China, new markets, money and human obligation
Yahoo Betrayed my Husband via Reddit.
I just read that article. I am unsympathetic to Yahoo as a result. I understand their point
“We are required to follow the laws of those countries and that’s what we’ve done”
However, I can’t absolve them of guilt. China is a tantalizing market indeed. I would love to invent a web app that appealed to the American market, and then subsequently to the Chinese market…there is money to be made there for sure. I gotta think however, much like the Hippocratic oath, we ought to first “Do no harm”. It’s a idea I judge many of my actions against already. We ought not make money at the expense of others freedom, we need to uphold the ideals that made (make?) America great. Yes it’s projecting our ideals on them, yes it’s not the current way things are done in China…no, that doesn’t make it wrong.
First and foremost we are humans, second we are citizens of our respective countries, third we are corporations. Stop divorcing companies from the people that make them up. Take responsibility for the actions of the people who act as corporations. Discuss.
Well, having corporations and humans separate helps innovation by allowing owners of a company not have to worry about being sued over things they didn’t decide. Since they have lower risk, they can undertake more companies/innovations.
When the humans break laws, corporate officials can be held liable (not owners, though). The problem here lies in that Yahoo! US owns Yahoo! China, which did not break any laws, and neither did Yahoo! US. So, we have no one to prosecute.
Yahoo! China has decided to work with China on this. We can boycott Yahoo! US to show our displeasure. Any other solution probably leads us in a direction that harms innovation.
Perhaps we should spend a little time thinking about what we can do to help China become more free?