Google will quit China unless web censorship ends
Submitted by SteveMT on Tue, 01/12/2010 - 19:46Google, the internet search engine, has set itself at odds with the authorities in China by declaring that it will stop censoring search results on its Chinese website.
By Edmund Conway
Published: 11:38PM GMT 12 Jan 2010
In a surprise announcement, the group issued a veiled attack at Chinese censors and said it was prepared to shut down its operations there entirely if the authorities do not allow it to create an unfiltered search engine.
The company courted controversy in 2006 when it launched in China but, as a concession to the Communist government, agreed to filter the results available on its website for "inappropriate" content. It does not operate such filters in other major countries.
In a blog on the company's website, its corporate development and chief legal officer, David Drummond, said Google did so then because of the “benefits of increased access to information for people in China and a more open Internet”. However, he said a number of recent cyber attacks – apparently targeting human rights activists – and recent clampdowns on freedom of speech on the web "have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China.
"We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn... and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/6977627/Google-...
Google's China threat is a rare show of defiance
Google's rare show of defiance in China seems unlikely to be widely followed
By Joe Mcdonald and Michael Liedtke, AP Business Writers , On Wednesday January 13, 2010, 7:28 pm EST
BEIJING (AP) -- Google's threat to end its operations in China over censorship and computer-security concerns could embarrass communist leaders who crave international respect. Yet it appears unlikely that many other companies would follow suit and try to change how business is done in China.
"As long as you aren't involved in politics, the media or pornography, the government will leave you alone," said Siva Yam, president of the United States of America-China Chamber of Commerce, which primarily represents U.S. companies in China.
Such high-tech companies as Microsoft Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc. had no comment on Google's announcement Tuesday that it would stop censoring results on its Chinese search engine at Google.cn and might leave the country entirely.
Yahoo Inc. said it was "aligned" with Google's position, though it's not clear what that would mean. Yahoo closed its offices in China several years ago when it sold much of its business there to the Alibaba Group. Yahoo retains a 39 percent stake in Alibaba, and Yahoo spokeswoman Nina Blackwell declined to say whether the company would consider selling its holdings.
Google angered free-speech advocates when it created its China search engine, Google.cn, in 2006 and agreed to exclude links to sites blocked by government filters, popularly known as the Great Firewall of China.
Now Google's decision to confront Beijing might help repair its image.
More:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Googles-China-threat-is-a-apf-...
Good for GOOGLE!
2 Cheers!
Invest in Liberty, one Apartment deal at a time with me. Get a check each month as a passive investor, just ask me how.
It makes perfect sense. Right
It makes perfect sense. Right now they can only offer for sale limited information on the Chinese people. Its a sub-par product. Now if they can open up the code and let people do whatever they want, they will have complete info on the Chinese people to sell to whomever they want. So far we haven't been directly censored in the US online because its an easy way for the government to watch us. They just go to google and microsoft, they keep it all, Every link you click, every word you search, every email you receive, all filed neatly with your IP address.
Blessings )o(
Obama backs Google: Not a joke.
Now a false flag freedom operation.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/6983322/Obama-b...
Yahoo backs Google
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Yahoo-backs-Googles-response-a...
bump
Thank you for posting this.
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“The most important element of a free society, where individual rights are held in the highest esteem, is the rejection of the initiation of violence.” Dr. Ron Paul
PR stunt.
they don't want to give up that market.
Google will emerge from this
Google will emerge from this smelling like roses. Good for them!
Support freedom and liberty candidates in 2012... Ron Paul... Gary Johnson...
Agree
Agree
good news!
good news!
Ventura 2012
Google is not the only one upset with the Chinese
Big business is on the side of FREEDOM, when there is money to be made!
Western Firms Resent Beijing's Many Rules
by Keith Bradsher and David Barboza
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Google is far from alone among Western companies in its growing unhappiness with Chinese government policies, although it is highly unusual in threatening to pull out of the country entirely in protest.
Western companies contend that they face a lengthening list of obstacles to doing business in China, from "buy Chinese" government procurement policies and growing restrictions on foreign investments to widespread counterfeiting.
These barriers generally fall into two broad categories. Some relate to China's desire to maintain control over internal dissent. Others involve its efforts to become internationally competitive in as many industries as possible.
Jorg Wuttke, president of the European Chamber of Commerce, said that no E.U. companies had pulled out of China yet. But the encryption dispute would be the most likely cause if any did in the near future, he said.
Duncan Clark, the chairman of BDA, a Beijing consulting firm that advises major telecommunications and technology companies, said that Google's difficulties were indicative of broader troubles for foreign companies in China.
"There has been a raft of decisions and unpredictability, a kind of unpleasantness about what's happening here," Mr. Clark said. "There has been this received wisdom that no one can afford not to be in China, but that is being questioned now -- there's kind of an arrogance that's characterizing government policy toward multinationals."
Full story:
http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/108568/western-...
I'll be surprised if Google
I'll be surprised if Google walks away from all those customers.
i request they do the same
i request they do the same here.
Tyrants always try to stop
Tyrants always try to stop the free exchange of ideas. That's one more way to control people. If I were in charge at Google, I would never agree to filter or censor material for the benefit of the state.
Tyrants depend on the ignorance of their slaves. This is why it was illegal to listen to foreign short wave in Nazi Germany, and the Communist nations. A friend of mine who was in Norway during the Nazi occupation told me that the Nazis were after two things, firearms and short wave radios.
Let this be a lesson to the American people: anyone trying to undermine your civil rights, such as your right to defend yourself (keep and bear arms) or access information from any source you desire, is a Domestic Enemy.
No real need to overtly censor here because
most Americans think we are free. Heck, most of the West does when in fact just 5 corporations (themselves just propaganda arms of the international banksters) control fane-stream media of the U.S. Canada, EU, and Australia. When you consider the control of information of our puppet governments worldwide, the idea is truly mind-boggling.
Is this really a pro-Ron Paul site and people aren't as awake as they imagine or is this site compromised?
Even if it were true that just 5 corporations
were all the media there was, that would still be a free press.
China has an unfree press, not the U.S.
"“Censorship” is a term pertaining only to governmental action. No private action is censorship. No private individual or agency can silence a man or suppress a publication; only the government can do so." -Ayn Rand
Technically 6....
If you include Rupert Murdoch.
Free press... in the United States.
~blink~
Haha...
HaHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Thanks for that... ~wiping tears from my eyes.~
~Live life to its fullest, with an open heart, open arms and most important... an open mind~
Define free press.
What kind of perverse definition do you have?
Unless you know the basic definitions in the language of liberty and Constitutionalism, you're not going to get very far in understanding and education.
"“Censorship” is a term pertaining only to governmental action. No private action is censorship. No private individual or agency can silence a man or suppress a publication; only the government can do so." -Ayn Rand
K... ~chuckling~
Noun 1. free press - a press not restricted or controlled by government censorship regarding politics or ideology
I have to ask (and thank you for the entertainment so far)... what would your definition be?
I'm eagerly awaiting your answer...
And Spunky, I've forgotten more about Liberty then you'll ever understand.
LOL
~Live life to its fullest, with an open heart, open arms and most important... an open mind~
Interesting discussion
By your definition I'd say we do have a free press. Since you can point me to web sites that contain news that the MSM doesn't cover by definition we have a free press. In China you can't access web sites that covers unapproved news.
On the other hand I realize that our government suggests stories to be covered and the ways they are to be covered. AIs the media lazy? Yes. Influenced? Yes. But does that rise to censorship? No.
Very good.
You looked it up. Good boy!
Now, how can you say that the U.S. doesn't have a free press by that definition?
"“Censorship” is a term pertaining only to governmental action. No private action is censorship. No private individual or agency can silence a man or suppress a publication; only the government can do so." -Ayn Rand
You keep evading the REAL issue, Noelle
The problem we all (except you) have with the corporate media is NOT about censorship, which NOBODY here has advocated, but about our being morally, intellectually and philosophically opposed to the SYSTEMATIC MEDIA CORRUPTION OF THE NEWS AND SUPPRESSION OF THE TRUTH TO FURTHER THE AGENDA AND INTERESTS OF THE POLITICAL-FINANCIAL ESTABLISHMENT!!!
Damn, why can't you already stop your idiotic red herring attack?! Funny how you CONTINUALLY take the side of those who have corrupted the truth, attacked freedom AND Ron Paul, and dumb-downed the American public in a coordinated and purposeful campaign of deception and deceit.
It is obvious on which side of good vs. evil you have taken sides, and it is NOT with the overwhelming majority in this forum, nor with Ron Paul himself. So why are you here, and what is your purpose in spreading your willful misinformation?
Is it some woefully misguided and naive Randroid sympathies toward "persecuted big business" that keeps you blind to the truth of what is happening right in front of your face on a daily basis, or is all this just a secondary part of your Mossad-funded disinformation campaign against those who would stand up to the Zionazis and the undue influence and power of the (51st) state of Israel?
akak: Don't waste your logical polemics here.
This handle is was all of 2 days old and now 'access is denied.' They appear to have already have been dealt with thank goodness.
Buhahahaha!!!
There you go again... this is a blast!
Are you saying that the Government of the United States of America does not restrict or censor political viewpoints or ideologies in the press? No restrictions, no licencing, no regulations in the world you live in, I'm assuming?
I gotta hand it to ya... you're the funniest thing I've seen post on the DP for ages.
Please.. keep going!
~Edited~ Spunky, I waited a bit and you seemed to have stopped posting....LOL.
I'ma go crash for the night.. ty again for the entertainment.
If you want to check out some of the censored stories that never really make the headlines you just have to watch the DP... :)
Failing that there are other places... here's one for you...
http://projectcensored.org/
Sleep well!
~Live life to its fullest, with an open heart, open arms and most important... an open mind~
That is what I'm saying.
You can say, or not say, whatever you want on the news. You can praise the government or criticize it. You can promote some candidates for office, and disparage others. You can omit important information. The press is even allowed to lie. Do you deny this? The First Amendment protects this freedom.
Again, can you show that the U.S. does not have a free press?
Try criticizing the government, in the press, in China. Big difference.
As far as licensing, you only need to buy a license to broadcast on the airwaves. You don't need one for cable television news, satellite television and radio news, news put out the internet, or printed in newspapers.
It seems like there are a lot of people that haven't grasped what a free press is. But that's what this movement is about, educating people like you.
"“Censorship” is a term pertaining only to governmental action. No private action is censorship. No private individual or agency can silence a man or suppress a publication; only the government can do so." -Ayn Rand
I think you meant "sheep
I think you meant "sheep well"
;)
“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” Plato
Who are the China-bashers - THINK ABOUT IT!
Who are the China-bashers - THINK ABOUT IT! Are you really "awake?"
LOL! Wiki, Youtube, and Google itself all censor! This is just another case of fane-stream media bleating on about China over what itself does or WORSE!!!!
Extra-ordinary rendition anyone? Pre-emptive war?
Perhaps China's just protecting itself from CIA/NED/Mossad/MI5 destabilization efforts which all other countries should emulate.
Give me an effing break.
p.s. This is just like that movie, Network, which claims ARABS own Hollyweird. The CHUTZPAH! (Will this comment get censored?)
This is what I posted at the Telegraph. I doubt they will publish it. The Guardian has long been "moderating" my comments.
Hello, 1 hour member!
Is that "fane" as in a temple?
Network is the closest most consciousnesses get to being awake. Temporal, political who's-who'ings are inconsequential to its overall narrative.
"You underestimate the character of man." | "So be off now, and set about it."
LOL!
Ok so Google is losing to Baidu. Baidu has what, 80% of the search engine share and google is losing MONEY!
So to save face and look noble they politicize the event that they may have to shut down the china operations because China isn't cooperating.
ROFL! Brilliant these business man and women are. Brilliant!
Very possible
I'm sitting here in China, and I'm the only person I know that bothers with google. The Chinese have plenty of their own search engines.
I'll follow this though, as I may soon be losing access to my gmail account...does anyone have a recomendation for a good quality email provider?