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Information Technology
China blocks main Google site
The Chinese government has blocked domestic access to the main Google site, Google.com. Google.cn, the controversial Chinese language version launched in January, is of course still available. The difference? Well, I think that searching for "tiananmen square protests" on both sites will yield very different results.
This was, of course, all expected. China has worked with Google to provide a Chinese version of the site that complies with state censorship laws, so it was only natural that the main international site, Google.com, was going to get turned off at some point.
"It was only to be expected that Google.com would be gradually sidelined after the censored version was launched in January," Reporters Without Borders said in a statement.
"Google has just definitively joined the club of Western companies that comply with online censorship in China," the organisation said.
Its not just Google that have been forced to comply with the censorship demands of the Chinese - US companies Microsoft, Yahoo and Cisco Systems have all been only too keen to accommodate the nation's demands for Net censorship in return for access to its huge internet market.
These developments concern me greatly - they represent a fundamental shift in the nature of the Internet as one of the last bastions of free speech in the modern world, forcing the Net to become dominated by the will of big business and big political regimes. The door is now open - the Net is censored, and it’s probably not going to be too long before more "unsuitable" content is hidden from someone out there, even you and me.
This was, of course, all expected. China has worked with Google to provide a Chinese version of the site that complies with state censorship laws, so it was only natural that the main international site, Google.com, was going to get turned off at some point.
"It was only to be expected that Google.com would be gradually sidelined after the censored version was launched in January," Reporters Without Borders said in a statement.
"Google has just definitively joined the club of Western companies that comply with online censorship in China," the organisation said.
Its not just Google that have been forced to comply with the censorship demands of the Chinese - US companies Microsoft, Yahoo and Cisco Systems have all been only too keen to accommodate the nation's demands for Net censorship in return for access to its huge internet market.
These developments concern me greatly - they represent a fundamental shift in the nature of the Internet as one of the last bastions of free speech in the modern world, forcing the Net to become dominated by the will of big business and big political regimes. The door is now open - the Net is censored, and it’s probably not going to be too long before more "unsuitable" content is hidden from someone out there, even you and me.
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User Comments (7)
Post a comment| nathanskywalker on June 7, 2006 3:08 PM | I won't say anything, i won't say anything, i won't say anything...................jerks....
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| Reachable on June 7, 2006 3:31 PM | It should be remembered that there are cultural differences at play here.
It is speculative, but you can infer that the Chinese government is concerned about cultural unity rather than just pure despotism. This is difficult for Westerners to understand. Google, Yahoo et al. are doing this out in the open. Accept the situation for what it is Keep a sharp eye out for encroachment here in the West. The problem is not that you can't publish it, but that the economic and political forces keep it from getting wide notice.
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| DragonMaster on June 7, 2006 4:49 PM | Just compared Google News in Chinese between google.com, google.ca and google.cn. .com and .ca are the same, but there are less news header in the .cn version.
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| crossfire851 on June 7, 2006 9:58 PM | So they can't Handel computation?? HA
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| pikaj00 on June 7, 2006 11:39 PM | Originally posted by crossfire851:
So they can't Handel computation?? HA
2+2 = what now? um... 9? maybe its 17 or 26, nobody knows anymore
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| crossfire851 on June 8, 2006 12:40 AM | Originally posted by pikaj00:
Originally posted by crossfire851:
So they can't Handel computation?? HA
2+2 = what now? um... 9? maybe its 17 or 26, nobody knows anymore um...ok I think it was an insult joke or something, but hey lol
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| asphix on June 8, 2006 7:21 AM | I wonder how the people of China will react to this, if at all. It's definitely a scary smack in the face with reality.
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