Google co-founder Sergey Brin defended Google’s cooperation with China, at its annual meeting of leaders, Thursday, when a critic from Amnesty International USA denounced the search engine for helping China block certain websites.
Brin, who spoke briefly in response, said that Yahoo had been cooperating with the Chinese government for far longer and had given information to the government that had landed several people in jail.
Repeating past company comments on this issue, Brin told the critic, Tony Cruz, that the company’s present in China would eventually force the government to be less repressive.
In the last months since Google launched its Chinese domain name in January, several religious sites including those operated by Christians reported being blocked.
During the visit of three Christian dissidents with Bush, various forums and blogs became inaccessible.
Google’s launch for its Chinese search engine has since then led to several high-profile Congressional hearings and media coverage on this issue.
Despite the criticism lodged by Cruz, Google Inc. shareholders complimented the management on its $55 billion earnings in the past year during the 75-minute meeting, at the Google headquarters in Mountainville, CA.
