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Google Suppresses Memo Revealing Plans To Closely Track Search Users in China: The Intercept (theintercept.com)
Google bosses have forced employees to delete a confidential memo circulating inside the company that revealed explosive details about a plan to launch a censored search engine in China, The Intercept has learned. From the report: The memo, authored by a Google engineer who was asked to work on the project, disclosed that the search system, code-named Dragonfly, would require users to log in to perform searches, track their location -- and share the resulting history with a Chinese partner who would have "unilateral access" to the data.
The memo was shared earlier this month among a group of Google employees who have been organizing internal protests over the censored search system, which has been designed to remove content that China's authoritarian Communist Party regime views as sensitive, such as information about democracy, human rights and peaceful protest.
According to three sources familiar with the incident, Google leadership discovered the memo and were furious that secret details about the China censorship were being passed between employees who were not supposed to have any knowledge about it. Subsequently, Google human resources personnel emailed employees who were believed to have accessed or saved copies of the memo and ordered them to immediately delete it from their computers. Emails demanding deletion of the memo contained âoepixel trackersâ that notified human resource managers when their messages had been read, recipients determined.
The memo was shared earlier this month among a group of Google employees who have been organizing internal protests over the censored search system, which has been designed to remove content that China's authoritarian Communist Party regime views as sensitive, such as information about democracy, human rights and peaceful protest.
According to three sources familiar with the incident, Google leadership discovered the memo and were furious that secret details about the China censorship were being passed between employees who were not supposed to have any knowledge about it. Subsequently, Google human resources personnel emailed employees who were believed to have accessed or saved copies of the memo and ordered them to immediately delete it from their computers. Emails demanding deletion of the memo contained âoepixel trackersâ that notified human resource managers when their messages had been read, recipients determined.
Does anyone remember the story earlier this morning: Schmidt predicting a second internet run by China. Obviously the time to get in on the action is now, and now is a bit too late. Google is just playing catch-up.
Don't be evil, be SUPER EVIL
The motto wasn't "do no evil", it was "don't, be evil". The comma was sometimes overlooked - typical small print from an advertising company.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Why would anyone be ok with censorship of any kind? Isn't the freedom of information important for everyone?
You have this all wrong. This is not censorship. In fact, Google is being a role model for how to make information as free as it can possibly be. Through this partner arrangement, they are making all of the information about every search and every user accessing the tool in question fully, completely, and totally freely available to the Chinese government. The information does not get much freer than that.
The folks at the NSA are jealous that they cannot have the same thing.
In case anybody reading this is sarcasm impaired, this was meant to be sarcastic. Except for the part about the NSA being jealous; that is sadly true.