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Google Targeted By Anti-Censorship Movement

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the the-battle-smolders-on dept.

wormnet.org writes "An article has been posted on The Observer reporting that Google has been targeted by the group "Students For A Free Tibet" because of the internet company's relationship with the Chinese government. The article states: "... more than 50,000 letters have been sent to Google bosses in recent days protesting at the company's decision to censor searches on its google.cn website in line with Beijing's wishes. Protesters have also staged public 'break-ups' with Google at demonstrations outside many of its offices around the world.""

4 of 311 comments (clear)

  1. Google company by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Don't blame Google, blame China.

    Without the restrictions Google can not do business in China.

    Intresting to note are the "small" diffrencens on the two Google sites google.com and google.cn.

    Tiananmen with tanks:
    http://images.google.com/images?q=tiananmen

    Tiananmen with happy people:
    http://images.google.cn/images?q=tiananmen

    Ones again, blame China.

  2. How funny, yet clueless by WindBourne · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Google is censoring as per the Chinese Gov. But so is MSN and Yahoo. The difference is that Google will tell the person that an item was censored, whereas MSN and Yahoo will not be doing that. As a user, I would hate the censoring. But I would hate much more NOT being informed exactly when I was being censored. This guys should either be going after all search engines or should push the others to be more like Google.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  3. Tall Poppy Syndrome by DavidHOzAu · · Score: 5, Interesting

    From the FAQ:
    Q: What about Yahoo! and Microsoft etc., they're already doing this?

    A:We deplore Yahoo and Microsoft's actions as well but as the industry leader, Google's impact is enormous. Google's decision to create its product to the Chinese authorities' specifications sets a very dangerous precedent of bringing the most advanced technology to the most closed and repressive government under the guise of effecting change. More importantly, the launch of Google.cn is a reversal of Google's policy of non-cooperation with China's internet censorship program.
    If this isn't a sign of bias, I don't know what is. I've also noticed that when you search for Microsoft, 8 out of 11 times they are comparing Microsoft to Google, and Microsoft's equally abysmal record is always glossed over and not gone into detail like they do with Google. This smells like media manipulation to me. Yahoo and Microsoft must be both loving this.

  4. Why Google? by abes · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Last I checked google wasn't the only one responsible, why are people singling it out? I'm not trying to defend google's actions, but it is also a much more complex issue than people are making it out to be. I thought there was a pretty good summary on google's blog.
    • China is censoring its citizens already. Google feels that they can at least provide more information than other companies can. Instead of simply deleting references, they make mention that certain items have been deleted at the bottom of the page.
    • China is not the only place that censorship is occuring. Here in the US, for example, links to Scientology have been edited out. Likewise, google makes mention of this.
    • They are not providing other services that they feel they have no right to censor like email or blogging on Chinese soil.
    • So, while perhaps to be more realistic they should claim to do 'less evil', they (unlike the other 3 search engines that appeared in front of Congress) very conciencious of their decisions and ramification, and have done so lightly.

    We really should be protesting censorship world wide. And not just in China.