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Google censors China

H

harveypooka

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 24, 2004
1,291
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From a Channel4.com email:

"Yes, a major moment in the wondrous world of the universal Google - not so universal tonight as the now floated Google corporation agrees a deal with China to censor what's available to Chinese internet punters.

We talked to the corporation's vice president and we put to him the words of Google's founder, on this programme less than two years ago, that this was something that Google would never do.

We also ask if Google can do it for China, why can't they do it to exclude all child porn? "

Anyone find this a little disconcerting? Morals have little place in the business world it seems....
 
harveypooka said:
We also ask if Google can do it for China, why can't they do it to exclude all child porn? "
Click to expand...
The difference being that the US gov't didn't ask Google to censor the stuff, just to turn over search records. The Chinese gov't, well, they censor everything, or at least try to. Except the vast amounts of trademark, copyright, and patent infringement going on there...
 
We have such a duplicitous relationship with China....

Everybody, including the Chinese themselves, pretend to ignore the huge ideological gap between their government and "the west". This is because they are political power brokers and we absolutey need them in our dealings with North Korea. They also have political ties with states like Iran. The Chinese establish these ties so that we are forced to use China as a go-between (as is the current case with North Korea) in cases where all diplomatice realtions with a state become severed.

China is not just a massive producer of consumer goods that we lap up eagerly, but is now becoming a significant consumer as well. Ignoring the Chinese market is considered foolish in business circles nowadays, and it is being courted. Compromises are being made, which includes adapting products (such as Google) so that they comply with the Chinese government's more authoritarian tendencies.The ghost of Mao...

All while they actively steal out military tech. :(
 
I think you must understand that the Chinese government is still very controlling of the media. They would rather block the whole of google site if google does not comply with their demands. They have spies all over the place, and would prosecute their own citizen the moment if they speak against the government.

Given that the China has huge population even if google ignore the wealth gap, it is still a market that has a lot of potential.
 
dornoforpyros said:
is this new news? Seems to me this has been common knowledge for a while it seems to be the story of the week.
Click to expand...

Well, it is news Jason. I think it's new that Google have gone ahead with filtering.
 
Counterfit said:
They actively steal almost all our tech, not just the military stuff.
Click to expand...

I'm irritated, but not worried about them stealing our consumer-based tech. They manufacture most of it anyway so it's hard to imagine them not reverse engineering it.

But I AM worried about their theft of avionics/guidance tech and other strategic resources. Of course, this isn't the first time that's happened - most Soviet semiconductors were developed from reverse engineered US componentry (some of which was bought on the open market by front companies, others of which were outright stolen)...

The Chinese space program incorporates a lot of stolen US tech, though to be fair they did buy some and conducted a very large R&D program as well.
 
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