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Rights Groups Are Demanding That Google Doesn't Release A Censored Search Engine In China (buzzfeednews.com)
More than a dozen tech NGOs and human rights groups have issued an open letter calling on Google to stop work on a censored search engine project in China. From a report: Organizations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Access Now and others released the letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Tuesday, saying the tech giant's plans to release a censored version of its search engine app to users in China represent an "alarming capitulation by Google on human rights." The project, dubbed Dragonfly, was first reported by The Intercept earlier this month. According to audio of a staff meeting, obtained by the New York Times, Pichai said that "if we were to do our mission well, we are to think seriously about how to do more in China. However, he went on to say that Google was "not close to launching a search product in China."
Even if Google does release a censored search engine in China, the chances are very good that the Chinese Government censors, who presumably tell Google what to censor, won't be able to keep up with the flood of information, phrased this way or that way, that is directly or indirectly about all kinds of uncomfortable issues and topics for the Chinese government.
A long time ago, Freeman Dyson said the way to defeat the Soviet Union was to give them PCs (I think he actually said Macs).
So that people would be able to gather and pass information easily, without the government in the loop.
Eventually, more knowledge in the hands of more of the population will presumeably reduce totalitarian government power, as independent ideas flourish like weeds.
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
They already run Bing in China, why aren't people complaining about that?
Funny when Google was helping develop better guided missile programs for the US government that would actually save lives they all had a collective hissy fit. But helping the Chinese government oppress its people is A-Ok with them.
many years ago South Africa was boycotted by many sports teams due to apartheid. There was a huge row: some said that this would punish South Africa; others said that sending Sports people would make more people aware of the issues and so help bring about change. Similar things have happened with other countries.
So the debate here is: should we punish China by keeping Google out or does Google being there help the Chinese people's political awareness/... by letting them see more from the outside world (even if it is filtered) ? I am not qualified to answer that question.
American corporations are not going to "fix" China. That is up to the Chinese people, and at least for now they consider their rapidly rising standard of living to be a reasonable tradeoff for the CCP's censorship.
Google can play a positive role in China, and it is better for them to engage than to leave the market to companies like Baidu that will be even more compliant censors.
The petitioners are insisting on a worse outcome because it is more ideologically pure.
Anything missing there?
Top hit seems to be to American Scientist magazine, which is reasonable (since Google ignores plurals in the search algorithm: "American Scientists" search is identical to "American Scientist"). Other than that, it's mostly whoever has been in the news recently or for some other reason has some web pages.
Why, what do you think is missing?
The worst atrocities in the world were carried out by people who thought they were doing it for the best of reasons.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Well, he has been warning us about China for the longest time. They're so sneaky, they've even gotten him to start using their tactics!
Trump is looking into censoring searches at google right here. Maybe he can tie our search results to our credit scores, for that personal touch?
The irony is strong with this one ..
You do realize you have it exactly backwards, right? Trump doesn't censor searches; Google does.
Have they also asked for a non-censored search engine in the United States?
It seems to me that Google's activity in China is simply an expansion of their current US censorship, rather than anything new. Sure, the keywords might be "falun gong" instead of "conservative news", but it's silly to protest their activity in China without acknowledging their activity in the States.
Google already self-censor to a large degree in the US by giving more weight to democratic-leaning stories. When the censorship is less obvious; it is often more effective.
American corporations are not going to "fix" China. That is up to the Chinese people,
No, it will be up to the Chinese government. The people don't have a say in this.
and at least for now they consider their rapidly rising standard of living to be a reasonable tradeoff for the CCP's censorship.
No, they acknowledge their inability to protest the censorship and surveillance and instead attempt low-keyed mitigation (e.g., VPNs) or are simply resigned to their situation. There is no tradeoff because there is no decision to be made.
Google can play a positive role in China, and it is better for them to engage than to leave the market to companies like Baidu that will be even more compliant censors.
I'm not sure why Baidu would be a more strict censor. Is this a suggestion that the Chinese government is willing to allow Google some leeway or breaks in their implementation of the firewall? The Chinese government seeks to strengthen local businesses, so this decision to allow Google as a competitor isn't consistent with their usual strategy. The only reasons for the Chinese government to allow Google into their market are to exert some measure of control over Google, to gain observability into Google technology, and perhaps to hold up Google as a trophy head (i.e., see, even the vaunted Google will kneel and obey our wishes because we can use our market to exert power over them).
Chinese government and companies employ many thousands of people to censor.
And no, the Chinese do not tell Google or others what to censor, at least not very often. Google and others decide what to censor, and if the Chinese do not like it then they threaten to shut Google down. If Google does an excellent job then they might be granted a few favors.
Companies like WeChat employ most of the censors. They use a combination of patterns and terms. The spend their lives monitoring the internet, and become quite good at it.
If any censor is caught letting something through then they may have to write a self-criticism. And maybe lose their job. Possibly, although most unlikely, something worse.
But Chinese respect authority. It would never occur to them that they are doing anything wrong. They are just maintaining social harmony.
Google operating in China is very dangerous. It will affect their operations in the USA. Partly just though culture, as more of their engineering is done in China. But also overtly -- if China does not like Google's US search results they can penalize Google China. And Google is (now) all about making money.