Google accused of pandering to Chinese censors

[UpInArms]

http://www.money.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2004/09/27/cngoog27.xml&menuId=242&sSheet=/money/2004/09/27/ixfrontcity.html

Google, the internet business that made its mantra "do no evil", is accused of pandering to attempts by the Chinese government to censor certain websites.

The internet icon launched its news service in China recently, which many hoped would help the country move to a new era of openness. Yet early tests of the service reveal that Google blocks search results that would show internet pages banned by the authorities.

Dynamic Internet Technology, a firm that monitors online censorship, found search requests made from computers that are linked to the internet in China are heavily edited. Bill Xia, Dynamic's chief executive, said: "Users expect Google to return anything on the internet. That's what a search engine does."

Mr Xia believes that Google has chosen not to take on the Chinese government while it attempts to establish a presence in the country. "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," he said.

...more...

[Alpharetta]

1. Google will lose world market share as a result

A9, (amazon's up and coming search engine) and others may not bend as easily to the Chinese government's will.

[Clovis Sangrail]

2. Google is evil

but it's still the best engine out there.

They routinely block sites from being displayed in search results.
This is done in response to the cease and desist letters that now flood in from companies claiming that some site in a search result is violating their copyrighted material.
Abiding by the Safe Harbor provisions of the DCMA, Google silently removes the links.

Take a look at some of the c & d letters they get.
Either lookup Safe Harbor or google.

http://www.chillingeffects.org/linking/search.cgi

If you want to know more, both chillingeffects.com and searchenginewatch.com provide useful information.

Suffice to say that googles policies (and that of other sites) are already stilted towards companies with the money to pursue legal action (regardless of merit) to further market dominance.

I personally can't wait until something better comes along and knocks google on it's ass.

[w4rma]

3. Until our government stands up to the Chinese, our corporations wont. (nt)