NYT: "So Long, Dalai Lama" - Google demonstrates NEW WORLD CENSORSHIP

[Nothing Without Hope]

Internet censorship has generally been visible in China. As Lie Xiaobo, a leader dissident writer is quoted in this important NYT story, "It was one thing when you hit on links that did not work. You could see what was blocked. The new Google hides the hand of the censor."

Reading this article, think about this statement and its implications for how a powerfully dominant global internet search company can skew and censor THE TRUTH. Think about how dangerous this is and how utterly cynical. The control of the truth means the control of the people, and Google is leading the way in muzzling reality to fit propaganda in a way that pleases the Chinese government.

THINK ABOUT THIS AND WRITE TO GOOGLE, WRITE TO THE MEDIA ABOUT IT. I'd be glad to hear other suggestions about what we might be able to do. Not only is this terrible for Asia, but if it can be done there, it can be done anywhere - and another giant step will be taken into an Orwellian world in which there IS no truth.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/12/weekinreview/12kahn.html

So Long, Dalai Lama: Google Adapts to China

By JOSEPH KAHN
Published: February 12, 2006
BEIJING

(snip)

Only one of the 161 images produced by searching in Chinese for the Dalai Lama on Google.cn shows the 14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet since 1940. He is pictured as a young man meeting senior Chinese officials. That was before 1959, when China's People's Liberation Army invaded Tibet and the Dalai Lama fled into exile.

For people outside China, or Chinese who can circumvent the Internet firewall, the 2,030 images on unfiltered Google.com favor the Dalai Lama of today. He is the genial-looking guy in the burgundy and saffron robe, here meeting President Bush, there speaking to 40,000 people in New Jersey.

Several of the biggest media and technology companies have come under attack for helping the Chinese government police the Web. Yahoo provided information about its users' e-mail accounts that helped the authorities convict dissidents in 2003 and 2005, Chinese lawyers say. Microsoft closed a popular blog it hosted that offended Chinese censors. Cisco has sold equipment that helps Beijing restrict access to Web sites it considers subversive.

But few have cooperated as openly as Google. Google's local staff works closely with Chinese officials to ensure that search results from Google.cn do not include information, images or links to Web sites that the government does not want its people to see.

(snip)

The NYT gives a graphic to give a feel for the censorship inherent in a Chinese Google search:

[kansasblue]

1. Google's corporate motto is: 'don't be evil'

seriously!

They have lost their way.

[Nothing Without Hope]

2. SF Chronicle reports local student protests against Google's China policy:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/05/BAGRNH345T1.DTL&type=tech

BAY AREA

Google's China policy protested

Censored site draws fire at UC, Stanford recruiting events
Ellen Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, February 5, 2006



Caption: Protesters who object to Google's decision to censor its site in China attend the Stanford talk by the company's Kai-Fu Lee. Chronicle photo by Kim Komenich

Chanting "Shame on Google" and "Google, don't be evil," students protested the Mountain View Internet company's recent decision to launch a censored Web site in China and hounded Google China President Kai-Fu Lee as he spoke Saturday at UC Berkeley and Stanford University.

(snip)

Lee said that Google had to obey China's laws to do business there. That includes blocking out search results related to such issues as "Tibet independence," which the Chinese government has deemed controversial and inappropriate.

Google's Chinese users previously could only access its services about 15 percent of the time, but now they can find much more information with Google.cn, he said.

Though competitors such as Yahoo and Microsoft have made the same move, Google's decision two weeks ago has drawn extensive criticism because of its company motto "Don't be evil."

(snip)

[Nothing Without Hope]

3. From the Google site, here's the famous code of conduct:

http://investor.google.com/conduct.html

Google Code of Conduct

Preface

Our informal corporate motto is "Don't be evil." We Googlers generally relate those words to the way we serve our users – as well we should. But being "a different kind of company" means more than the products we make and the business we're building; it means making sure that our core values inform our conduct in all aspects of our lives as Google employees.

The Google Code of Conduct is the code by which we put those values into practice. This document is meant for public consumption, but its most important audience is within our own walls. This code isn't merely a set of rules for specific circumstances but an intentionally expansive statement of principles meant to inform all our actions; we expect all our employees, temporary workers, consultants, contractors, officers and directors to study these principles and do their best to apply them to any and all circumstances which may arise.

The core message is simple: Being Googlers means striving toward the highest possible standard of ethical business conduct. This is a matter as much practical as ethical; we hire great people who work hard to build great products, but our most important asset by far is our reputation as a company that warrants our users' faith and trust. That trust is the foundation upon which our success and prosperity rests, and it must be re-earned every day, in every way, by every one of us.

So please do read this code, and then read it again, and remember that as our company evolves, The Google Code of Conduct will evolve as well. Our core principles won't change, but the specifics might, so a year from now, please read it a third time. And always bear in mind that each of us has a personal responsibility to do everything we can to incorporate these principles into our work, and our lives.

(snip)

[RogueBandit]

4. Google Desktop tool no good either

I've sent this out to my clients:

Please advise all computer users within the company to avoid downloading the newest Google Desktop search feature. This feature will copy documents onto the web and potentially give Google copyright status to them. Sounds unbelievable but it is true. In this, and many other ways, Google is quickly going from one of the web's most valuable tools to one of the web's most useful and most risky tools.

The following quote comes from the Electronic Frontier Foundation :

>>Google today announced a new "feature" of its Google Desktop software that greatly increases the risk to consumer privacy. If a consumer chooses to use it, the new "Search Across Computers" feature will store copies of the user's Word documents, PDFs, spreadsheets and other text-based documents on Google's own servers, to enable searching from any one of the user's computers. EFF urges consumers not to use this feature, because it will make their personal data more vulnerable to subpoenas from the government and possibly private litigants, while providing a convenient one-stop-shop for hackers who've obtained a user's Google password.<<

[Nothing Without Hope]

6. Yes, Google Desktop is very creepy - there was a DU thread on it. LINK:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2098053
thread title (2-9-06 LBN): Google Copies Your Hard Drive - Government Smiles in Anticipation
Comment/excerpt: “San Francisco - Google today announced a new "feature" of its Google Desktop software that greatly increases the risk to consumer privacy. If a consumer chooses to use it, the new "Search Across Computers" feature will store copies of the user's Word documents, PDFs, spreadsheets and other text-based documents on Google's own servers, to enable searching from any one of the user's computers. … The privacy problem arises because the Electronic Communication Privacy Act of 1986, or ECPA, gives only limited privacy protection to emails and other files that are stored with online service providers.”

[newyawker99]

18. Hi RogueBandit!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Nothing Without Hope]

20. I didn't notice until newyawker99 pointed it out! Welcome to DU, RB!

Excellent, very helpful post, and I look forward to reading more. Thanks again and good to have you with us! :hi:

[Nothing Without Hope]

5. Good piece on this at PJE.org: "Google Does Evil"

I recommend you read the original - There are links to other stories in the original, and there is a list of links to articles and other important information at the end of the article.

http://www.pej.org/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=4154&mode=thread&order=1&thold=0

Google Does Evil

C. L. Cook
PEJ News
February 2, 2006

(snip)

Little has changed. Google has, in decided to assist China's repression, simply joined the chorus of corporations enabling the new fascism. Today, Google joins corporations and governments conducting the most vile operations in China and around the world without feeling the need to coat their dastardliness with even the merest patina of good intent. Not even for “public consumption,” as Google includes in its manifesto of Enlightened Corporatism.

They believe the public doesn’t give a damn. And, why shouldn’t they?

We, the public have come, in a few short decades, from a power that could bring down an industry with outraged indignation at the way workers were treated, to a tacit partner in crimes too great to fathom. While we are mostly all aware of some of the more grotesque aspects of the current Chinese regime: The repression in Tibet; a rapine attitude toward the environment; the repression of the Falun Gong; Tiananmen Square; slave labour; domestic economic injustice; the hypocrisy and destruction of the ideals of the revolution; but, that's not important, what's really important surrounds us.

(snip)

The citizens of China and the United States, Iraq, and Iran, are in in the middle of the battle for oil and information. It's a battle fast coming home, and reverberating around the planet. Those “filters” and spy technologies are coming back across the Pacific; along with an entrenching of the attitude that allowed the spawn of this new kind of totalitarianism in Asia. It's what the Bush administration once called 'Total Information Awareness, and it's coming on strong in China and everywhere.

[Nothing Without Hope]

7. An earlier side-by-side comparison with Google China searching:

The NYT Graphic is a more elaborate version of something already done in a blog - which they don't mention. Wouldn't you know?

Blog (Search Engine Watch) entry on this story:
http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060130-080248

Graphic:

[Nothing Without Hope]

8. ...and from another blog, cited in the previous one:

http://blog.outer-court.com/archive/2006-01-27-n42.html

VERSUS

[Oilwellian]

10. Look at the 2nd pic on the bottom of your post

They show the protest planners in black and white while the others are in brilliant color. Subtle, eh?

By the way, how do we know Google isn't already doing it here as well? Incrementally.

[Nothing Without Hope]

11. Interesting. And no, I don't think we can know how/if Google

may already be doing it here too.

That's the central point here - they can't pretend that it doesn't matter. The whole world is connected now, and censorship of the truth is the enemy of justice and peace worldwide.

[Nothing Without Hope]

9. "Bay Area Reporter" writer is concerned about damage to HIV/AIDS

information flow due to the Google China censorship. There is already a history of strong government censorship on this subject.

http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=571
Issue: Vol. 36 / No. 6 / 9 February 2006
Bay Area Reporter - article by Roger Brigham

Google's China portal hobbles AIDS efforts

(snip)

Homosexuality was removed from the Chinese government's list of psychological diseases in 2001, but cultural bias remains. And although late in 2003 the country launched programs that provide free condoms, methadone, and even antiretroviral drugs, local officials are still reluctant to admit the existence of AIDS and security police often arrest intravenous drug users rather than directing them toward treatment efforts.

When Bernardo worked with the Asian AIDS Project in the 1990s, he found just talking about any of the issues involved was difficult. "When we go deeper into further issues, we're pushing people further into the closet.

(snip)

Chung To, chairman of the Chi Heng Foundation, which helps AIDS orphans in central China, is one of those who believe local officials hide the extent of the disease and that many HIV-infected people are afraid of being truthful because of social stigma.

"The Internet is a very cost-effective, geographically far-reaching tool to spread the AIDS prevention message," To said. "Censorship of it may block an important source of information, especially for vulnerable groups such as gay men, who depend more on the Internet to create their own space.

(snip)

[Nothing Without Hope]

12. Somebody GETS IT in MUSKOGEE:

http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060206/OPINION/60203047/1014

Google shows hypocrisy in China

Originally published February 6, 2006

(snip)

The Internet company is contesting a request by the Bush administration to hand over a list of all requests entered into the online search engine for an unspecified single week.

Yet in China, Google is complying with restrictions that block access to terms, Web sites and services that are deemed offensive or subversive by the Communist regime there.

It’s easy to understand why. Google stands to make a lot of money in China with its huge population of 1 billion-plus people. Google defenders also raise the issue of access speed, with the company having to locate servers in China.

But it would be nice for companies which say they stand for free speech and privacy, to live by those tenets, whatever the cost — actually, the profit margin.

[Nothing Without Hope]

13. I hope this makes it to the Greatest Page - I think it's important n/t

[Nothing Without Hope]

14. I have to shut down for the night - please consider voting onto Greatest

and keeping visible. I do think it's important enough for that and hope I can convince others of that too.

[Nothing Without Hope]

15. OK - this is REALLY it for the night. Hope this doesn't sink. n/t

[anitar1]

16. Ahhhh, Money works wonders.Must have been a bundle. n/t

[mogster]

17. Recommended!

Great work! :-)

[Nothing Without Hope]

19. kick n/t

[Nothing Without Hope]

21. kick- please squeeze in some interest between all those Fuddgate threads

[Nothing Without Hope]

22. kick - this is significant, more people need to know about it n/t