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Google Gives Up Fight Against Chinese Censorship

judgecorp writes "Google has abandoned its policy of warning Chinese users against keywords that trigger censorship. The search giant had added a warning that advised Chinese users not to use search terms that could cause the Chinese authorities to shut off their access to Google, but has now abandoned these warnings. While Google says they were ineffectual, free speech campaigners have expressed disappointment."

20 of 96 comments (clear)

  1. It's not Google's job to warn users... by mmell · · Score: 3, Informative
    ...about their government. If a Chinese citizen uses Google and searches for something which the People's Republic of China somehow considers unacceptable, it isn't Google's job to warn him - it's the citizen's job to understand the laws of his country and honor them as he/she sees fit.

    Now, if you want to complain about somebody, complain about the People's Republic of China. It's THEIR laws and policies which make this a threat to free speech, not Google's capitulation to the lawful government of China.

    1. Re:It's not Google's job to warn users... by serviscope_minor · · Score: 5, Insightful

      not Google's capitulation to the lawful government of China.

      Oh jeez, not this tired old bullshit again.

      Legality is *no* justification. Morality and legality are entirely separate separate things and should never be conflated.

      If you wish to Goodwin the thread there, then there are plenty of fine examples to illustrate the point.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    2. Re:It's not Google's job to warn users... by shentino · · Score: 5, Funny

      You're liable to get the spelling nazis on you most ironically with that post.

    3. Re:It's not Google's job to warn users... by YodasEvilTwin · · Score: 2

      Hey, capitalism.

    4. Re:It's not Google's job to warn users... by Ambassador+Kosh · · Score: 2

      How about all the people that support these actions?

      When you buy a product that is made in China you also support these policies. You can't just say that the businesses are bad without also saying that the people that support them are bad also.

      --
      Computer modeling for biotech drug manufacturing is HARD! :)
    5. Re:It's not Google's job to warn users... by icebike · · Score: 2

      ...about their government. If a Chinese citizen uses Google and searches for something which the People's Republic of China somehow considers unacceptable, it isn't Google's job to warn him - it's the citizen's job to understand the laws of his country and honor them as he/she sees fit.

      Now, if you want to complain about somebody, complain about the People's Republic of China. It's THEIR laws and policies which make this a threat to free speech, not Google's capitulation to the lawful government of China.

      Logically, people in the box can't even know they are in the box or, that the box even exists.
      Google was not trying to circumvent Chinese laws against accessing certain things on the internet, but merely telling their users what to avoid.
      Even that is not permitted, in other words: the People are not allowed to know that the box exists.

      (Probably the Chinese internet users are not that clueless. Given a few generations, they will be.)

      But your suggestion that people complain about the PRC instead of Google seems pretty pointless.
      To whom should these complaints be addressed? Perhaps to the "Lawful Government of China"?
      Would they ever even hear such complaints? After all the "Lawful Government of China" has surely blocked such complaints at the great firewall.

      And wouldn't complaining about the "Lawful Government of China", perhaps to "Lawful Government of China", be meddling in the lawful administration of a foreign government? Why would the "Lawful Government of China" listen to your complaints? Would you accept such meddling from foreign sources into the Lawful Government of the US?

      Your only logically consistent argument should have been that "Google did the right thing, and everybody who does not like it should STFU because the "Lawful Government of China" has proscribed such discussions."

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
  2. Could still insert the warning after the search by RichMan · · Score: 2

    Google was warning people before they searched. Who reads the fine-print before starting these days.

    What they could do, is on any search that used a keyword, make the warning the first result.

    Example :Search Tuna:
    1) Tuna is a trigger search word used by China to start investigations into users.
          >
    2) Tuna are a great food to eat

    1. Re:Could still insert the warning after the search by mmell · · Score: 2

      Too late. Sorta like predicting a hurricane will hit yesterday. By the time users see that warning, they will already have mortally sinned - nothing for it but an extended vacation at the local People's Reeducation through Labor facility.

    2. Re:Could still insert the warning after the search by The+MAZZTer · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That's fairly pointless. Let's say I start typing "Tuna". My browser sends "Tuna" to Google's servers so it can get a list of suggested search phrases, including the two you provided. On its way to Google servers... it passes through Chinese ISP servers and I get flagged for searching for Tuna. Google's warning would come too late.

      Google's system, though I never saw it myself, sounds like it would have sent a list of banned words to the browser as part of the page, before the user searches. Then when the user starts typing, the browser will NOT send anything to Google with a banned word in it until the user addresses the warning displayed. Your idea, if adjusted properly to not send traffic to Google with banned words in it, would end up being only a minor variation of this.

    3. Re:Could still insert the warning after the search by YodasEvilTwin · · Score: 2

      And then China blocks Google from sending the banned word lists to you. And then Google works around it and gets banned totally! No, they'll play nice to keep their market.

  3. Re:It's okay, it's China by tripleevenfall · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Google isn't acclimating to their culture, I think they just realized that triggering the ire of the Chinese government is much less profitable than the alternative.

  4. Seems like Google did what Wikileaks might have by poity · · Score: 2

    Would you say it isn't anyone's job bring censorship to light, and that it's up to Americans individually to understand, and to obey or rebel as he/she sees fit? I'm quite certain in that case you'd disagree, and you'd likely counter-argue that the individual's attempt to enlighten him/herself without help is a futile act in the presence of a state which has so much control on media and information. If that could be true of the US, why would that not be even more so of China?

    --
    your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
  5. While people here love posting don't be 'evil'... by tuppe666 · · Score: 3, Informative

    ...they do so to support a f*cking mega corporation that would sh*ts on them at a moments notice, for chance of extracting a few extra dollars from the customers. Google withdrew *alone* from China in a response to "evil"...What did they do when "Human Rights Watch praised the decision and urged other firms to follow suit in challenging censorship...on yeah right I remember *nothing*...Lets call them Microsoft who at the time by the "the Congressional-Executive Commission on China ...sharply criticized Microsoft for continuing to be complicit with China's censorship laws"...what about Apple??. Acting Alone Googles strategy was weak/stupid.

  6. IF YOU CAN'T BEAT 'EM by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Make 'em your BUSINESS MODEL.

    Google, selling you out since 2003.

    Rainey Reitman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation said that technically, it is indeed all legal, but she emphasized that people don't really understand how their random thoughts, disclosures or opinions on social media may be exploited.

    "I think people don't realize when they sign up for these sites that the government is going to be routinely monitoring and sifting through this data," she said.

    "If Coca-Cola is reading all my tweets," Dan Zarrella points out, "it's not as scary as if the DOD is reading all my tweets, right?"

    http://www.defensenews.com/article/20121113/DEFREG02/311130003/Unwitting-Sensors-How-DoD-Exploiting-Social-Media

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."
    1. Re:IF YOU CAN'T BEAT 'EM by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 2

      Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Colonel, that Coca Cola machine, I want you to shoot the lock off it. There may be some change in there.

      Col. "Bat" Guano: That's private property.

      Mandrake: Colonel, can you possibly imagine what is going to happen to you, your frame outlook way of life on everything, when they learn that you have obstructed a telephone call to the president of the United States? Can you imagine? Shoot it off! Shoot, with the gun! That's what the bullets are for you twit!

      Guano: OK. But you're gonna have to answer to the Coca Cola company.

      --
      "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
      Never been known to fail..."
  7. Re:SSL by fufufang · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Using SSL is ineffective, because the Chinese firewall active sends connection reset packets to disrupt your SSL connection.

  8. Re:While people here love posting don't be 'evil'. by serviscope_minor · · Score: 2

    What did they do when

    Who is they? the same people both times?

    what about

    We already knew they were evil. Google claimed not to be. They lied.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
  9. i'm really sick of this bullshit by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Insightful

    there are plenty of cultural differences that are ok

    but violating people's basic rights can not be justified with references to culture

    this applies to problems in the west too, i'm not singling out china

    you can't say chinese people are happy being slaves, so let them be, it's just culture. or muslim women are happy being slaves, so let them be, it's just culture. or poor people in western nations leaning towards social darwinism as plutocrats warp the politics are happy being slaves, so let them be, it's just culture

    bullshit

    NO ONE is happy being a slave. culture is no excuse

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  10. Re:Googles given up standing for good. by miltonw · · Score: 2

    There is no reason to assume that Google isn't "providing unfiltered results". I see no evidence they have ever filtered results for China. In fact, as I recall, that's why they moved their servers out of China.

    Why are you claiming they are censoring results? What TFA is about is Google decided to stop warning Chinese users that specific key words would trigger Chinese government censoring (and possibly worse). Shall we assume that Google found the warning was useless?

    But I see no evidence that Google is doing any censoring or filtering.

  11. Re:If you don't like the laws in China, leave. by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 2

    > It's China. You're not going to change their mind. You will disappear forever before you win something against the government.

    Maybe. But I think History proves you wrong. With enough people you WILL be remembered.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989

    China IS changing. Their corruption and censorship can't last forever no matter how hard they try. Don't confuse lack of external progress with lack of internal struggle.