Sir/Madam, I'm not a stockholder, I'm a college freshman (with a political science major). So let's get *that* out of the way, at least.
What I'm saying is that there are people in China just like there are those in Cuba, Burma/Myanmar, or Zimbabwe, despite the fact that they all have (at present) shitty examples of human governance for various reasons. Because of the media hype and its orientation toward the fact that the ruling party has the word "Communist" in it, I do not accept the issue with China as being of a moral nature, but instead being mostly political. And, of course, to restrict your company's business based upon politics (except in the case where said politics would be detrimental to your company's generation of revenue) is considerably playing your company to the ***lowest common denominator***.
Thus, in this case, I'm literally thanking God that Google has shown itself to be above such behaviour; instead, I'm calling foul on those here who have politicized the whole matter, peppering it with such overly-used buzzwords as "freedom", "democracy" and "human rights", particularly since the use of Google or any search engine, censored or no, will always benefit the end user, be he/she in a country like China or in the United Kingdom.
Is Google harming the already-limited "liberties" of the average human end user in China with the provision of a limited-return version of itself, by any chance?
Y'know, your sig applies *way* too much here.
These fools are going to continue to keep griping about Google's collusion with the evil empire without any single thread of consideration for the fact that there are PEOPLE, common *human beings*, involved at the very core of this arrangement. The vast majority of these folks at Slashdot are so infatuated with "democracy, human rights for all, and Free Tibet" that they don't even recognize basic human needs when they're evident.
Geez, the West *is* doomed....
That all depends from a freedom of speech point of view yep some would also see that as Evil. And you have a point from a moral relativist point of view except from a moral relativist point of view NOTHING is evil.
Who says that I do? You know way too little about me to make that assumption.
Locking an innocent person up is evil. Locking up a murder is not. Not letting a child drink all the coke he wants good. Not giving a child water when he is dehydrated bad. Censoring "holocaust denial" at the request of a democratically appointed government? Some would say even that is bad. I have mixed feeling about it I can see both sides.
OK, so how does any of that equate with:
Censoring pro democracy websites at the request of a totalitarian dictatorship==Evil.
?
Google...censoring websites....WTF? They don't censor the websites; they censor links to those websites on their servers. Of course, if you knew anything about caches and web crawlers, you'd know that as well. Hence, "Google's right" still stands as legitimate.
Simple as that. Google has done evil.
No, Google has struck a lucrative deal with an ever-growing, ever-paranoid superpower with "uber pwnage" potential (*wink wink*).
I suggest that if you want to worship find a church not a company.
OK, now that largest of your paragraphs was already a joke with no need for a rebuttal (or a waste of one at that); but that last line of yours really took the cake.
You, sir, are a dumbass.
It's their servers, so they have a right to censor their own servers' cache content. They've already done the same in both France and Germany in regards to "Holocaust denial" websites; of course, I'd expect folks here to hold a silly double standard to that (oh, but they're blocking something that's bad in Europe. China's different, though; its an eeeevilllll empire!).
Besides, they're not sacrificing at any length the already-limited "liberties" of the average PRC citizen with a self-censored regional portal. They haven't agreed to turn over their server content and IP logs (any of it) to Beijing; yet, you all want to bitch incessantly about Google being evil because it censors itself?
Geez, what's with you people?
What, exactly, is Google sacrificing some poor Chinese citizen on a chef's chopping board for by providing a self-censored search engine, anyway? They never, ever, EVER made any serious dedication in any of their numerous FAQ's that they'll supposedly provide the world's information uncensored to all peoples, no matter which region from whence they hail.
They've self-censored their content in both France and Germany for political reasons; same *should* go for them or *any* company which will deal with the citizens of the PRC in like manner and for similarly political reasons. In the process, they're not sacrificing the lives, liberties, or opium trip (oops, I mean, "pursuit of happiness") of any Chinese citizen within the matter of censoring the content on their own servers from public view if deemed necessary by the ruling government of said sovereignty. Google's a business entity, and It's their own servers, so its their right.
Slashdot Mirror
Sir/Madam, I'm not a stockholder, I'm a college freshman (with a political science major). So let's get *that* out of the way, at least. What I'm saying is that there are people in China just like there are those in Cuba, Burma/Myanmar, or Zimbabwe, despite the fact that they all have (at present) shitty examples of human governance for various reasons. Because of the media hype and its orientation toward the fact that the ruling party has the word "Communist" in it, I do not accept the issue with China as being of a moral nature, but instead being mostly political. And, of course, to restrict your company's business based upon politics (except in the case where said politics would be detrimental to your company's generation of revenue) is considerably playing your company to the ***lowest common denominator***. Thus, in this case, I'm literally thanking God that Google has shown itself to be above such behaviour; instead, I'm calling foul on those here who have politicized the whole matter, peppering it with such overly-used buzzwords as "freedom", "democracy" and "human rights", particularly since the use of Google or any search engine, censored or no, will always benefit the end user, be he/she in a country like China or in the United Kingdom. Is Google harming the already-limited "liberties" of the average human end user in China with the provision of a limited-return version of itself, by any chance?
Y'know, your sig applies *way* too much here. These fools are going to continue to keep griping about Google's collusion with the evil empire without any single thread of consideration for the fact that there are PEOPLE, common *human beings*, involved at the very core of this arrangement. The vast majority of these folks at Slashdot are so infatuated with "democracy, human rights for all, and Free Tibet" that they don't even recognize basic human needs when they're evident. Geez, the West *is* doomed....
It's their servers, so they have a right to censor their own servers' cache content. They've already done the same in both France and Germany in regards to "Holocaust denial" websites; of course, I'd expect folks here to hold a silly double standard to that (oh, but they're blocking something that's bad in Europe. China's different, though; its an eeeevilllll empire!). Besides, they're not sacrificing at any length the already-limited "liberties" of the average PRC citizen with a self-censored regional portal. They haven't agreed to turn over their server content and IP logs (any of it) to Beijing; yet, you all want to bitch incessantly about Google being evil because it censors itself? Geez, what's with you people?
What, exactly, is Google sacrificing some poor Chinese citizen on a chef's chopping board for by providing a self-censored search engine, anyway? They never, ever, EVER made any serious dedication in any of their numerous FAQ's that they'll supposedly provide the world's information uncensored to all peoples, no matter which region from whence they hail. They've self-censored their content in both France and Germany for political reasons; same *should* go for them or *any* company which will deal with the citizens of the PRC in like manner and for similarly political reasons. In the process, they're not sacrificing the lives, liberties, or opium trip (oops, I mean, "pursuit of happiness") of any Chinese citizen within the matter of censoring the content on their own servers from public view if deemed necessary by the ruling government of said sovereignty. Google's a business entity, and It's their own servers, so its their right.