom of expression and pursuit of knowledge even if they must forgo profit.
In order to discuss any social or ethical duties a U.S. internet company must perform, it is necessary to define the public function and responsibility of a U.S. internet company. Internet search engines hold a privileged place in the realm of information technology. They are like gates to the web and tend to be largely ignored because we are focused on what we get through them. Unlike gates, it is much more difficult to tell when search engines are providing distorted or incomplete pictures.
The first main function of the internet search engine companies is to assemble and organize the Web’s information. The vast amount of information available on the Web would be almost useless without search engines, since they are integral in access to information. The challenge in information retrieval is not simply to find the right piece of information, but also to avoid listing all the pieces of extraneous information....