Some Google Searches Now Blocked In China

bannable writes with this from the Wall Street Journal: "Google Inc. said that its Web search service in mainland China was partially blocked Wednesday, the deadline for the company to extend its Internet operating license in the country. The company said the blockage appeared to affect only search queries generated by mainland China users of the company's Google Suggest function, which automatically recommends search queries based on the first few letters a user types into the search box."

Comments

Doesn't that happen anyways?

[Anonymous Coward]

When I type in "Hent" it doesn't prop up any suggested searches, despite there being a popular and obvious topic, even with safesearch off.

*AC to hide my dirty little secret.

jack

[tianfan]

This issue is so simple guys. Every country has their own laws, this applies US too. A Chinese company comes to US to do their business, it has to obey US Laws. If it doesn't do so, the result will be the same as google in China. I hope you guys can take a different perspective to look at this issue. I agree that democracy and freedom of speech will be the ultimate final goal where Chinese government pursuits. However, they are not the most important issues in China now. In order to fix that, we have to fix poor and hunger now. And the scale of governing is totally different from any other countries, since we have 1.5 billion, no other government understands how hard it is. Let me give an example in IT maybe you geeks will be easier to understand. To manage a web site with 100 visits per day is totally different than to run a web site with 1 million visits per day, geeks call it scaling, right. Such as Canada, only has 30 million population. 30 million people, we call it piece of cake. Why, beijing has 20 million people, shanghai has 30 million. Moreover, in Chinese new year, Chinese transportation system need to move 90 million people back to their hometown and get it out to cities again.

Re:jack

[cparker15]

I agree that democracy and freedom of speech will be the ultimate final goal where Chinese government pursuits. However, they are not the most important issues in China now. In order to fix that, we have to fix poor and hunger now.

Democracy/freedom and poverty/hunger are not mutually exclusive issues. I'm sure that, with 1.5 billion people, China can manage to pool enough resources to multi-task and focus on more than one issue at a time.

Everything else you said is really just an attempt at justifying a perceived need for authoritarianism. Please understand one small, simple idea: There is never a need for authoritarianism.

Re:jack

[bhagwad]

India has 1.14 billion people - and the area is smaller too. Both have done a decent job so far at reducing slums and poverty given their restraints. So how come China needs to censor the Internet and remove freedom of expression when India is more or less ok with it?

Re:jack

[elrous0]

Legal != moral

It's illegal in a lot of nutball Muslim countries for a Muslim to convert to Christianity (by penalty of death). That doesn't mean I can escape criticism when my company starts helping the authorities hunt Christians by saying "Hey, I'm just obeying the law."

Re:jack

[_Sprocket_]

This issue is so simple guys. Every country has their own laws, this applies US too. A Chinese company comes to US to do their business, it has to obey US Laws. If it doesn't do so, the result will be the same as google in China. I hope you guys can take a different perspective to look at this issue.

You'll probably find that many people here understand this. But cultural diversity is not an absolute excuse behavior. We find this behavior despicable whether it is the Chinese government or (as it is occasionally want to do) our own.

I agree that democracy and freedom of speech will be the ultimate final goal where Chinese government pursuits. However, they are not the most important issues in China now. In order to fix that, we have to fix poor and hunger now. And the scale of governing is totally different from any other countries, since we have 1.5 billion, no other government understands how hard it is. Let me give an example in IT maybe you geeks will be easier to understand. To manage a web site with 100 visits per day is totally different than to run a web site with 1 million visits per day, geeks call it scaling, right.

I see that solving issues of poverty and hunger are closely driving the Chinese Government's interaction with Google. If only there were a few less searches for Tienanmen Square or the Falun Gong, China would have these issues tied up. Alas, Google has caused untold poverty with images of anonymous men standing in front of tanks rather than serene city squares. The issues with pornography simply don't have to be commented on as this is a world-wide problem.

Or maybe one has nothing to do with the other. Or, at least... not in the way presented. There might be a point about scaling. Top-heavy, authoritarian systems tend to scale very poorly. And it would seem that Chinese government is a wonderful example of authoritarian bureaucracy at work.

Re:jack

[phantomfive]

There is never a need for authoritarianism.

This is really an interesting question, because democracy requires a certain amount of maturity by the populace. Just like freedom of speech; are you willing to let your neighbor say annoying things to guarantee that right to yourself? Are you willing to give your neighbor that you hate the freedoms of democracy so that you might also live in a fair country?

My sister went to Jordan recently, and talked to a Christian man who said, "Democracy is great for America, but I don't want it here. If there were democracy, the majority will kill and persecute us small minority Christians." And he was right, there are problems with having a king in Jordan, but he maintains peace.

Democracy requires maturity, and not so long ago, the Chinese people didn't have it. The cultural revolution was a populist movement: it was encouraged by Mao, but the destruction and misery was supported and largely run by the people.

How will we know when the Chinese people are ready for a non-authoritarian government? When they rise up and demand it. It's not wise to try to force it on them.

Re:jack

[Zephyr14z]

I suppose these things haven't occurred in a country yet then? There's certainly still poverty and hunger in the western world too. Turns out, even with democracy and free speech, you still need money and food to fix poverty and hunger.

Re:jack

[perryizgr8]

no it won't. come to india and have a look.

it makes me wonder

[digitalsushi]

What are my obligations as a human being to run an open proxy for IP addresses that come from China? (i.e. drop the rest of the IPs to keep freeloaders out); I am torn between the trouble *I* can get in for blindly proxying traffic, versus the feel good vibe from letting someone get onto the unfiltered net. Thoughts?

Re:it makes me wonder

[Anonymous Coward]

Do it, just make sure you're behind a proxy.

Re:it makes me wonder

[Zarel]

What are my obligations as a human being to run an open proxy for IP addresses that come from China? (i.e. drop the rest of the IPs to keep freeloaders out); I am torn between the trouble *I* can get in for blindly proxying traffic, versus the feel good vibe from letting someone get onto the unfiltered net. Thoughts?

Well, let me tell you a story.

Way back in 2006 or so, I went on a trip to China. This was back when the Great Firewall blocked Wikipedia, and a few weeks in, I was suffering from Wikipedia-withdrawal. So I called one of my friends, who was a coder for an online MUD, and got him to set up a web proxy on the MUD's website.

I even made an edit on that proxy: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Business_Professionals_of_America&diff=prev&oldid=68970071 - that's how I discovered their server had mod_rewrite on, and the proxy software didn't have a workaround for that. Had to get my friend to fix the quote escaping.

Anyway, three days later, the site was blocked. Nothing else happened. I mentioned it to my mom, and she said that's usually how it goes. The government passively adds blocks and deletes messages you make that it disapproves of, but it doesn't actively seek you out and tell you to stop, or otherwise punish you.

I suspect that's how it'll go if you set up a proxy. It gets blocked quickly, nothing else happens.

Re:it makes me wonder

[Dwedit]

Would it have made any difference if the connection to the proxy was encrypted?

China

[mfh]

These guys like walls.

"Wolololo"

Damn Americans always interfering!!!

Random, but related

[sharp3]

On a sort of random, but related note...
A recent foray into the underworld of chatroulette led me to a conversation with two Chinese nationals, although admittedly I WAS looking for naked fat bald men... They asked me what I thought of Obama, and I told them I wasn't fond of socialist or communist policies that manage vast amounts of my paycheck for me. I asked them what they thought of their government. Their only response was a single word: "love".
It showed to me that the average Chinese citizen is keenly aware of the ability of the government to spy on them and monitor activities. It also seemed as though there was some degree of fear. Granted they weren't afraid of talking to me or asking about the United States, but talking about their own government was a big no no, and could bring reprisals.

Re:what americans are forgetting

[Thinboy00]

Human rights are universal. If the law says you don't have them, the law is wrong.