Category: government

Google in China

On By Rick McIn economics, government, product complaintsLeave a comment

Here is a lengthy NY Times article digging into the Google compromise in China:

Google’s China Problem (and China’s Google Problem)

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It is a complex story. I think Google is doing the right thing.

Yahoo was first into China. But Google was far more successful when they first entered the market.

Suddenly, Sept. 3, 2002, Google results disappeared in China. Shut down completely by the government. Many concluded that the action was instigated by Baidu, a Chinese competitor to Google.

A quarter of Baidu’s traffic comes from searching for unlicensed MP3’s — illegal in the USA.

After much consideration, Google opened Google.cn in January 2006. Try it yourself. Search for “Human Rights” and see what you get. The results are self-censored in compliance with Chinese law.

Google.com is still open in China. The same search results as we get here. But when you try to click on a “banned” link, you get an error page. All of wikipedia.com is unavailable, for example.

One Chinese dissident in the article ranks Google best. Then Microsoft. But calls Yahoo! a sell-out.

So, should Google have simply dropped out of the Chinese market? (That’s what Apple is going to do in France, unwilling to modify their service to comply with French law.)

What do you think? (Do you own stock in Google?)

what is “net neutrality”?

On By Rick McIn economics, government, internetLeave a comment

Click on the (ugly looking) video below for a quick overview:

In China the internet is censored. The Chinese suffer under totalitarian control.

Of course I assume the crazy American Congress can be bought off by lobbyists. They might enact any kind of goofy legislation.

Gladly I live in a free country?

SaveTheInternet.com provides more information.

hhmmmm …

They claim Canada’s least favourite company — Telus— blocked Internet customers from visiting a website sympathetic to workers with whom Telus was negotiating.

And Shaw, a major Canadian cable company, charges an extra $10 a month to subscribers who dare to use a competing Internet telephone service.

HEY. Those are my Internet Service Providers!

Who is defending net neutrality in Canada?

politics – Ralph Klein resigns

On By Rick McIn governmentLeave a comment

RalphEnd of an era.

King Ralph, the dominant local politician in my lifetime was ousted early. He will be gone likely by the end of December, 2006. He was first elected Premier in 1992.

I have a soft spot for Ralph Klein. He supported our gymnastics competitions when he was mayor of Calgary in 1980. A real people’s politiician.

Shame he did not read the writing on the wall. A sad end to a unique, controversial career.

Ralph Klein – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

new Bolivian president cuts his own salary

On By Rick McIn economics, government1 Comment

The Bush speech writers will likely tone down the emphasis on democracy after Hamas got elected in Palestine and an extreme Socialist was elected in a Bolivian landslide.

Evo Morales, the first indigenous president of Bolivia, took immediate steps to make his mark. He should — the average Bolivian president remains in office less than a year!

It’s a brave gesture. But to me this looks like another chapter in the history of doomed socialist experiments.

Consider building tourism instead, Mr. Morales. Look to Peru.

CNN.com – Bolivian president gives teachers half his pay – Jan 27, 2006

health care – will it be there when you need it?

On By Rick McIn bad news, economics, government, health & fitnessLeave a comment

Unlike most every other Canadian, I think the solution to the dilemma is the free market. The much-maligned American way.

Sure the USA model is expensive now — but with time free enterprise should sort that out.

This article came as bad news to me:

America’s health-care crisis | Desperate measures | Economist.com

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Canadian election

On By Rick McIn governmentLeave a comment

4 white guysI will not be voting because I was too disorganized to do so before I left the country.

Australians must vote, you know. Even if they are away overseas as many are.

Mandatory voting? Interesting concept though it flies in the face of freedom.

Dali Lama

On By Rick McIn governmentLeave a comment

sunsetLike the Tibetans, I worry what will happen when their spiritual leader dies.

If only the Chinese would make peace with him before his death. Or at least allow the Dali Lama one last visit to Lhasa.

Not likely.

Tibetans in exile | The wrong side of the mountains | Economist.com

Is Canada the least racist country?

On By Rick McIn governmentLeave a comment

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People ask me about Canada when I travel. I always tell them that Canada is the least racist country I know.

More than half the citizens of Toronto and Vancouver are foreign born.

These days the economy is thriving so we need not look for someone to blame.

Canada is the only big industrialised country to notch up consistent surpluses both in its federal budgets and in its trade and current accounts. For five years it has had the G8’s fastest growth.

Canada now has the world’s second-biggest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia.

More in a recent Economist magazine article:

Peace, order and rocky government | Economist.com