[LINK] Google not censoring/still censoring - who knows?

[Jan Whitaker]

Nevermind, I Was Wrong, Google Is Evil

https://www.infosecisland.com/articleview/2933-Nevermind-I-Was-Wrong-Google-Is-Evil.html

Monday, February 15, 2010

Cross-posted from Robert "RSnake" Hansen's blog at ha.ckers.org
<http://ha.ckers.org/blog/20100215/nevermind-i-was-wrong-google-is-evil/>http://ha.ckers.org/blog/20100215/nevermind-i-was-wrong-google-is-evil/

I've been waiting a while to do this post - several weeks actually 
since my 
<http://ha.ckers.org/blog/20100112/wait-google-i-thought-you-were-evil/>original 
post. In that post, I applauded Google's apparent interest in 
reigning censorship as "the first really truly non-evil thing I have 
seen Google do in years". Since then, I thought it appropriate to 
give them some time to sift through the nuances of 
<http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html>their 
blog post - you know, to give them the benefit of the doubt - of 
which I had many. I'm sure you remember just one month ago when 
Google was waxing on about how they were going to stop censoring:
We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our 
results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be 
discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could 
operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all.

Well, according to 
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/02/10/google_china/>The Register:
Google Chief Legal Officer David Drummond never said his company 
would stop censoring hot-button issues such as the Tiananmen Square 
massacre of 1989.

If that theory is true Google is essentially saying, "You were too 
stupid to read our post properly because clearly, our post means that 
we aren't able to do so legally, so we're still going to censor." If 
that's true why would Google wait to clarify such an extremely well 
publicized fauxpas in their own wording? Maybe they missed 
<http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2010/01/13/flowers-for-google-in-china/tab/article/>all 
those flowers at the Chinese office. No, I don't believe that The 
Register's theory is true - I think Google sincerely intended to pull 
out or get more support from the Chinese. However, I believe that 
Google is being stonewalled by the Chinese government - and for good 
reason. Google's demands are impossible to comply with. But we all 
know that Google and China have been talking for weeks and we haven't 
seen any movement other than China's response to Hillary Clinton 
saying that <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8474011.stm>they 
don't censor (and if anyone still needs proof, email me and I'll give 
you instructions on how to see it in action).

Google hasn't stopped censoring anything, and they haven't pulled out 
of China. They asked for a "few weeks" to have those talks, and it 
has been a few. So now we have to ask the question - does Google 
actually care about the Chinese people, or is it all about making 
money for the shareholders. We know that Google censors elsewhere in 
the world, 
<http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/2010/01/24/google-for-good%E2%80%A6or-just-for-money/>it's 
not just China, yet they've not even made mention of those citizens 
of the other nations. So we have to make the logical connection that 
Google is just acting in their own self interest and this whole China 
thing is a distraction from several other major issues, and has 
nothing to do with the best interest of people who are being 
censored. So now the real question is did Google do what it sent out to do?

And, so yes bravo, Google. Well done. You snowballed everyone as you 
stall for time trying to figure out what you want to do with your 
failing Chinese division. You spanked the Chinese government for 
hacking into your systems while you drew fire away from your crappy 
security around your warrant-less wiretapping system that you built 
into Gmail. So yes, I would have to assess Google's incredibly 
calculated decision as a success, but not for the people of China or 
other censored peoples around the world. It's back to business as 
usual at the Googleplex. And so yes, Google, you can keep slinging 
your ads well into the future. But I have to ask - at what cost?



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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