Google aids Chinese censorship Options

[Ruud]

The politics of search, so to say;

Google's recently launched news service in China doesn't display results from Web sites blocked by that country's authorities, raising p*****ly questions for an online search engine that has famously promised to \"do no evil.\"

(Associated Press via houstonchronicle.com)

It seems to be hard to get a hold of this vast market without getting politically involved. In 2002 Human Rights Watch reported on Yahoo!'s signatory status to China's \"Public Pledge on Self-discipline for the Chinese Internet Industry\".

Reporters Without Borders in July this year already reported on Google's imminent submission to China's censorship demands. In July results still appeared unfiltered, something which now has changed.

Google, uncensored before, has been banned shortly in September 2002 while AltaVista, who so far refuses censorship, is already completely banned.

A knee-jerk reaction of condemnation is expected but hopefully a serious look at the larger issues surrounding human rights and international trade would take center stage.

Limiting ourselves to search engines it isn't easy to just flat out condemn. We can imagine the major players forming a block and standing together against the Chinese thought-police. China would surely have no problem banning any and all. On the other hand, blocked sites have to be identified and listed first. Thousands of freedom sites around the world attempt to provide people access to the free Internet: they can best find and access this information through a large search engine....

In an attempt to gain access to this market it is not just the search engines who find themselves aiding the Chinese thought-police:

The U.S. firm Cisco Systems has sold several thousand routers - costing more than 16,000 euros each - to enable the regime to build an online spying system and the firm's engineers have helped set it to spot \"subversive\" key-words in messages. The system also enables police to know who has looked at banned sites or sent \"dangerous\" e-mails.

Reporters Without Borders

Maybe mirrored SERP's of certain searches would be an aid to some Chinese people....

Ruud

[McFox]

Keeping a billion people in line is never going to be easy. Here in the West, we are continually conditioned and kept in check by manipulation. I reckon China is a way away from being able to manipulate by seduction rather than overtly.

My 2cents
McF