Google's protest. Dragonfly, China and censorship in the background

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"We are employees of Google, we join Amnesty International, which calls our employer to resign the Dragonfly project," reads in an open letter under which are collected the signatures of employees of the giant Mountain View. The authors argue that the case has raised thousands of employees for months but that, until now, the authorities' responses are not satisfactory.

"Many of us have started working at Google (…), considering that Google is a company that puts its values ​​above profits," write the authors of the letter. And they add: "After a year of disappointment … we do not believe that Google is such a company."

Dragonfly project

This is the confidential Dragonfly project, which is supposed to lead to the return of Google search in China. The plans of the giant Mountain View revealed in August the interception portal The Intercept.

The problem is that the search engine must be adapted to the censorship in effect in the middle empire. In the Chinese Internet, access to anti-communist, dissident, and critical information about power, the content of freedom of speech or the Tiananmen massacre, and even information about George Orwell's "1984" book is limited.

For the moment, the protest letter has been signed by several hundred people. Besides Amnesty International, for the abandonment of the project, they also ask that Human Rights Watch or Reporters Without Borders.

The problems of the giant

This is not the only problem that Google has recently experienced. The company has to turn off its flagship communicator because there is no adequate protection for the 500,000 people given. users.

The European Commission has initiated three proceedings against Google. One of them resulted in a fine of 2.5 billion euros in 2017. This case involved recommendations appearing in Google's search results. When you enter an item in the search engine, Google's recommendations appear at the top of the results. They include the results of those who buy advertising in this company. The EC decided that it was an abuse of a dominant position in the market.

Another thing is happening and there are many indications that it will eventually be fined. And finally, the third decision, the most recent, which imposes 4.3 billion euros on Google. It is to make the mobile phones of the Android operating system available to the manufacturers.