Don’t Be Evil… Unless By Proxy
Don’t Be Evil… Unless By Proxy
January 27, 2006: Google fallen into line behind other search engines blocking content that is, apparently, not in the national interest rather than risk being dropped on the wrong side of the ‘Great Firewall of China’.
Google says its new web portal, Google.cn was introduced to speed up service for its Chinese customers, however whatever benefits it has gained in speed, it has lost through self-censorship. Google has launched the new site sans its email, chat and blog services, and has also included automatic filtration for politically sensitive searchers.
Yahoo! and MSN have already buckled to China’s will and adhered to its strict guidelines. Google says that its decision is "intended to block the minimum required to comply with (Chinese) laws and regulations" and maintains that it would be far worse for the company to pull out completely.
"I didn't think I would come to this conclusion - but eventually I came to the conclusion that more information is better, even if it is not as full as we would like to see" said Google co-founder Sergey Brin in an interview with Reuters in Switzerland.
The move is in stark contradiction to the stance Google took last week against US Federal Prosecutors when it refused to hand over its search records.
With the second largest internet population in the world Google’s decision is hardly surprising, however it has drawn the ire of many with Reporters Without Borders labelling the company hypocritical.
“The launch of Google.cn is a black day for freedom of expression in China,” says the worldwide press freedom organisation. “The firm defends the rights of US Internet users before the US government but fails to defend its Chinese users against theirs.
“US firms are now bending to the same censorship rules as their Chinese competitors but they continue to justify themselves by saying their presence has a long-term benefit. Yet the Internet in China is becoming more and more isolated from the outside world and freedom of expression there is shrinking.”
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