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Google To Launch Censored Search In China Despite Denials (thenextweb.com)
Google intends to launch a censored version of its Search app for China sometime in the next six to nine months, according to a leaked transcript from a private employee meeting held last month. The Intercept's Ryan Gallagher today reported the company's Search engine chief, Ben Gomes, held a meeting to congratulate a room full of employees working on the platform, dubbed Project Dragonfly. From a report: According to The Intercept, Gomes talked about the launch timeline: "While we are saying it's going to be six and nine months [to launch], the world is a very dynamic place." He goes on to point out that the current political climate makes it difficult to pinpoint a definite timeline, but indicates employees should be ready to launch whenever a "window opens." These comments come in stark contrast to public statements given recently by both Gomes and Google's chief privacy officer, Kieth Enright.
Speaking to members of Congress last month, Enright tried to skirt the issue of the Dragonfly project by playing dumb. According to Wired he didn't quite deny involvement, and in fact admitted the company had explored the idea, but simply stated Google wasn't "close to launching" the censored Search engine and that he was "not clear on the contours of what is in scope or out of scope for that project." Gomes took the soft-denial a step further when he told the BBC "Right now all we've done is some exploration, but since we don't have any plans to launch something there's nothing much I can say about it."
Speaking to members of Congress last month, Enright tried to skirt the issue of the Dragonfly project by playing dumb. According to Wired he didn't quite deny involvement, and in fact admitted the company had explored the idea, but simply stated Google wasn't "close to launching" the censored Search engine and that he was "not clear on the contours of what is in scope or out of scope for that project." Gomes took the soft-denial a step further when he told the BBC "Right now all we've done is some exploration, but since we don't have any plans to launch something there's nothing much I can say about it."
Does anyone in China actually care about Google search? The topic is a hot potato in the US for a number of reasons, but the fact is that search isn't that hard and there are already search engines available in China. It isn't as if Chinese internet users are lost among the myriad domains for lack of Google search...
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
This is such a terrible idea that even Mike Pence is telling you not to do it. MIKE FUCKING PENCE thinks it's likely to undermine human rights.
Maybe rethink?
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
The Chinese know that their searches are censored and they got used to it. Google has no hope of being popular in that country unless it is not censored. It simply cannot differentiate itself from the myriads of established search engines there.
My guess is that it won't be launched as Google, it'll be an engine behind another name to test the waters and to avoid humiliation that would certainly happen when we all find out that the name Google means nothing in China if it is still censored like all others.
You would think that having a search engine created for China, by a United States company, would be something googlers would be behind. You can not affect change in a place where you have no market penetration. Boycotting the Chinese market of over a billion people, is really just turning your back on them.
--
If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding! How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?! - Pink Floyd
Spending billions online.
What US ad company would not want to go full Communist?
Just find US staff who are ready to totally remove terms like
Emperor, Two term limit, 1984, Disagree, a bear cartoon.
Personality cult, emperor’s dream, emperor’s reign, incapable ruler, yellow gown. Long live the emperor.
Tiananmen Square. Operation Yellowbird https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Years of hard work at a top US university only to work all day at an ad company to please a Communist party and remove every bear cartoon.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Once Google starts up in China, it is only a matter of time before someone accuses Google of censoring US search results to please China. It will be very hard to defend against such claims, especially as China will want something in return for allowing Google in.
Google will never become more than a niche player in China, they will simply not allow it.
Bing is already there.
I bet they are sipping Champagne at Duck Duck Go. Finally, a solid reason to exist.
Because it is much more likely that China will change Google than Google will change China.
Obama would analyze the situation from 100 different angles. Focus on forming a consensus. And have a dozen sophisticated reasons for saying nothing.
Pence and Trump just say the first thing that enters their small minds.
Sometimes, I prefer Pence and Trump.
It is no longer a maybe.
Google thinks the goal is gaining access to China but the real goal is the Chinese are using Google to gain access to the rest of the world.
China knows that Google works very closely with US Gov agencies. China is just protecting its interest from the US Gov. The US like to mouth that there is separation between corporations and US gov agencies but that it not the case, and every country knows this. If the situation is reversed, the US would do the exact same thing, and actually would go even further by denying it totally. So complaints about China doing this doesn't make any sense and in any case Google can just take their spy toys and go home.
Translation: "Today we have no ultra-concrete plans, only very-firm plans. Once the scrutiny dies down, we will establish an exact plan."
Read between the lines.
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
Going into China increases their liability surface area. If they were really trying to undermine China's govt. they'd have done so years ago. This all about making money from Chinese internet users.
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
It involves great trust on part of the government to allow access to thier citizens like this, ultimately it may help bring our societies closer, hopefully.
[($)]
ok so you launch a search engine in china and due to regulation you must operate within china (your Data Centre can not be yours) and you must "partner" for payments
so you think google is going to code a search engine from scratch or take some of the existing code over ?
do you think that it wont be "audited" ?
google IP (how its search engine works) is now going to be in the hands of "non google" I would say shareholders should be very worried
they would have been better to partner with a advertising firm in china and simply offer to advertise globally to google customers...
Folks freaking out about a censored search engine in China.
While not OBVIOUSLY censored here in the US, the search results can be manipulated to drive folks to certain sites over others which can then be used to modify public opinion on any given topic.
Google et al can do this without most even realizing it, whereas the mainstream media doesn't even try to be sneaky about it at all. You KNOW if you're watching a Fox affiliate it's going to be nothing but Republican love whereas any CNN broadcast is going to be all Democrat.
Typically, if you know which way the CEO leans, then you know what bias to expect from any information source owned by them.
( Thus the danger posed by allowing the consolidation of media companies into the hands of so few people. )
Example: Type in the word " Trump " in any search engine.
If the first several pages return a majority of hits from sources that loathe the man, those folks reading said material may eventually develop a negative opinion towards Trump in general based on what they're exposed to day after day.
The same holds true for sources that think he's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Subtly shift a majority of your hits from sources that absolutely adore him and you get the opposite effect. A population exposed to nothing but positive information will have a vastly different opinion from those who are fed nothing but negative data.
Now, take that idea and realize that a search engine can subtly modify search results based on any criteria they want ( which is why they're all so interested in hoovering up as much data about you as they can ). Then you understand that the data you're looking at might not be as bias free as it should be since the results you're seeing may have been ' tweaked ' a bit in an effort to shape your opinion.
Just a thought.
Once Google starts up in China, it is only a matter of time before someone accuses Google of censoring US search results to please China
Google doesn't need to go to China to practice CENSORSHIP ON AMERICANS
https://www.scribd.com/documen...
Above is a leaked document from Google, with the title of "Good Censorship'.
It outlines what Google is ALREADY DOING, that is, Google is already playing their so-called 'Good Censorship' on all of us !!
Falsely assuming that the Chinese government is going to change for Google...
And then get banned from doing any business in that country.
Hint - (They want to make lots of money in China.)
How dare Google support government censorship like that !
The same people who think it's okay to censor the opinions of US citizens... thinks it's okay to censor the opinions of Chinese dissenters. ...SURPRISED?
That awkward moment when your ideology is literally the same one they use in China to crush journalists.
Perhaps because they want to have influence over Google, by being able to throw them out.
Xi has ambitions beyond China.
Not sure what you mean by "Chinese roamers".
Once a foreign company has gotten permission to operate in China and has invested there, the ruling Communist Party can use that as leverage to influence that company's operations everywhere.
Nudge, wink, or else.
As the Communist Party feels increasingly powerful and finds these methods are working (as they have been) they will only become more brazen.
Should invading one's peaceful neighbours be opposed, or rewarded with trade deals?
You can see why Google is doing this now. Now that the US has its own authoritarian regime that doesn't care too much for human rights, it's easier to collaborate with China's government than ever before, and it likely won't be this easy ever again.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Google already has a variety of censorship controls, and we can all agree that its a good thing.
Google suppresses sites known to host malware, child pornography, and probably lots of other stuff. This is good in my opinion.
The question is where do you draw the line? As an American, I don't feel I have the right to tell the Chinese, where they should draw their line. I would offer advice if asked, but nobody is asking me and its not any of my business.
If Google wants to expand its operations abroad, it has to obey the laws where they operate. If that bothers you, don't by Google stock and use DuckDuckGo.
Greed is the root of all evil.
Still likes cash, despite denials. News at ten!
Requiem for the American Dream
Last time they did it to google, they left China. I would suspect that both parties learned something from that experience.
This "we'll do it no matter what" attitude probably means they know the ads business is running on fumes and won't grow anymore in the future. A significant fraction of their market cap is dependent on continued growth, and cloud is not growing anywhere near quickly enough, so like a heroin junkie they need another hit of ad revenue even if they have to proverbially fellate the Chinese communist party officials the in a dirty bathroom stall. It's not really about search. It's about search ads.
I guess we'll see whether their employees stick around or leave en masse.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
China is a colonial empire that viciously oppresses subject populations in Tibet, Xinjiang, and other places, not to mention practicing routine censorship, imprisonment, and even murder of Han Chinese dissenters. The argument you're advancing is the same one made about the Nazis, and the Soviet Union. Google is aiding and abetting tyranny, and we have every right to despise them for it. If you have an issue with that, I heartily invite you to go fuck yourself.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Where did you get the idea that they were censored anyway. Maybe by using Chinese phones, but not the SIM card. The Smart and the Phone are quite distinct remember. All the SIM sees is encoded packets.
Because SIM cards act as credentials, they allow access to networks. That's why US SIM cards bypass the firewall in China and why Chinese SIM cards outside of China still censor access. The actual phone don't control access, the SIM cards do.