[IP] Google Conforms to Chinese Censorship
One wonders if Google would do the same if the US Government asked them
to do that in the USA?? djf
Google Conforms to Chinese Censorship
Google Conforms to Chinese Censorship, Omitting Government-Banned Sites
for Service in China
The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO Sept. 24, 2004 — Google Inc.'s recently launched news
service in China doesn't display results from Web sites blocked by that
country's authorities, raising prickly questions for an online search
engine that has famously promised to "do no evil."
Dynamic Internet Technology Inc., a research firm striving to defeat
online censorship, conducted tests that found Google omits results from
the government-banned sites if search requests are made through
computers connecting to the Internet in China.
Steered by an identical search request, computers with a United States
connection retrieved results from the sites blocked by China.
"That's a problem because the Chinese people need to know there are
alternative opinions from the Chinese government and there are many
things being covered up by the government," said Bill Xia, Dynamic's
chief executive. "Users expect Google to return anything on the
Internet. That's what a search engine does."
Xia suspects Google is cooperating with the Chinese government's
censorship efforts to smooth the way for expansion plans that could
help the Mountain View-based company boost future profits.
The Chinese government lashed out at Google two years ago when it
temporarily blocked access to the company's main search engine before
relenting under public pressure.
Google acknowledges its Chinese language news service introduced on a
test basis two weeks ago is leaving out results from government-banned
sites, but the company believes the omissions jibe with its
long-standing mission to make its search engine efficient and useful.
If Google were to display results from sites the Chinese government
blocks, computer users would end up clicking on links that lead nowhere
something the search engine has always tried to avoid.
"Google has decided that in order to create the best possible search
experience for our mainland China users we will not include sites whose
content is not accessible," company spokeswoman Debbie Frost said
Friday.
Only a "tiny fraction" of Web sites are being excluded by the Chinese
news service, Frost said. Xia said his tests indicated Google is
excluding Chinese results from at least eight sites, including
www.epochtimes.com and www.voanews.com.
Google says the Chinese news service draws upon roughly 1,000 sites a
broader array than in Germany, which trolls 700 sites, and Italy, which
monitors about 250 sites.
"It's probably killing them to leave some (Chinese) sites out of its
index, but they have probably decided they are doing greater good by
providing access to all these other sites," said Forrester Research
analyst Charlene Li.
Complaints about Google's search results aren't new.
As its search engine has become more popular in recent years, Google
has drawn fire for displaying some results too prominently and
downplaying others.
Some organizations also have lodged complaints about the company's
policies governing the kinds of ads it will accept.
Google's pledge to "do no evil" trumpeted loudly by company co-founders
Larry Page and Sergey Brin is spurring even greater scrutiny of company
behavior.
If it wanted to take a political stand, Google could consider posting a
disclaimer on the Chinese news site advising visitors the search
results may be affected by government censorship, said analyst Li.
A step like that, though, would run the risk of inciting the Chinese
government to restrict access to Google's news service.
"Doing no evil doesn't necessarily mean Google has to be the
progressive cause for change," Li said. "(In China), they are saying,
'This is the law of the land, and there is nothing we can do to change
it.'"
<http://printerfriendly.abcnews.com/printerfriendly/Print?
fetchFromGLUE=true&GLUEService=ABCNewsCom>
-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as roessler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To manage your subscription, go to
http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip
Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/