Google Agrees to Censor Results in China

[Sonny]

This is alarming to me. Your thoughts?

Google Agrees to Censor Results in China

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE
AP Business Writer

SAN FRANCISCO

Online search engine leader Google Inc. has agreed to censor its results in China, adhering to the country's free-speech restrictions in return for better access in the Internet's fastest growing market.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company planned to roll out a new version of its search engine bearing China's Web suffix ".cn," on Wednesday. A Chinese-language version of Google's search engine has previously been available through the company's dot-com address in the United States.

By creating a unique address for China, Google hopes to make its search engine more widely available and easier to use in the world's most populous country.

Because of government barriers set up to suppress information, Google's China users previously have been blocked from using the search engine or encountered lengthy delays in response time.

The service troubles have frustrated many Chinese users, hobbling Google's efforts to expand its market share in a country that expected to emerge as an Internet gold mine over the next decade.

China already has more than 100 million Web surfers and the audience is expected to swell substantially _ an alluring prospect for Google as it tries to boost its already rapidly rising profits

Full article:
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/24/D8FBCF686.html

[Hackalicious]

This is alarming to me. Your thoughts?

Google Agrees to Censor Results in China

Yes, it is concerning. MSN and Yahoo already caved in and gave Chinese authorities information that was used to put dissidents behind bars. I thought Google might have some backbone, especially since they've resisted supoenas in other areas.

From a legal standpoint, these companies are obligated to follow local laws -- just like if one of us traveled to China. They've got too much at stake in the Chinese market to risk being shut out by the government there.

But, I don't think that's an excuse for helping China censor the internet.

[Sonny]

I really thought Google would hold their ground. Guess I underestimated their resolve.

[Sonny]

Isn't it irnoic that Google refused the federal govt's request to give up information on Google searches to fight child pornography... yet they are more then willing to assist the Chinese government in their censorship. Seems very hypocritical to me.

[mholtz]

Google is now a public company with share holders... Money is going to be everything. I recently had job interviews with them, and got to see a lot of the inside workings of their company. They are changing drastically now that they are public.

Private companies can afford to be idealistic.

Public companies can't afford to miss out on the fastest growing internet population in the world.

[Hackalicious]

Isn't it irnoic that Google refused the federal govt's request to give up information on Google searches to fight child pornography... yet they are more then willing to assist the Chinese government in their censorship. Seems very hypocritical to me.

They're both about business. They don't want to lose the Chinese market and they don't want to reveal their trade secrets. The federal supoena isn't even for data that has any private information attached to it.

The whole supoena for their search records is a bit bizarre. My understanding is that it's not even investigating a particular crime. It's not even trying to fish for criminals. It's law enforcement trying to collect data to argue for reviving a law that the supreme court blocked two years ago.