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Google Built a Prototype of a Censored Search Engine For China That Links Users' Searches To Their Personal Phone Numbers: The Intercept (theintercept.com)

Posted by msmash on from the treading-dangerous-waters dept.

Google built a prototype of a censored search engine for China that links users' searches to their personal phone numbers, thus making it easier for the Chinese government to monitor people's queries, The Intercept, which first published information about Google's efforts to build a censored search engine in China last month, reported Friday. From the report: The search engine, codenamed Dragonfly, was designed for Android devices, and would remove content deemed sensitive by China's ruling Communist Party regime, such as information about political dissidents, free speech, democracy, human rights, and peaceful protest. Previously undisclosed details about the plan, obtained by The Intercept on Friday, show that Google compiled a censorship blacklist that included terms such as "human rights," "student protest," and "Nobel Prize" in Mandarin. Leading human rights groups have criticized Dragonfly, saying that it could result in the company "directly contributing to, or [becoming] complicit in, human rights violations." A central concern expressed by the groups is that, beyond the censorship, user data stored by Google on the Chinese mainland could be accessible to Chinese authorities, who routinely target political activists and journalists. Sources familiar with the project said that prototypes of the search engine linked the search app on a user's Android smartphone with their phone number. This means individual people's searches could be easily tracked -- and any user seeking out information banned by the government could potentially be at risk of interrogation or detention if security agencies were to obtain the search records from Google.

162 comments

  1. What? Nobody cares? by PaulBu · · Score: -1, Troll

    Weird... Finally looks liek got a first post though! :)

    1. Re:What? Nobody cares? by mujadaddy · · Score: 1

      It's Friday afternoon. I care.

      --
      Populus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur...
      "Force shits upon Reason's back." - Poor Richard's Almanac
    2. Re:What? Nobody cares? by RaygunsRock · · Score: 1

      Congrats on the first post! Maybe google should rename themselves coogle.

    3. Re:What? Nobody cares? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 0, Troll

      I don't care, because anything else that Google could have done would have made no difference, or would have made things worse.

      Corporations are required to obey the laws of the countries in which they do business. So Google's only alternative would have been to cutback services, and leave the market to competitors that would have been even more compliant.

      American corporations are not going to "fix" China, and it is silly to expect them to try. That is not their purpose, and they wouldn't make a difference even if they tried.

    4. Re:What? Nobody cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      American corporations are not going to "fix" China

      Is it too much to ask that they refrain from helping foreign governments oppress their people?

    5. Re:What? Nobody cares? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      Is it too much to ask that they refrain from helping foreign governments oppress their people?

      They are not "helping". If Google pulled out, the oppression would be worse.

      Reality is more important that ideological virtue signaling.

      In China, all search engines censor, but Google does so less than Baidu. Google does only what they are legally required to do, but Baidu goes further.

      Also, Baidu's English language search engine sucks big time.

    6. Re:What? Nobody cares? by slyborg · · Score: 3, Insightful

      >one of our competitors would make the cyanide for the gas chambers if we don't, so we might as well make a few bucks by doing it ourselves

      You would be perfect for a management opportunity at I.G. Farben.

    7. Re:What? Nobody cares? by WaffleMonster · · Score: 1

      I don't care, because anything else that Google could have done would have made no difference, or would have made things worse.

      Ditto for Watson selling Jew death tabulators to Hitler, Goebbels and friends.

      Corporations are required to obey the laws of the countries in which they do business. So Google's only alternative would have been to cutback services, and leave the market to competitors that would have been even more compliant.

      Assertion it's OK because others would have filled the vacuum anyway is frankly absurd and disgusting.

      You can justify anything no matter how egregious or outrageous including selling "showers" to Hitler by invoking this very same garbage.

      American corporations are not going to "fix" China, and it is silly to expect them to try.

      You literally just argued Google do just that by being "less compliant".

      The salient point as far as I'm concerned is American corporations shouldn't contribute to "breaking" China.

    8. Re:What? Nobody cares? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 0

      >one of our competitors would make the cyanide for the gas chambers if we don't

      That is a stupid analogy. It is completely backwards:

      More companies making cyanide would have made the situation worse.

      More companies delivering search results makes the situation better.

    9. Re:What? Nobody cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Also, Baidu's English language search engine sucks big time.

      Let it suck. Do you know what is worse? That would be letting search-engine providers have this capability in the first place. How convenient would it be for them to turn on this "feature" for opinions they don't like.

    10. Re:What? Nobody cares? by larryjoe · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I don't care, because anything else that Google could have done would have made no difference, or would have made things worse.

      I don't know what Google could do differently to help the cause of human rights in China. I don't see how staying out of the Chinese market could make things worse.

      Corporations are required to obey the laws of the countries in which they do business. So Google's only alternative would have been to cutback services, and leave the market to competitors that would have been even more compliant.

      Right. Staying out of the market was what they had been doing. They saw the loss of revenue as being more important than being complicit in human rights violations. This type of action is motivated by a need to increase revenue to boost stock prices/bonuses, despite already huge revenues and profits.

      American corporations are not going to "fix" China, and it is silly to expect them to try. That is not their purpose, and they wouldn't make a difference even if they tried.

      That's a dangerous way to look at morality. We're not talking about selling hamburgers or something else that doesn't directly abet human rights violations. It's not even so much the abetting of propaganda through the firewall that is so dangerous, it's the collection and transfer of information to identify people who entered illegal terms in their search queries. Given the willingness of the current Chinese regime to hand out life changing/ending punishments, collecting and handing over this information is tantamount to programming a drone to kill people. The main differences are that Dragonfly will likely earn Google much more than the paltry $10 millions from Maven and that Dragonfly will likely kill more people than Maven.

    11. Re:What? Nobody cares? by WaffleMonster · · Score: 1

      They are not "helping".

      Of course Google is helping to oppress Chinese citizens. It's why people are leaving Google.

      In China, all search engines censor, but Google does so less than Baidu. Google does only what they are legally required to do, but Baidu goes further.

      Baidu censors less than Google. Google goes the extra mile.

    12. Re:What? Nobody cares? by WaffleMonster · · Score: 2

      More companies making cyanide would have made the situation worse.
      More companies delivering search results makes the situation better.

      That is a stupid analogy. It is completely backwards:

      I completely agree with you. More companies censoring makes the situation worse not better.

    13. Re:What? Nobody cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Which is more pathetic, caring about first post, or typing up a post just to point out that it is pathetic to care about first post?

    14. Re: What? Nobody cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's like one of the primary business of the US foreign policy.

    15. Re:What? Nobody cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Also, Baidu's English language search engine sucks big time.

      How could it be worse than Google's? Does it ignore ALL of your search terms?

    16. Re:What? Nobody cares? by OYAHHH · · Score: 1

      You are so full of it. It is the perfect analogy.

      --
      Caution: Contents under pressure
    17. Re:What? Nobody cares? by alvinrod · · Score: 2

      Let's suppose you're entirely correct in your assessment. At what point does this cross a line though? I'd hate to see a comment saying that everyone is helping the government send people to gulags, but that Google only does it because they are required to, whereas the local Chinese companies go much further.

      Google is already treading on the kind of thin ice that easily leads to human atrocity. It's far too easy to keep down that path once you've set foot on it and told yourself that it wasn't that bad, or that while what you're doing isn't good, it's at least better than what would happen if someone else were in your position. I don't think that most of the Germans intended to participate in the Holocaust, or if asked if they'd go that far beforehand would think that they could. The Milgram experiment proved that it's trivial for otherwise well-adjusted humans who are polite and civilized to become exactly that kind of monster.

      I'm not going to blame Google for getting out. Even if they could have been more humble about it, I'm not going to rag on them for speaking up about it, even if the people who did so thought it was a way to obtain some good press. Somewhere in there was someone who thought of how this might go awry. I don't think it's fair to shackle them with how the PR people decided to spin it.

    18. Re:What? Nobody cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Google would be making sure the Chinese government keeps a tab on it's citizens. Sounds good to me. However, Goggle's holier than thou socially progressive workforce can pretty much keep their opinions to themselves from now on. Maybe Google decided that since all their IP has already been stolen by China there is no reason to worry on that front. Next thing you know China will require unfettered access to Goggles AI technology to help China create some badass weapon systems. The socially progressive employees at Google threw a hissy fit at the mere suggestion that Goggle would work on any US defense contract even if weapons development was not involved. Maybe the US government should emulate the Chinese and let Google know their continued access to the US market means doing what the government asks them to do.

      But those jack holes at Apple get first place in the "Most malleable Ethics" jamboree. Apple's commitment to user privacy and security got thrown out the fucking window just so they could sell more phones in China. Any these are the same ass wipes that refused to honor a US Federal Court Order requiring their assistance in accessing a dead terrorist's cell phone. And the socially progressive but intellectually challenged e-mobs thought Apple did the right thing. Good thing the government didn't need Apples help since their touted security and privacy features were no harder to overcome than rooting a Windows 95 PC.

    19. Re:What? Nobody cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > don't care, because anything else that Google could have done would have made no difference, or would have made things worse.

      It would have made things worse than what, precisely? What does it take to make Google treat humans fairly or to respect people's free speech today? Between the "tuning" of search results, their own internal censorship and dismissal of ethical people who reject the party ideology of "what you identify as" being more important than "what do you actually do", and this encouragement of reporting your personal activity to the local thought police, they've lost their leadership as an ethical company.

    20. Re:What? Nobody cares? by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 1

      > I don't know what Google could do differently to help the cause of human rights in China. I don't see how staying out of the Chinese market could make things worse.

      In a world of corporate cunning, they could publicly release the censorware and quietly release the workaround to get past the censorware.

    21. Re: What? Nobody cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Americans are not allowed to act as agents of foreign intelligence agencies, which is what Google is doing

    22. Re:What? Nobody cares? by shess · · Score: 1

      I don't care, because anything else that Google could have done would have made no difference, or would have made things worse.

      I don't know what Google could do differently to help the cause of human rights in China. I don't see how staying out of the Chinese market could make things worse.

      Maybe going into China won't make things worse for people in China, but I wonder if it will make things worse for Google in the rest of the world.

    23. Re:What? Nobody cares? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      More companies censoring makes the situation worse not better.

      Nope. If Baidu dominates search (it currently does) then users have no where else to go, so Baidu has no incentive to please them, and can instead focus on doing whatever the government wants.

      But with multiple search engines, there is a competitive market. If one censors more strictly, users will go to another, and the stricter censor will lose market share.

      The censorship rules are somewhat ambiguous, so companies have leeway to interpret them in different ways. This puts pressure on competitors to also be more permissive.

      More competitors is definitely better, and Google is doing the right thing.

    24. Re:What? Nobody cares? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      Where'd we get the idea we can tell other countries how to run their own affairs? We're not exactly models of lawful behavior. You know we're promoting the civil war in Yemen right now, right? And allied with headchopping Islamist terrorists in Syria, right? Because we are. How do we get off telling anyone else what to do? Let's gain some moral authority by cleaning up our own act first. Afterwards we might be able to criticize others, but no sooner.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    25. Re:What? Nobody cares? by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

      That pressure works both ways.
      Google probably isn't the best example. They may be more willing to please the Government to be allowed into China at all, than trying to please users and take market share.
      Which pressure is greater, from the customers or from the Government.

      Also, what stops the Chinese government from pointing at the highest censorship company and telling all the others to be more like them, or get fined/punished. Look they can do it, why not you?

    26. Re:What? Nobody cares? by Whibla · · Score: 1

      I pretty much agree with your post, except:

      The Milgram experiment proved that it's trivial for otherwise well-adjusted humans who are polite and civilized to become exactly that kind of monster.

      It proved nothing of the sort; the experiements were misrepresented (and 'selectively' reported) both by Milgram himself and subsequent generations, and the intuitively appealing (shock!) idea has entered our culture as a 'scientific fact'.

      I'm afraid you'll need a need a New Scientist sub, or access to the March 14th issue, to read the rather less shocking reality of his experiments, and what they did and didn't show about human nature.

    27. Re:What? Nobody cares? by larryjoe · · Score: 1

      Where'd we get the idea we can tell other countries how to run their own affairs?

      We, the US government, have no direct ability to force other counties to behave according to our dictates, absent a military war.

      We, the US government, have the same rights as all other counties to express our opinions concerning what we consider to be proper behavior. Furthermore, the ability of any country to inhibit the free speech of other counties is an encroachment on the internal affairs of those other countries.

      We, the esteemed contributors to Slashdot, obviously have the right to express our personal opinions concerning what other countries are doing right or wrong.

      Personal absence of sin is not a requirement to criticize others, but the perpetrators of gross sin would like it to be otherwise so that they can continue their sins in peace. It would be horrific to imagine the past and current horrors perpetrated by countries, businesses, and people that would still exist without the forceful criticism of those who were all less than perfectly moral.

    28. Re:What? Nobody cares? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      When you bomb school buses full of children in Yemen, you have no standing to criticize others. None.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    29. Re:What? Nobody cares? by Agripa · · Score: 1

      I don't know what Google could do differently to help the cause of human rights in China. I don't see how staying out of the Chinese market could make things worse.

      They could have started by expanding instead of disabling domain fronting.

      Beyond that, fuck China. Implement secure services which bypass China's censorship. But I do not expect Google to do that when they are complicit in implementing the same thing in the US.

    30. Re:What? Nobody cares? by dwater · · Score: 1

      Gosh, how is this 'troll'. IMO, it is entirely accurate. Google is mostly irrelevant to China, and it's mostly Google's fault, if it is even a 'fault'.

      However, I would still like to see this search engine happen, because I am a Google user and it's a pita to be in China and it not work. So, if they do this, then it'll have ~zero effect on China, the Chinese, and their life, but will help foreigners quite a lot, which I imagine is one of the motivations.

      I can't see why people would be worrying about it in terms of censorship...very few Chinese will use it, imo...they don't care about Google at all and none of the phones there have GMS as far as I can tell.

      --
      Max.
  2. Nice! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Good thing they removed that pesky do no evil thing!

    1. Re:Nice! by NicknameUnavailable · · Score: -1

      I'm no fan of Google, but this action in itself is neither good nor evil, but a prerequisite to either good or evil. On the evil side they could of course take that information and hand it all over to the Chinese government such that dissenters are rounded up. On the good side they could categorize individuals by effectiveness in dissenting, send the ineffective ones to the Chinese government so they meet their quotas, and let the effective ones go on under the radar with unfiltered search results - something which would be impossible without actual identities tied to accounts to avoid letting unfiltered results go to the auditors.

      Of course, being Google, their most likely approach will be to develop the aforementioned categorization and only use it in the "non-evil" manner when in the US and Europe, in order to further liberal extremism.

    2. Re:Nice! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      On the good side they could categorize individuals by effectiveness in dissenting, send the ineffective ones to the Chinese government so they meet their quotas, and let the effective ones go on under the radar with unfiltered search results

      That is some hardcore rationalization right there.

    3. Re:Nice! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so"

    4. Re:Nice! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      This is naive and I assume that you do not know how businesses operate in China.

      To operate a business in China, the Chinese government requires access and most often it requires a Chinese "business" relationship. That means that the government would not be side-stepped so effortlessly and any inevitable discovery of said unfiltered results would result in the imprisonment of Google employees, as well as the likely deaths of anyone caught getting such results.

    5. Re:Nice! by myid · · Score: 1

      Good thing they removed that pesky do no evil thing!

      I wonder if they ever meant to be ethical and follow the "Do no evil" code of conduct, or if it was always just meant as a marketing slogan.

  3. Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by mi · · Score: -1, Troll

    Google built a prototype of a censored search engine for China that links users' searches to their personal phone numbers, thus making it easier for the Chinese government to monitor people's queries

    Evidently, some Fascist regimes are easier to #RESIST than others...

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    1. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Go big or or go home.

    2. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Breitbart? LOL, that's staying green.

    3. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by Alypius · · Score: 2

      The video is pretty widely available; just because Breitbart has it doesn't mean it's not real.

    4. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by mujadaddy · · Score: 2

      I know you're known for moronic comments, but holy shit.

      In the United States, you are FREE to have that opinion about the government. The issue at hand is direct assistance of the identification for punishment of human beings for having opinions.

      Whether you already knew that or not, that is what we are here to talk about.

      --
      Populus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur...
      "Force shits upon Reason's back." - Poor Richard's Almanac
    5. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by PopeRatzo · · Score: 0, Troll

      just because Breitbart has it doesn't mean it's not real.

      It kinda does.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    6. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The United States does indeed give people and businesses the right to partake in free speech. And Google is happily taking part in that, as shown in the video that shows their political bias.

      However, the US does not allow you to stomp on the free speech rights of others (where free speech is legally free speech, as opposed to hate speech). This is culminating across the tech industry with shadow bans and outright bans on conservative ideas.

      On the flip side, it is apparent that Google higher-ups, who are so offended by the ideas presented by then-President-elect Trump that they are willing to commit to using even more company resources to combat him, are not too offended by the undeniably evil regime that exists in China where the government uses the results of searches to literally arrest and kill their own citizenry.

      So to echo the GP's post, it really is easier to #resist one administration while gleefully hoping to build in a new market by actively cooperating with one of the most powerful and reprehensible regimes on the planet. In your rush to implicitly attack Trump and defend Google's private/public stances here, you seemed to miss the obvious comparison being made.

    7. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by ClickOnThis · · Score: 0, Troll

      The video is pretty widely available; just because Breitbart has it doesn't mean it's not real.

      If the video is so widely available, why link to Breitbart for it?

      Oh wait, it's to surface Breitbart's -- uh -- unique view on it.

      There's a reason Breitbart has a fringe following. It may present the truth from time to time, but it twists the truth to its own purpose. Look elsewhere for news.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    8. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by mi · · Score: 2

      So, you'd like to dispute the fact, that Google's top management — including Mr. Brin himself — referred to Trump supporters as "Fascists"?

      And it is important to the discussion because, in your opinion, Brin would not do that. Please, confirm.

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    9. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by mi · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If the video is so widely available, why link to Breitbart for it?

      Because they broke this particular piece of news — all other sites carrying it call it "video obtained by Breitbart".

      Look elsewhere for news.

      Few other news-sources would go for this kind of guerilla reporting risking Google's displeasure.

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    10. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by mi · · Score: 1

      In the United States, you are FREE to have that opinion about the government

      ... which automatically invalidates that particular opinion... As in, a regime can not be truly Fascist, if citizens are free to call it names and otherwise dis...

      Which was the point. Meanwhile, upon encountering an actually oppressive government — such as that of China — Google bends over backwards to accommodate them.

      Did you really need this explained, intellectually-challenged spouter of cliches?

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    11. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

      Fringe?

      Breitbart is #198 in the Top 1000 international websites.

      Just below Washington Post and HuffPo, and just above ESPN, Buzzfeed, and Walmart.

      I think that's a bit more than "Fringe", bud.

    12. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by omnichad · · Score: 1

      It's not based on traffic.

    13. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by ClickOnThis · · Score: 1

      Because they broke this particular piece of news — all other sites carrying it call it "video obtained by Breitbart".

      Actually they're saying the video was leaked and it happens to be posted on Breitbart. But anyway.

      Few other news-sources would go for this kind of guerilla reporting risking Google's displeasure.

      Except that Google doesn't appear to be all that "displeased" about it. There is no evidence that they are suppressing it.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    14. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by PopeRatzo · · Score: 0

      So, you'd like to dispute the fact, that Google's top management — including Mr. Brin himself — referred to Trump supporters as "Fascists"?

      First of all, what's it to you? Who cares what Google's top management thinks of Trump? Don't like it? Go use Bing and stop whining like a little baby. Last I heard, it was still the right of every American to believe that Trump is a degenerate and a horrible fucking human being who thinks people are making up death statistics from hurricanes just to make him look bad.

      Second, in what way were Google's top management wrong about Trump and his supporters? In every poll asking Americans to rank the worst president in US history, Trump always comes in first, as the worst. Here's a poll from two weeks ago. Trump is far and away the top vote-getter as the worst ever, so apparently the opinion of him that Google top brass holds is an opinion held widely in the United States.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    15. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can't refute argument, so changes subject.

      Mi: 1
      Pope: 0

      Captcha: forfeit

    16. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by mi · · Score: 1

      Ok, so now that the validity of the video has been established, do you still have a point to make?

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    17. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by mi · · Score: 2

      Who cares what Google's top management thinks of Trump?

      It is important to the point I was making, that the same people, who call an American President and his supporters "Fascist", are happy to cooperate with the actual Fascists.

      Second, in what way were Google's top management wrong about Trump and his supporters?

      There-there, don't get triggered, let's not change the topic, shall we?

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    18. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      mi is known to be a sockpuppet of RomanMir, who believes the only answer to Soviet Communism is a right-wing dictatorship.

    19. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by PopeRatzo · · Score: 0

      It is important to the point I was making, that the same people, who call an American President and his supporters "Fascist", are happy to cooperate with the actual Fascists.

      You just call anyone you don't like "fascist". That's one of the defining behaviors of fascists, you know.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    20. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by PopeRatzo · · Score: 0

      Mi: 1
      Pope: 0

      Mi, posting anonymously to agree with yourself is a bad look. You've been caught at it before. It doesn't look good on you.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    21. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

      Nope. Just advertising $$.

      Which I think most people will agree is an important measure.

      Google certainly does.

    22. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

      I mean: after all, advertising $$ are what make news outlets.

      It has always been that way.

    23. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      just because Breitbart has it doesn't mean it's not real.

      It kinda does.

      Breitbart has also discussed 9/11, the moon landing, and transgnedered people.

    24. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by PopeRatzo · · Score: 0

      Breitbart has also discussed 9/11, the moon landing, and transgnedered people.

      And Breitbart's coverage of all those thing has not been real. They are incapable of covering anything in a real way. Go there right now for example, and notice the fact that the only mention on their front page of Paul Manafort proffering cooperation with the Mueller investigation is that, "it doesn't have anything to do with the president".

      Breitbart is basically the Onion without jokes or cleverness of any kind, and without acknowledging that they make shit up. They exist to create an alternative reality where people who are not capable of existing in real life can exist comfortably, without ever having to be challenged in any way. Every single word on Breitbart functions to confirm a pro-Trump worldview. Without exception.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    25. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You just call anyone you don't like "fascist". That's one of the defining behaviors of fascists, you know.

      Have you gone full retard? You are defending yourself against the claim that you support fascism while calling others fascist and you counter with that!

    26. Re: Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ad hominem attack, after losing the argument by forfeit. Very classy!

    27. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      They're precisely like the rest of the mainstream media. You don't trust anything they say without verifying it first. If CNN said shit tastes good you'd try a mouthful, right?

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    28. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by omnichad · · Score: 1

      A definition:

      A fringe theory is an idea or viewpoint which differs from the accepted scholarship in its field. Fringe theories include the models and proposals of fringe science, as well as similar ideas in other areas of scholarship, such as the humanities.

    29. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by mi · · Score: 1

      You just call anyone you don't like "fascist".

      No, professor, it is you who does that. I call Chinese "Fascist" because that is, what they are — by the very definition of the term. Unlike the Communist/Socialist China of the late 20th century, today's China is Fascist: capitalist markets exist — and move the economy — but they are tightly controlled by the government. The secondary indications — like rising nationalism and persecution of minorities (complete with ethnic cleansing) are there too. And — and this is the point most important to this discussion — neither a person nor a company can survive after displeasing the government in general and the Dear Leader in particular.

      Up until Trump's election, the US was going in that same direction (and not fast enough for some people). One hopes, he'd be able to survive politically long enough to cripple the creep towards Fascism for a few generations — by nominating judges with a similar pessimism over the government's power.

      But, whether he succeeds in that or not, his very attempts make him anti-Fascist. That Google's CEO dislikes Trump for his imaginary Fascism, while willingly cooperating with the actual Fascists of China is a sign of deep malaise of this country's elites — both real, like this very bright Mr. Brin, and the wannabes, like a certain much dimmer teacher who is so wanting in education.

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    30. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by PopeRatzo · · Score: 0

      No, professor, it is you who does that. I call Chinese "Fascist" because that is, what they are — by the very definition of the term [princeton.edu].

      Did you know that using your definition of "fascism", the Trump presidency is also fascist?

      [ronpaulinstitute.org]

      Go on, with that shit. Citing the "Ron Paul Institute" is good for your credibility.

      by nominating judges with a similar pessimism over the government's power.

      Trump just nominated a Supreme Court justice with a view that the unitary power of the President is virtually unlimited. He believes a president cannot be subpoenaed, indicted, questioned, or even investigated by any of the other branches or law enforcement. In fact, he has expressed views that impeachment itself may be unconstitutional. His views on Executive power are so extreme as to be completely outside the mainstream. It doesn't show "pessimism over the government's power", it shows absolute unwavering belief in a quasi-dictator. Until you made the comment that Trump's judicial nominations were somehow "anti-fascist", we had something to discuss. With that statement, you jettisoned any remaining tethers to reality and have ventured into the realm of Trump fan fiction. We're done here.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    31. Re: Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That wasn't an ad homien LOL.

    32. Re: Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dude, your leader trump has just as many connections with China. His companies use China for lots of things.

      You are basically calling the kettle black. When you are a black kettle yourself.

    33. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by mi · · Score: 1

      Did you know that using your definition of "fascism", the Trump presidency is also fascist?

      No, it is not. But, even if it were, Mr. Brin and the rest of Silicon Valley's "elite" are still self-inconsistent hypocrites, because Chinese regime is undoubtedly and indisputably Fascist. It the one thing we seem to agree on now.

      Citing the "Ron Paul Institute" is good for your credibility.

      Ron Paul is a prominent Libertarian and a US Senator. The cited article explains in detail, why the US was sliding towards Fascism — until Trump.

      It doesn't show "pessimism over the government's power"

      But he is highly pessimistic of government's power — you are conflating his opinions on the assailability of the President with what he thinks the government can tell citizens to (not) do.

      it shows absolute unwavering belief in a quasi-dictator

      Which may, very well, have been just what some of the Founding Father wanted. Yes, I'm talking about Mr. Hamilton, who not only wanted President with king-like powers, he also wanted him appointed for life.

      we had something to discuss

      I'm afraid, we hadn't. It was not a discussion — you were lectured: on Google et al. being hypocrite, on why today's China are Fascist, etc.

      We're done here.

      One would've thought, being an adult and having dabbled in martial arts would teach you to surrender with some grace...

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    34. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      Ron Paul is a prominent Libertarian and a US Senator.

      No, dumbshit. Ron Paul was never a US Senator.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    35. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by mi · · Score: 1

      No, dumbshit

      Ew, such rude crudeness — a sure sign of argument lost.

      Ron Paul was never a US Senator.

      One way to check, whether you are really "done here" :-)

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    36. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by ClickOnThis · · Score: 1

      They're precisely like the rest of the mainstream media. You don't trust anything they say without verifying it first.

      Precisely like the rest of the mainstream media? Um, no. Take a look at where Breitbart is on this chart. (Right-click and select Show Image to enlarge it.) Yes, this is one person's analysis. But other studies of bias and veracity of news sources show similar results.

      If CNN said shit tastes good you'd try a mouthful, right?

      Well no, I wouldn't. But assuming you speak figuratively, the point is that CNN may have a left-of-center bias (and I admit I see it sometimes) but it strives to tell the truth and provide fair comment.

      Breitbart, on the other hand, has a strongly right-wing agenda, and it shapes their reporting and editing to fulfill it. It is highly disingenuous, far more so than other news sources.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    37. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      CNN hides behind a mask of objectivity to lie and distort the news. They're political partisans. There's a reason they got called the Clinton News Network.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    38. Re:Some Fascist regimes are easier to #Resist by mujadaddy · · Score: 1

      You have failed to provide a coherent thought on the topic at hand. You seem to think that it has something to do with America, rather than to do with China.

      Thanks for playing.

      --
      Populus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur...
      "Force shits upon Reason's back." - Poor Richard's Almanac
  4. Morally bankrupt scum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    *slow clap* congrats on prototyping the dankest future of all

  5. for china... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    ...and only for china...riiiiight

  6. New motto by pepeizquierdo · · Score: 2

    I heard their new motto is "Don't be Evil... unless we can really profit from it!"

    1. Re:New motto by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I heard their new motto is "Don't be Evil... unless we can really profit from it!"

      Their new motto is "Be Evil But Don't Get Caught."

    2. Re:New motto by mattb47 · · Score: 0

      Ooops... Too late...

      Google holds itself out as being politically neutral, but the Dalmore case, reinforced by this weeks released post-Trump win/Hillary loss tape, show that they're anything but neutral. They're hardcore leftists, and are open and willing to adjust search results to benefit the left and the Democratic Party. Favored sites and stories get more prominent search results. Disfavored ones end up on search page 3 or 4. And may not show at all. It's not so much that they're leftists, but that they're frauds and hypocrites. Meanwhile, to way too many users, Google is perceived as disinterested and trustworthy on such topics, and thus sways opinion to the left.

      Google monitors you whenever you search with them, use Gmail, do almost anything with your Android phone, etc. They are monetizing their users on a scale never seen before anywhere (OK, outside Facebook...). A lot of that I use, and find very useful. But I'm starting to really question if all this otherwise great "free stuff" that I use is worth the tradeoffs.

      And, now they're complicit in building a crippled, censored, and reporting search engine for the Chinese Communist government. That's the same government that has killed some 100M+ people through war, forced starvation, imprisonment, etc. since Mao took charge in 1949.

      Yeah, the moto now is basically: "Be evil, and let's make LOTS of money doing it!"

      At this point, I'm not certain I really trust Google on non-political search terms, either. If they have an interest in the terms (e.g., self-driving cars, online advertising, mobile phones, tablets, email systems, Linux, iOS, Chromebooks, Android, etc.), then shouldn't we expect that they are massaging the data there as well?

    3. Re:New motto by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Google - "we listen to our customers."

      That's supposed to mean you give them what they want... in Google's case it is quite literally true. They spy on their customers... and in recent years thanks to their nasty social justice infection, they've started actively attacking them.

  7. Barking up the wrong tree.. by jcr · · Score: 1

    The Red Dynasty has this fantasy that they can keep a lid on the Chinese people by clamping down on communications, harassing dissidents, etc, etc. What they don't understand is that all governments, no matter how evil or vicious, ultimately depend on the consent of the people to exist. Deng Xiaoping created modern China by dialing the government control way the fuck back, and prevented a revolution that would have destroyed the CCP. If the current dictator doesn't wise up, he's going to get the Mussolini treatment.

    -jcr

    --
    The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    1. Re:Barking up the wrong tree.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a lovely theory. Unfortunately, the average Chinese is solidly behind the current approach because their lives and economic situation have improved enormously over the last 2 decades of development.

      Sure there are dissidents, but most people are happy to go along. It's the same anywhere. The average American doesn't care about online freedom either as long as their facebooks and instagrams are showing them the next cat video.

      Bread and circuses. It's the same anywhere.

    2. Re:Barking up the wrong tree.. by mujadaddy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      fantasy

      Technology assists in the realization of ideas, for good or ill. I'm pretty fucking pissed that they leveraged their analytics tracking experience to assist in depriving freedom to people, but I can't say I'm surprised.

      --
      Populus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur...
      "Force shits upon Reason's back." - Poor Richard's Almanac
    3. Re:Barking up the wrong tree.. by DigiShaman · · Score: 2

      The CCP's primary mission is to protect the CCP first and foremost. All other obstacles in the way are expendable. It's very beautifully constructed to be self-reinforced to exist. It might even dominate the world and lead it towards a dystopia for thousands of years.

      The ability for a regime to survive doesn't not on how well it values life, but quite the opposite. Morals, ethics, value of human life. Those are for the weak and only get in the way.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    4. Re:Barking up the wrong tree.. by mattb47 · · Score: 2

      The Chinese economy is not doing well, however. There are lots of propping up the system artificially by the government. Infrastructure programs that aren't really needed. Restricting Chinese citizens from investing abroad. Costs are rising as workers demand more pay. Corruption is rampant, imposing costs and increasing risks.

      This can't continue indefinitely. The softer side of Chinese Communism let its people (well, unless you're a Tibetan, Uighur, member of Fallon Gong, or some other "radical" troublemaker) exercise greater liberties and self-control. But it still left a single-party authoritarian government in place. And, yes, with huge economic gains, the favored masses were willing to ignore that their liberties were still very limited. That the state could be capricious and tyrannical. That people could lose their jobs, lose their property, suffer forced sterilization, be put into labor or re-education camps, or just disappear (be quietly killed).

      With economic gains slowing or perhaps even reversing, then this social contract, even with the literal guns to their heads, might no longer stand.

    5. Re:Barking up the wrong tree.. by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 1

      no he won't.

      chinese culture, as little as I understand it, admittedly, is a 'follow orders, don't stand out, be like everyone else, don't be an exception'.

      the leaders know this and keep this going.

      the leaders and their rule is safe. the people there won't revolt because of how it IS there.

      hell, a lot of shit went down in the US over the last 50 or so years and we've done nothing - NOTHING - to take back control of our country. if the US can't, chinese people certainly won't be able to.

      europe, they're a bit wider and have more understanding of history. the US is kept ignorant and so we are too easily controlled. same with china.

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    6. Re:Barking up the wrong tree.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >The Red Dynasty has this fantasy that they can keep a lid on the Chinese people by clamping down on communications, harassing dissidents, etc,

      The Clinton Dynasty has been trying the same thing by clamping down on communications and harassing dissidents too

    7. Re:Barking up the wrong tree.. by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

      Restricting Chinese citizens from investing abroad.

      Ha. In context, this is nothing more than making a show of shutting the barn door after all the horses have already got out.

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    8. Re:Barking up the wrong tree.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Islam's primary mission is to protect Islam first and foremost. All other obstacles in the way are expendable. It's very beautifully constructed to be self-reinforced to exist. It might even dominate the world and lead it towards a dystopia for thousands of years.

      The ability for a regime to survive doesn't not on how well it values life, but quite the opposite. Morals, ethics, value of human life. Those are for the weak and only get in the way.

      TFTFY.

  8. Too bad... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's too bad there was no way to see this coming in advance and avoid creating huge data aggregator monopolies.

    If only there had been some way to think about things in advance.

    Or maybe some way to learn from history.

    Really unfortunate none of those things can be done.

  9. YAHOO2! by Script+Cat · · Score: 1

    Google the next Yahoo

  10. This won't stop with China by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't believe for a second that this can only happen in countries like China. The underlying desire of social elites to control their populations is the same everywhere. When it comes to the US, it might look superficially different (filtering fake news or banning hate speech), but the purpose is exactly the same.

    1. Re: This won't stop with China by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Spot on. This slope is so slippery, there won't be going back without a terribly painful fight.

  11. BREITBART IS FAGGOT SHIT GTFO MORON by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    BREITBART IS FAGGOT SHIT GTFO NAZI TRASH FAGGOT MI

    Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
    Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
    Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.

  12. BREITBART IS FAGGOT SHIT GTFO NAZI TRASH FAGGOTS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    BREITBART IS FAGGOT SHIT GTFO NAZI TRASH FAGGOTS

    Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLINGFilter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLINGFilter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING

  13. BREITBART IS FAGGOT SHIT GTFO NAZI TRASH FAGGOTS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    BREITBART IS FAGGOT SHIT GTFO NAZI TRASH FAGGOTS

    Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
    Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
    Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.

  14. Your phone number is your ID by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Wow, don't ask the wrong questions or else they have your phone number to tie you too. Hope no one gets your phone and asks the wrong questions. yikes!

  15. dev tool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Opera should sue them.

  16. on the list? by guygo · · Score: 2

    Is the phrase "Do no harm" on the blacklist?

  17. Bing is now my default search engine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Time for war with Google.

    Time to undermine every product in their portfolio.
    Time to blacklist "enablers" working for Google.
    Time to built public consensus against advertising on Google platforms.
    Time to build public consensus against using Google platforms.

    The time for Google is over.

    1. Re:Bing is now my default search engine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well yes, I agree and all, but the time for Google was over 10 years ago. At this point, it's so entrenched in the very fabric of the internet it's going to be neigh well impossible to evict.

      You want to send an email? Well, odds are your recipient is on gmail. You want to use the web? Odds are whatever site you want to use won't work right without letting Google run scripts.

    2. Re:Bing is now my default search engine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well yes, I agree and all, but the time for Google was over 10 years ago. At this point, it's so entrenched in the very fabric of the internet it's going to be neigh well impossible to evict.

      Easy. Blackhole google.com zone in your DNS server. You know you want to at least try it... do it!!

      You want to send an email? Well, odds are your recipient is on gmail.

      None of the people I regularly correspond with have gmail accounts. I have some gmail's in my address book.

      You want to use the web? Odds are whatever site you want to use won't work right without letting Google run scripts.

      Been blocking all scripts from Google on third party sites for years without incident.

      Prime directive of all peeping creepers never let end user know they are being watched. Google spy scripts and nature of JavaScript makes it a pretty safe bet things keep working. Always exceptions of course but no impact on myself personally.

      What's really disheartening is sad conformist lemming like attitudes of people here. Everything is a lost cause, resistance is futile. Everyone is so damn cowardly and fatalistic about everything at a time in human history where commoners have had high bandwidth access to global networks of billions with massive computing resources for so little cost. Action has never been easier or cheaper.

    3. Re:Bing is now my default search engine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, you say that now, but let's be real next month you'll be ordering an Android phone so you can pirate FruitySquish or whatever and crying about "muh walled garden".

    4. Re: Bing is now my default search engine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's why President Trump is going to break Big Brother Google's monopoly on the Android app store.

      Google just loves to lick the boots of authoritarians. Well just wait 'til they get a load of Uncle Sam and his big trust-busting stick.

  18. Re:BREITBART IS FAGGOT SHIT GTFO NAZI TRASH FAGGOT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    BREITBART IS FAGGOT SHIT GTFO NAZI TRASH FAGGOTS

    /

    We aren't leaving until we curb-stomp your little pussyboy head.

  19. I don't have a problem ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

    ... with it.

    It's not like the Chinese people are just now finding out about government suppression/oppression.

    What good does it do for the citizens to have access to outside news?

    They've had it before and haven't done anything.

    If China brought down the goddam Great Firewall entirely, what would the citizens do?

    Nothing.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    1. Re:I don't have a problem ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      wtf is wrong with you?

      Why should they not value access to accurate information? For instance their own history.

        Its citizens would change their behavior accordingly. IF Nothing would happen China's communist government would not go through herculean effort to suppress information

    2. Re:I don't have a problem ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe he's just looked at history.

      After Snowden, the US was overflowing with information about NSA spying and 4th amendment violations and high ranking members of the party lying to congress about it all.

      You know what we did?

      Nothing.

      Not a damned thing.

      What makes you think the Chinese would be any different?

    3. Re:I don't have a problem ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      They have access to accurate information -- they are living right in the goddam middle of it.

      Do you suppose the entire fucking population of China doesn't know what kind of government it has?

      I predict things are going to go sideways like it did in the USSR, and it won't be because of access to the fucking Internet.

      It will be economics all the way down.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    4. Re:I don't have a problem ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      Exactly.

      How many people are NOT aware of the Equifax breach?

      How many people still use Equifax?

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  20. Verizon/AT&T want to be authentication for SSO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And that story yesterday about Verizon/AT&T wanting to be authentication for SSO on the web doesn't scare everyone?

  21. Re:BREITBART IS FAGGOT SHIT GTFO NAZI TRASH FAGGOT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    BREITBART IS FAGGOT SHIT GTFO BORING PUNKASS NAZI TRASH FAGGOTS

    Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
    Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
    Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.

  22. I can smell your cunt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    linux extremist tor tails i2p p2p search compile grep unix hackers freenet gnunet gnu fsf hardcore beer indian native american freedom fighters crossbow strippers wine alcohol illegal narcotics

  23. Smarter than the USA by bpetty · · Score: 2

    We do the same exact same thing here in the US, but done in secret with Tax payer dollars. That is why the Chinese are smarter... they get Google to manage and pay for it all. Brilliant move.

    1. Re:Smarter than the USA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We do the same exact same thing here in the US

      ...and the obligatory whataboutism pops out of the woodwork.

    2. Re:Smarter than the USA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We do the same exact same thing here in the US, but done in secret with Tax payer dollars.

      That's a provably false statement.d

    3. Re:Smarter than the USA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The term "whataboutism" is stupid and doesn't even apply to this situation, so you're misusing it.

    4. Re: Smarter than the USA by astrofurter · · Score: 1

      I was thinking the same thing: how is this any different than Google's operation in America? Big Brother Google already snoops on everything we do, censors information to control/stifle public debate, and regularly reports people to the Gestapo.

      The only difference is *what* will be censored or reportable.

  24. TRUMP IS A FASCIST YOU DUMB CUNT MI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He doesn't even try to hide his love for authoritarian dictatorships and his fellatio on Putin is obvious AF also, die in Federal prison you FUCKING TREASONOUS FAGGOT LOL

  25. TRUMP WILL HANG FOR TREASON DUMB CUNT MI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "the US does not allow you to stomp on the free speech rights of others " WRONG, NAZI PUNKASS FAGGOT APOLOGIST. The 1st Amendment only protects you from GOVERNMENT censorship you illiterate backwoods FAGGOT.

    1. Re:TRUMP WILL HANG FOR TREASON DUMB CUNT MI by OYAHHH · · Score: 1

      "...... NAZI PUNKASS FAGGOT APOLOGIST..... FAGGOT.

      Boy we all respect your opinion...

      Slashdot is getting really annoying. I had to add this to keep the "Anti-caps-lock" filter from preventing me from posting a reply.

      --
      Caution: Contents under pressure
    2. Re: TRUMP WILL HANG FOR TREASON DUMB CUNT MI by astrofurter · · Score: 1

      I wonder how many millions are spent each year by various political factions to troll, crapflood, and astroturf Slashdot?

  26. BREITBART IS FAGGOT SHIT GTFO NAZI TRASH FAGGOTS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    BREITBART IS FAGGOT SHIT GTFO NAZI EUNUCH TRASH FAGGOTS

    Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.

  27. Is it a culture thing? by AndyKron · · Score: 2

    Does the average Chinese person mind that the government does this? Is it a culture thing?

    1. Re:Is it a culture thing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes they mind but they have no choice. No its not a culture thing its a Communism thing.

      China has a large scientific community that values data greatly but how do you value information you have no access to?

    2. Re:Is it a culture thing? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 2

      Things are better today in China than they have ever been in history. Every day, it just gets better. Why would they have a problem with that? Their elites are the smart people in society. Don't we all wish for that? Heck, the New York Times has written wistful editorials admiring the Chinese system and their ability to get things done without that pesky democracy getting in the way. What's wrong with the situation in China?

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
  28. FTFY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    More companies delivering censored search results makes the situation worse.

    FTFY. Also:

    More companies developing censorship technology is bad for everyone; nothing corrupts human nature like having a corrupt tool right to hand. As in, "Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely."

    Google (if they weren't evil, which they pretty much have embraced whole-heartedly) would be considerably less-evil if they said "we will not provide the benefits of our technologies to societies that oppress their citizens, until those societies cease the oppression."

    Of course they won't do that. Because money. They don't do it here in the USA, either — they're right in there when it comes to warrantless surveillance and reporting.

    Any why? Because they're evil.

  29. Have some milk, comrade by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I don't care, because anything else that Google could have done would have made no difference, or would have made things worse.

    "Yeah, I know my customer is an amoral murderer and rights-crusher beyond the reach of the authorities here. But hey. It's not my fault. I just deliver his poisoned milk to his victims. I didn't actually poison it. Some of it is even chocolate!"

  30. BREITBART IS FAGGOT SHIT GTFO NAZI TRASH FAGGOT MI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    BREITBART IS FAGGOT SHIT GTFO NAZI TRASH FAGGOT MI

    Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
    Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
    Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
    Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.

  31. Kind of like fenced in cattle. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    People talk about how penning in cattle is cruel, but if those fences were to magically disappear, you know what would happen? Those cattle would stay right where there were, continuing to chew on grass.

  32. unwavering morals by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Google provably lacks unwavering morals.

  33. Do evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It looks like googles do no evil is now not just being ignored but has now changed to do evil. They have become the exact opposite of what they claimed to want to be ie the good guys. They are now the most evil company out there and yet they still have a large bunch of groupies cheering them on every day.

  34. We're Just Trying To Keep You Safe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We're just trying to keep you safe by constantly prompting for you to tie your cellphone to your account. We won't use it for too much else. Maybe.

    But, Google isn't the only one guilty of this. See Microsoft.

  35. Google wont help the US goverment but.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Google has withdrawn from an American defense project of its politics and yet they designed this Orwellian nightmare for China?

    What is Google thinking?

  36. UK by shaksys · · Score: 0

    This is what the UK wants, why is it so much worse if china wants it?

  37. BREITBART IS FAGGOT SHIT GTFO NAZI EUNUCH TRASH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    BREITBART IS FAGGOT SHIT GTFO

  38. Fucked up country by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

    Any country that censor basic math like 6+4 is fucked up.

  39. An America that elected Donald Trump has no morals by Cafe+Alpha · · Score: 0

    no standards, no ideals.

    So it's not surprising that our corporations have lost all of their morals too.

  40. Communist Party search engine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Replaces PageRank with ExecutionRank

  41. Come a long way since 2010 by russotto · · Score: 1

    Hey Sergey, I guess you've decided totalitarianism is A-OK after all?

  42. Re:An America that elected Donald Trump has no mor by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

    You think corporations were moral until Trump was elected??

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    Your ad here. Ask me how!
  43. Re: BREITBART IS FAGGOT SHIT GTFO NAZI TRASH FAGGO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Billy! Billy! What did I tell you about using foul language? Were you raised in a barn? You sound like it. Your father is going to wash your mouth out with soap when he gets home.

    Now go do your homework. You don't want to be held back and have to do the fifth grade again, do you?

  44. "Built a prototype" ? by SigmundFloyd · · Score: 1

    Gimme a break. I bet they haven't changed one line of code.

    --
    Knowledge is power; knowledge shared is power lost.
  45. Re: BREITBART IS FAGGOT SHIT GTFO NAZI TRASH FAGGO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Childishly foul-mouthed crapflooding troll brigades sure do hate Breitbart News.

  46. Maybe if .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Google stop playing politics, they can just be another search engine in China like ping or Yahoo. But no, this Google who is probably funded by the CIA. Acted on behalf of US state department and even have deep Democratic party bias within US politics. Read "When Google Met WikiLeaks" to see how deeply intertwined Google is with the US government. The "Don't be Evil" part is just like "All animals are equal..." in Animal Farm; just another phase that sounds good on the surface but actions speak louder than words.

  47. The slope is too slippery by aberglas · · Score: 1

    The Chinese government does not have strict censorship guidelines. They leave that to individual companies. But if the government thinks companies are "unhelpful" they shut them down. Self censorship is much more effective.

    The Chinese government would be doing Google a huge favor by letting them into China even if Google censors just as well as Baidu, just because Google is foreign. So China cannot fully control Google.

    So what is the payback for that favor? They want Google to be "sensitive" to Chinese concerns in their US and other searches. Nothing too overt, just put some result on page 2.

    Even if Google does not do this, how can they deny the charge?

    Very slippery slope indeed.

  48. It is: "Do no evil" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And evil is subjective... no kittens were harmed, right?

  49. Xi Jinping is big on authority by aberglas · · Score: 1

    No way will he tollerate dissent. He has carefully and painstakingly removed all competitors from the top of the party. There is no Deng Xioping waiting in the wings.

    If China goes bad, it will go very bad. It is very difficult to remove an entrenched dictator. The Germans could not get rid of Hittler. Nor the Russians Stalin. Nor, the Chinese Mao, even though Mao was directly responsible for a huge famine that killed some 30 million and caused abject misery.

    If Xi Jinping goes bad, he will take the world with him. Nobody else has anywhere near as much power, And that includes Putin.

  50. If this is true.. by dreamygeek · · Score: 1

    If this is true, this means that US is totally going after China by any means necessary.

  51. Trump's Right by DMJC · · Score: 1

    It's time to blacklist China from international commerce. It's clear that they aren't going to change their ways through the liberalisation of trade and they are just screwing the West so they can challenge the United States for global hegemony. Time to shut the commies down and take the planet back for democracy.

  52. ORLY? by Artem+S.+Tashkinov · · Score: 1

    > Google Built a Prototype of a Censored Search Engine For China That Links Users' Searches To Their Personal Phone Numbers: The Intercept

    <sarcasm><bigbrother>Weird, I was sure this feature had been rolled out to the entire world years ago.</bigbrother></sarcasm>

  53. What Google is doing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It must be very interesting to work at Google nowadays .... building censorship engines, improve HTML and JavaScript instead of building virtual reality UI based on new high performance networks, collecting private information about users to target them with commercials they don't expect anybody to know about, creating android based global bugger network "OK Google" and so on... it must be really interesting work ....

  54. Practice makes perfect by SuperByelich · · Score: 0

    They are just practicing on what they can do behind the scenes here in the US. I wouldn't be surprised they already do this.

  55. Far less news than you think by CBob · · Score: 1

    Please enter a mobile number for verification messages
    Please enter a secondary email address
    And so on.

    It's largely already happened all over the world

    Combine a system designed to allow industry/gov't/.mil/.edu communicate in the event of TEOTWAWKI with remotely reprogrammable devices that broadcast their location by design every time they communicate and you have EVERY surveillance state's wildest dream fulfilled

    It gets better than that, but that's part of your assigned reading. Remember that your ISP's records will be used to verify your work, class dismissed.
    Remember, next Tuesday is the tinfoil hat design contest, your results will be graded by your google search ranking.

  56. IBM and the Holocaust by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    google is following in the noble tracks of IBM, which introduced punch cards to the nazis when they were not supposed to work with them, and aided in the rounding up of jews, communists, etc. yay google.

  57. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  58. Question on that one by talldean · · Score: 1

    Did their plan include storing data on the Chinese mainland, or is that speculation?

  59. In China by AHuxley · · Score: 1

    Communist government and big US tech brands work together to watch you.

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    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  60. How? by dwater · · Score: 1

    No one uses the Play Store in China, so how will they make it available? Not that any Chinese are even interested in Google? Google is irrelevant and they've already lost in China. I guess they can make it available in the Chinese stores too, like Chrome is/etc.

    The only value is for foreigners, since they could use this there, and perhaps it'll open the doors more so that more Google services will become usable in China. /IMO

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    Max.
  61. Privacy? by DougSmith5294 · · Score: 1

    Are they using it against Americans?