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Google Confirms Chinese Censorship Claims

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the great-wall dept.

UnanimousCoward writes "A spokesperson has responded to the 'censorship' questions in this article: '"Google has decided that in order to create the best possible search experience for our mainland China users we will not include sites whose content is not accessible," company spokeswoman Debbie Frost said Friday.'" Our original article ran on Wednesday.

13 of 515 comments (clear)

  1. And what about the cache? by orulz · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Were people in China able use the google cache to circumvent the governmental censorship? If that's the case, it seems that leaving the service active would provide a "better experience" to me.

    1. Re:And what about the cache? by jarich · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Leaving the caching service available would simply get Google banned too. No point.

      --
      Agile Artisans
  2. a point is.. by gl4ss · · Score: 4, Interesting

    that it wouldn't exactly be "good service" if google provided them with links to news(among approved news) that would get the clients ass in jail(if he read the link).

    --
    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  3. We should crucify Google! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    No, not really. However, how responsible should Google be in fighting oppression in other countries?

    "Do no evil", but does that mean to fight against evil whenever possible? I don't think Google has any right, let alone responsibility, to make a stand against the Chinese government. If the socialists in that country see fit to regulate the media to the extent that massive nation-wide filters need to be erected to keep "bad" things out, then Google (an American company) has no business telling them they are wrong.

    The internet is international and some nations prefer to keep some of the worst areas out of the hands of their publics. Is that such a wrong thing? Isn't it more wrong to hand over porn to the kiddies via a web search than it is to filter it out?

    Dancin Santa

  4. In Chineese version only? by taylortbb · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This article makes me wonder, do they not index any banned sites period or are they just not listed in the Chinese version?

    If they don't index banned sites period hI think the best way would be to not list them in the chinese version, and in the general version, list them but not cache them. That way there are no broken links for chinese users, they abide by the laws (from my understanding), and we can still see those websites.

  5. Not necessarily by christor · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There is a use to listing censored sites - so that people in China can know what's being withheld from them. (In the dubious words of Rumsfeld - listing censored sites makes them known unknowns rather than unknown unknowns....) A precursor to any sort of political change that enhances liberty is knowing that your freedom is being curtailed - and to what degree. I would say that Google is, in a limited way, enhancing China's ability to present a false picture of the world to its people.

    1. Re:Not necessarily by The+Snowman · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It's so nice that there's no censorship in US.

      I know this is a sarcastic comment, but in some ways there is no censorship. This article talks specifically about Internet censorship. When was the last time the FCC shut down a web site with "objectionable" material that could not be e.g. broadcast on television? If I type the word "fuck" on the Internet where children could read it, the FCC is powerless to stop me, while if I tried saying it on TV it would be edited or beeped out. Witness the web sites with that horrible atrocity, the nipple shot from the SuperBowl. I say horrible not because it was televised, but because it was so damn ugly.

      Anyway, government censorship is very bad, and the U.S. does have it, but it could be worse. Thankfully, with the Internet, I have access to information I never dreamt existed a decade ago. Even when I was on AOL back then, it was AOL censorship, not the government. Either way I was restricted.

      --
      24 beers in a case, 24 hours in a day. Coincidence? I think not!
  6. Not only China by ecc0 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Google does not only do this in China. In Germany, national socialism is largely forbidden, so the well-known NS/WP site stormfront.org is blocked. Try this link from German google, and notice how it claims to find no matches on stormfront.org. The same search on American google.com returns 53,500 matches.

  7. /. hypocrisy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I remember a few years back when China was in process of building "The Great Fire Wall" and how Cisco was providing a significant portion of the equpiment.

    Slashdot erupted with much weeping and gnashing of teeth of the evils of Cisco and how they sold out to the devil and censorship yadda yadda.

    Now ./'s favorite poster child company does the same thing, and its "well they have to obey the laws!" Pick one. Either you're against censorship, or you're for Capitialism and following the laws of the land. Don't apply the rules differently to different companies.

  8. “Don’t be evil” ... by Grumpy+Troll · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ... says Google's motto. But what exactly does the company mean by that? To quote Sergey Page in an interview he and Larry Brin did for Playboy.

    As for "Don't be evil," we have tried to define precisely what it means to be a force for good--always do the right, ethical thing. Ultimately, "Don't be evil" seems the easiest way to summarize it.
    So what exactly is the right, ethical thing to do in the situation Google is having to face when it comes to providing search services in China? Abide by Chinese censorship laws in the name of business, or not deploy a local version of their search engine in that country rather than having to provide access to a search engine with censored results?

    After all, is this the right, ethical thing to do as far as Google is concerned? ... If it truly is, then I believe we ought to be somewhat more cautious about the company than we actually are and stop considering it as one which can only do good to the extent of sacrificing business opportunities in the name of ethics. Otherwise, perhaps we should just content ourselves of reconsidering the said motto.

  9. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  10. No Joke by superpulpsicle · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I knew of a student from mainland China who lived at the prime of communism in the 80s. Today he's a U.S citizen. If there is one thing for sure... he can't believe the difference in American TV and internet news.

    On TV we censor so damn much, but everything's fair game on the internet. And that's great. Google is now playing axis of evil. The last place a student from China could find real content is now being censored.

  11. Re:That's fair enough by tek314159 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's valid. I live in China, and it can get pretty frustrating when a google search results in lots of links to geocities pages, and other sites on blocked servers. I really have no problem with Google just making those results vanish, since I can't see them, anyway, and they sometimes just result in opened tabs that never load when I forget to check the host domain. It'd be nice if there were an option, however. A little check-box or link to "See results including blocked sites". tek.