Google employees push to stop Project Dragonfly

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

TECHNOLOGY NEWS NOVEMBER 27, 2018 / 9:45 AM / UPDATED 44 MINUTES AGO

Google employees push to stop Project Dragonfly

(Reuters) - Eleven employees comprising engineers and managers at Alphabet Inc’s Google published an open letter on Tuesday, demanding that the company end development of a censored search engine for Chinese users, escalating earlier protests against the secretive project.

Google has described the search app, known as Project Dragonfly, as an experiment not close to launching. But as details of it have leaked since August, current and former employees, human rights activists and U.S. lawmakers have criticized Google for not taking a harder line against the Chinese government’s policy that politically sensitive results be blocked.

Human rights group Amnesty International also launched a public petition on Tuesday calling on Google to cancel Dragonfly. The organization said it would encourage Google workers to sign the petition by targeting them on LinkedIn and protesting outside Google offices.

About 1,400 of Google’s tens of thousands of workers urged the company in August to improve oversight of ethically questionable ventures, including Dragonfly.

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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-google-workers/google-employees-push-to-stop-project-dragonfly-idUSKCN1NW1LD

[gtar100]

1. Let's not forget the root cause of this is the Chinese government's fear

of people knowing the truth. They prefer to invest in controls over the flow of information. This is what you get when assholes dream. They dream of control measures, not human freedom. They don't trust freedom, it puts them at a disadvantage and dangerously near the truth that people don't need them and would be better off without them.

[dlk]

2. Google, Like Any Other Corporation, is All About the Money-As Much as They Can Make

Let's get real. Any corporation's sole purpose for existing is to maximize profits. Altruism and social conscience aren't a part of the equation, other than token gestures to keep the regulators at bay.