Google censors sites in China

(September 26 2004) This week we have seen some disturbing news from the East. Google has apparently given in to Chinese pressure and excluded some sites from the news listings it presents to Chinese searchers.

We find this very sad, indeed. Although China clearly is on its way to becoming a modern society, the country remains a dictatorship. People continue to be imprisoned for expressing their opinions, and the regime is not willing to accept the freedom of the press.

This attitude is in clear violation of the spirit of the Web, which is to provide wide access to different and alternative sources of information. Western media was partly instrumental in the liberation of the European communist countries. The Web is an even more powerful tool for alternative information. The Chinese government knows this, which is why it fears search engines like Google and which is why Google should not give in to their demands.

One of the sites that have been delisted in Google News is Epoch Times. "I used to tell people that the Chinese government even tried to block Google. Now, I have to tell people that Google filters out my newspaper," Simon Thomas of Epoch says.

Google has been a symbol for alternative unorthodox thinking in the search engine world. This has been a company that has constantly been thinking outside the box, building down barriers and making the dissemination of alternative views possible.

"Google has decided that in order to create the best possible search experience for our mainland China users we will not include sites whose content is not accessible," Google spokeswoman Debbie Frost said Friday. We believe the best possible search experience is to include censored sites, not to exclude them.

It could be argued -- as Google seems to do -- that including these sites would mean no difference to Chinese web surfers. The Government controls the internet service providers and can easily block the banned sites.

This is true. But by making the listings visible, Google will also make the censorship visible, demasking the Chinese oppression. By standing up for political freedom, Google will tell the Chinese government that it does not condone this kind of interference. Moreover, these listings may also help the more Internet savvy Chinese users find the information by other means.

See also: Search Engine Lowdown.
Wired: Google Bows to Chinese Censorship
Dynamic Internet Technology: Google Chinese news censorship demonstrated
Google's own comments on the controversy. More news headlines on Google censorship

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