January 24, 2006 7:25 PM PST
Google to censor China Web searches
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The new local Google site, expected to be launched Wednesday at Google.cn, will include notes at the bottom of results pages that disclose when content has been removed, said Andrew McLaughlin, senior policy counsel for Google.
"Google.cn will comply with local Chinese laws and regulations," he said in a statement. "In deciding how best to approach the Chinese--or any--market, we must balance our commitments to satisfy the interest of users, expand access to information, and respond to local conditions."
Google will not initially offer Gmail or Blogger in China until executives feel they can strike that balance adequately, McLaughlin said.
Web surfers in China have had difficulty accessing the Google service, reporting frustratingly slow connections and time-outs, Google said. Human rights groups have accused China's government of blocking access to Web sites that do not adhere to the government's restrictions.
Reporters Without Borders, a France-based group that defends freedom of the press, blasted Google, saying the company was taking an immoral position that could not be justified.
"By offering a version without 'subversive' content, Google is making it easier for Chinese officials to filter the Internet themselves. A Web site not listed by search engines has little chance of being found by users," the group said in a statement. "The new Google version means that even if a human rights publication is not blocked by local firewalls, it has no chance of being read in China."
With a population of 1.3 billion people and more than 100 million Internet users, China's largely untapped Internet market is very attractive to technology companies. Google is opening a research and development center in China and owns a stake in Baidu.com, the most popular search engine in that country.
Google is not the only U.S. search firm targeted with complaints about censorship in China. Previously, Google censored its news site in China, removing material banned by the authorities, but it had not censored its U.S.-based search engine accessible in China and was the last of the major search engines not to have done so, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Meanwhile, earlier this month Microsoft admitted removing the blog of an outspoken Chinese journalist from its MSN Spaces site, citing its policy of adhering to local laws. Last June, Microsoft acknowledged censoring words like "freedom" and "democracy" from its Chinese MSN portal site.
And in September, Reporters Without Borders accused Yahoo of providing information that helped Chinese officials convict a journalist charged with leaking state secrets. Shi Tao was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Angered by such reports, some politicians have threatened to pass laws restricting U.S. companies from cooperating with the Chinese government on censorship. Hearings are planned for the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Human Rights and in the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.
Ironically, Google was praised by privacy advocates and consumers last week for fighting the U.S. government's request to hand over random Web search data. Yahoo, Microsoft's MSN and America Online had complied with the request.
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This is morally reprehensible, and demonstrates an appalling lack of civic leadership by the principles of Google and these other companies.
The response of Microsoft is typical -- meely mouthed and cynical, "We comply with the laws of the locales in which we do business", as if the existence of laws were an end in themself, and is if laws enacted by censorial dictatorships were on moral par with those enacted by civilized free nations.
The fact is that if a business cannot *morally* comply with laws in a country then it has no business doing business in that country.
This is as much a practical matter as a moral matter (and why should these two spheres be at odds?) If western business were to stop helping the Chinese government impose its censorship of the Internet, then maybe its citizens would have better cause to rise up against their oppressors. And the fact that these companies will actually go so far as to help get innocent -- properly innocent, by civilized standards of justice -- citizens arrested and imprisoned (or worse) makes them as morally culpable as the dictatorial government itself.
It is time for democracy and freedom for China, and time for western corporations to stop collaborating with the dictator government there.
So what I am going to attempt to do is look for an alternate search engine that works just as well.
Anyone have any suggestions?
privacy" and "free speech" issue.
But when China want's to block and censor information, Google
complies and does what it's told. Why no lawsuits in China?
Do no evil? Google IS evil.
Either way, it is decided by one?s belief. And, belief is nothing but a consequence (result) of the brainwash processes by our surrounding energy.
I guess, Google was brainwashed by two different cultures.
But, let's take a look at reality. Who is China's biggest customer? Probably us, Americans. When was the last time you flipped any product over and didn't read "made in China"? 8, or more, out of 10 items around us is made in china, or with parts made in china.
Although I don't agree with the Chinese dictatorship. I do see why Google had to give in in order to do business in that country. It's all business.
Why is Google protecting child porn seekers outside China is beyond me. But, I guess they think that what they can't do with the Chinese, they can do it with the rest of the world.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Just shows that this company is run by two kids that need a lesson in "doing good" and living upto their own standards...
Google wants to provide a service to CHINA. Yahoo and Microsoft are doing it... poorly, so why miss out on that. The only way to get their foot in the door is to follow CHINA's regulations. An AMERICAN company forced to follow CHINESE law to operate in CHINA.
What is Google going to do? Ignore the largest population on the planet? Better yet, why not take on a government that they are in no way a part of.
C'mon people, would someone out there please think about this? Pull yourselves away from the sound bites. What would you say if a CHINESE company wanted to do business in AMERICA, but not follow AMERICAN law? Would you care if that CHINESE company publicly stated they don't like CHINESE law?
Google is smart to go into China. If you don't see that, then go stick your head back in the sand. The ONLY way they could do business in China is to follow Chinese law, which makes sense. If you want to cry out that Google is evil, then you better start screaming about Microsoft and Yahoo as well. Better yet, do that while you are shopping at Wal-Mart.
- look at
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by fabilitis03
June 14, 2007 5:10 PM PDT
- look at their stocks! Would google jump 400 points from meager ad space, I don't think so.
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