Google's Chinese search engine prototype reportedly linked searches to phone numbers

Google would build a prototype system that would link Google searches of Chinese users to their home phone numbers, as part of a new search service that meets Chinese government censorship requirements. L & # 39; interception writes that the Android application "Dragonfly", a secret project revealed last month by a whistleblower, could be linked to the phone number of a user, thus facilitating the tracking of searches of individual users.

This follow-up would add to Dragonfly's blacklist of terms such as "human rights," "student protest," and "Nobel prizes," which sources said L & # 39; interception that it is "essentially difficult" to replace the results of air pollution and weather with potentially modified data from a source in China.

Google did not confirm the existence of Dragonfly and declined to comment on the project reports. (He did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this latest news.) It has already been said that he was only doing "exploratory" work on a research service in China and that he was "doing nothing". he was not "preparing to launch a research product" in the country.

But these reports have aroused opposition both inside and outside the company. About 1,400 Google employees reportedly signed a letter asking for more information about the project, which has remained secret and is apparently based on a Chinese company. Earlier in the day, a bipartisan group of House representatives asked Google to answer questions about its Chinese research application project, saying Congress had a responsibility to ensure that businesses L & # 39; interception Yesterday reported that Google's chief investigator, Jack Poulson, had resigned to protest this decision, claiming that a total of five employees had left because of Dragonfly.

Google has withdrawn from mainland China in 2010 after discovering a phishing attack targeting human rights activists. As has been pointed out in previous statements, it offers applications like Google Translate in China, but the search remains blocked – although if Google launches a service consistent with the Chinese censorship regime, it could change. The Chinese government has only tightened on the Internet since 2010, while developing a high-tech social control system that includes "social credit" scores (which can determine citizens' rights of movement) and a social security system. Sophisticated minority population monitoring in Xinjiang.

Even without links to a phone number, searches on Dragonfly would not be secure. Poulson and others have expressed concern about the mere presence of user data in China, where government agencies could access it. But the reported feature would add yet another layer of control and would indicate Google's willingness to facilitate monitoring.