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At the beginning of August, a report from L & # 39; interception said Google was working on making a Chinese version of its search engine that would censor the results to make the government happy. A number of Google engineers left the company after learning of this particularly blatant violation of Google's "do no harm" policy, and another report by Google L & # 39; interception reveals exactly what Google was willing to censor.
According to site sources, "Google has compiled a a blacklist of censorship including terms such as "human rights", "protest of students" and "Nobel prize" in Mandarin.
Working with China to create a customized version of its search engine would not be the first time a technology company would turn to an authoritarian government to remove the content it opposes – for example, Apple was making sure that the LGBTQ pride The Apple Watch would not be visible in Russia – but the subject that Google was ready to block in China seems much broader:
The search engine would be operated as part of a joint venture partnership with a company based in mainland China, according to sources close to the project. People working for the joint venture would have the ability to update blacklists of search terms, the sources said, raising new questions about whether Google executives in the US would be able to maintain control and effective monitoring of censorship.
The report said the Chinese authorities could even replace the air pollution and weather data with figures approved by Beijing, which if so would push Google to act as a branch of the public media.
Equally troubling is the assertion that Google would help the government identify anyone who dared to seek a blacklisted government mandate:
Sources close to the project said that the prototypes of the search engine bound the a search application on the Android smartphone of a user with his phone number. This means that searches of individual people can be easily tracked – and that any user seeking information prohibited by the government could be threatened with questioning or detention if the security agencies were to get the search records from Google.
More than anything, the report – which is worth reading in full – shows how even the largest technology companies will be looking for a share in a large emerging market. It's easy to say that if Google does not agree, a local company will do it anyway, but it's clear that Google employees think it's worth keeping up.
Image source: Google
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