Google Agrees to Censor Results in China
- From: ":))" <BennyPooh0@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2006 03:50:41 GMT
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Business Writer
Tue Jan 24, 7:34 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO - Online search engine leader Google Inc. has agreed to
censor its results in China, adhering to the country's free-speech
restrictions in return for better access in the Internet's fastest
growing market.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based company planned to roll out a new
version of its search engine bearing China's Web suffix ".cn," on
Wednesday. A Chinese-language version of Google's search engine has
previously been available through the company's dot-com address in the
United States.
By creating a unique address for China, Google hopes to make its
search engine more widely available and easier to use in the world's
most populous country.
Because of government barriers set up to suppress information,
Google's China users previously have been blocked from using the
search engine or encountered lengthy delays in response time.
The service troubles have frustrated many Chinese users, hobbling
Google's efforts to expand its market share in a country that expected
to emerge as an Internet gold mine over the next decade.
China already has more than 100 million Web surfers and the audience
is expected to swell substantially ? an alluring prospect for Google
as it tries to boost its already rapidly rising profits.
Baidu.com Inc., a Beijing-based company in which Google owns a 2.6
percent stake, currently runs China's most popular search engine. But
a recent Keynote Systems survey of China's Internet preferences
concluded that Baidu remains vulnerable to challenges from Google and
Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news)
To obtain the Chinese license, Google agreed to omit Web content that
the country's government finds objectionable. Google will base its
censorship decisons on guidance provided by Chinese government
officials.
Although China has loosened some of its controls in recent years, some
topics, such as Taiwan's independence and 1989's Tiananmen Square
massacre, remain forbidden subjects.
Google officials characterized the censorship concessions in China as
an excruciating decision for a company that adopted "don't be evil" as
a motto. But management believes it's a worthwhile sacrifice.
"We firmly believe, with our culture of innovation, Google can make
meaningful and positive contributions to the already impressive pace
of development in China," said Andrew McLaughlin, Google's senior
policy counsel.
Google's decision rankled Reporters Without Borders, a media watchdog
group that has sharply criticized Internet companies including Yahoo
and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN.com for submitting to China's censorship
regime.
"This is a real shame," said Julien Pain, head of Reporters Without
Borders' Internet desk. "When a search engine collaborates with the
government like this, it makes it much easier for the Chinese
government to control what is being said on the Internet."
When Google censors results in China, it intends to post notifications
alerting users that some content has been removed ? to comply with
local laws. The company provides similar alerts in Germany and France
when, to comply with national laws, it censors results to remove
references to Nazi paraphernalia.
Google is cooperating with China's government at the same time it is
battling the U.S. government over a subpoena seeking a breakdown of
one week's worth of search requests ? a list that would cover millions
of terms.
Reflecting its uneasy alliance with the Chinese government, Google
isn't releasing all its services.
Neither Google's e-mail nor blogging services will be offered in China
because the company doesn't want to risk being ordered by the
government to turn over anyone's personal information. The e-mail
service, called Gmail, creates a huge database of users' messages and
makes them instantly searchable. The blogging services contain a wide
range of personal background.
Yahoo came under fire last year after it provided the government with
the e-mail account information of a Chinese journalist who was later
convicted for violating state secrecy laws.
Initially, Google's Chinese service will be limited to searching Web
pages and images. The company also will provide local search results
and a special edition of its news service that will be confined to
government-sanctioned media.
.
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