Does The iPad Work In Healthcare?

When the original iPhone was announced back in 2007 I was contacted by a member of the medical industry who believed that the phone, with it’s large touchscreen, Wi-Fi connectivity and simplicity, would be the future for a paperless medical system. He believed that hospital staff would no longer require paper and patients’ notes would [...]

The Google Conspiracy: How Google caused an international incident and why

On January 12, 2010, Google announced that a major attack launched against its network from hackers inside China (aimed at exposing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists) had prompted it to consider abandoning its Chinese operations and reconsider its 2006 agreement with the Chinese government to censor search results in the country.

“Google is failing in its mission to make the world’s information accessible and useful to Chinese Internet users”₁ was a line used by the Vice President for Global Communications and Public Affairs in 2006. Less than four years later in January of 2010 Google announced that due to “a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on [their] corporate infrastructure originating from China… [Google is] no longer willing to continue censoring [their] results on Google.cn”₂ . Since then things have progressed. China has completely denied any involvement in the so-called cyber crimes ₃ and Google CEO Eric Schmidt, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland has said that he hopes “to apply some negotiation or pressure to make things better for the Chinese people.” ₄

So is this Google finally living up to its corporate mantra “Don’t Be Evil” or is it simply corporate positioning of a multinational corporation? The fact that Google entered the Chinese market in 2006 and agreed to censor their results demonstrates the willingness of the company to comply with the law in the countries in which it operates and simultaneously demonstrates its lack of concern for local politics, no matter how controversial. Could the so-called cyber attacks which Google claim were the final straw merely be an ideal opportunity to exit a poorly performing market?

“This wasn’t in my opinion ground-breaking as an attack. We see this fairly regularly,”₅ was a statement by Mikko Hypponen, of security firm F-Secure.  ”This goes on all the time. Of the Fortune 100 companies, all 100 are under some sort of attack all the time”. In fact evidence has recently surfaced that Google actively assists governments in democratic societies with access to its properties including Gmail (it’s online email client). Bruce Schneier, a security technologist and renowned technology author recently announced that “In order to comply with government search warrants on user data, Google created a backdoor access system into Gmail accounts. This feature is what the Chinese hackers exploited to gain access.”₆ “Democratic governments around the world — in Sweden, Canada and the UK, for example — are rushing to pass laws giving their police new powers of Internet surveillance, in many cases requiring communications system providers to redesign products and services they sell.” So we must now question why did Google decide this particular attack was newsworthy and why take such a monumental step of pulling out of one of the largest potential markets in the world?

In 2005 Google’s market share was 33.3%1 The announcement to censor results in China published in February of 2006 was intended to slow the nose diving market share if not aimed to increase it. However according to Jennifer Li, Baidu’s chief financial officer, “Baidu’s market share for search in China was about 77% in the third quarter [of 2009], up from 75.6% in the second quarter [of the same year]. Google [she says], lost share in China, dropping to 17% in the third quarter, from about 19% in the second quarter.”₇

In summary I believe that Google’s response to China had little to do with their moral stance which has apparently changed significantly since 2006 when they entered the market and which the company seem to forgo in order to continue to operate in democratic countries and more to do with an excellent public relations strategy which took the focus from the company and raised a contentious issue before a public with growing anti-Chinese sentiment.

Related articles

• Schmidt Hopes ‘Some Pressure’ Will Make China See Things Google’s Way (wired.com)
• Google Vs. China: A Bluffing War Begins (slog.thestranger.com)

References

[1] Schrage, E. (2006, 2 15). Testimony: The Internet in China. Retrieved 2 2, 2009, from The Official Google Blog: googleblog.blogspot.com

[2] Drummond, D. (2010, 1 12). A new approach to China. Retrieved 2 2, 2010, from Official Google Blog: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html

[3] Hornby, C. B. (2010, 1 14). China defends censorship after Google threat. Retrieved 2 2, 2010, from Reuters.com: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60C1TR20100114

[4] Fraher, J. (2010, 1 29). Google’s Schmidt Hopes ‘Pressure’ Will Help Chinese People. Retrieved 2 2, 2010, from Bloomberg.com: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a6.eNsTFNWSc

[5] Shiels, M. (2010, 1 14). Security experts say Google cyber-attack was routine. Retrieved 2 2, 2010, from BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8458150.stm

[6] Schneier, B. (2010, 1 23). U.S. enables Chinese hacking of Google. Retrieved 2 2, 2010, from CNN.com: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/01/23/schneier.google.hacking/

[7] Mehta, S. N. (2009, 12 28). Google v. Baidu: Which company will win China? Retrieved 2 2, 2010, from CNNMoney.com: http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/12/28/google-v-baidu-which-company-will-win-china/

Facebook 3.0 for the iPhone

Facebook 3.0 for the iPhone has just been launched on the app store. It is so new that the app store page still says version 3.o, but if you “get app” it will download the 3.0 version.

The design is drastically different and includes many more features you find on the full web app. The frustrating thing with version 2.5 is most of the items on the news feed were un-clickable (meaning pressing the screen!) and was begging for a little bit more functionality. Thankfully our prayers have been answered. Continue reading ›

Tr.im says good bye – The end of major URL shorteners?

Tr.im has just announced that they will be discontinuing their URL shortening service. URL’s will continue to work until December 31st this year. After that all shortened URL’s wills top working.

But why has this happened? Continue reading ›

Musicians watch and learn from @imogenheap

I’ve been a fan of Imogen Heap ever since I saw Garden State staring Zach Braff a few years ago. Imogens “Let go” has since been a track that has never grown old on me and consequently when I found she was on Twitter I was firstly a bit cautious.

Most celebrities just tweet about them selves and use the whole platform for plugging the hell out of their stuff. Almost seeing $$$ signs. I know that is still the case with most celebrities who use Twitter as they have to publicise their stuff somehow, but when you follow someone and you don’t realise its all marketing? For me that’s a good person to follow.

So how does Imogen utilise the power of Twitter? Continue reading ›

Are we near the end of effective customer support via Twitter?

What has prompted me to even consider this article? Well I heard earlier that Best Buy, onsumer electronics retailer in the US, have launched a full customer support system using Twitter. They have launched their “Twelpforce” team and will now use Twitter as an official way of giving personal support to their customers.

They are encouraging hundreds of employees to handle online customer service and company promotions using Twitter. Basically Best Buy employees can use the @twelpforce account and their own Twitter account to register for the service. From then on tweets from the registered account will be displayed in a single stream on the @twelpforce account. All they have to do is append the hashtag #telpforce to tweets on their account.

But what does this mean for general customer support via Twitter? Continue reading ›

Is 3D video all it`s cracked up to be?

Now because I have written a title like this obviously means that I am doubting 3D video. There seems to be more and more buzz surrounding the whole “new technology” of 3D video. I’m talking about the fact that its not really a new technology. It is just two videos from slightly different angles with a bit of trigonometry to overlay them correctly.

So it is now clear that I need some convincing that 3D video is actually something worth looking at. I have therefore split this article into a few sections. Feel free to add your comments. I am totally open to your suggestions about what it can be used for. Continue reading ›

Will Google Chrome OS take over the world?

You have probably heard about Google’s announcement of Google Chrome OS.  If not you can read Google’s announcement on the Official Google Blog.

So now that we are all caught up on the news we can start analysing what we actually think of the idea of the Chrome OS. Obviously baring in mind that it has barely started development and won’t even be seen until next year. So lets start with comparing it to Android. Continue reading ›