Google Using Chinese Site It Owns To Develop Search Term Blacklist For Censored Search Engine, Says Report (theverge.com) 63
Google is using search samples from a Beijing-based website it owns to make blacklists for the censored search engine it is developing for China. Google's website 265.com redirects to China's dominant search engine, Baidu, by default, "but Google can apparently see the queries that users are typing in," reports The Verge. From the report: Google engineers are reportedly sampling those search queries in order to develop a list of thousands of blocked websites it should hide on its upcoming search engine in China. Blacklisted results, which include topics like the Tiananmen Square massacre, will result in users seeing a blank page, The Intercept reports. On Baidu, if you search for something less specific, like Taiwan or Xinjiang, you'll get a partial blackout where you can only see tourist information and not politically sensitive news reports. It could be possible that Google is taking a similar tack.
Originally, 265.com was founded in 2003 by Chinese entrepreneur Cai Wensheng, who's also the founder of Chinese beauty app Meitu. Google bought the site in 2008, while it was still operating its search engine within China. Google has essentially been using the site to figure out what Chinese users are searching for since 2008, and now that it is working on an Android search app, it will finally have a use for that data. The Intercept first reported this news.
Originally, 265.com was founded in 2003 by Chinese entrepreneur Cai Wensheng, who's also the founder of Chinese beauty app Meitu. Google bought the site in 2008, while it was still operating its search engine within China. Google has essentially been using the site to figure out what Chinese users are searching for since 2008, and now that it is working on an Android search app, it will finally have a use for that data. The Intercept first reported this news.
ethical consistency check: (Score:1, Insightful)
How many Google employees demanded Google not work on US Military projects that defend the free world?
Did Google withdraw from those US Military projects?
How many Google employees demanded Google not work on Chinese government projects to oppress people?
Has Google withdrawn from Chinese oppression projects?
Remember: As a one-party-rule Communist nation with a dictator-for-life, EVERYTHING in China is tied to China intelligence and military entities - there's no credible claim that a tool used to spy upon an
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Apparently you haven't been keeping up with the news on the meeting:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/05/politics/trump-tweet-trump-tower-meeting/index.html [cnn.com]
Re: ethical consistency check: (Score:2, Interesting)
No need to check. Google is ultra left wing. China is their soul mate. They can only dream of having the same level of control in the US their Chinese dictator buddies have in China. The next best thing they got is to black out all the non ultra leftist voices from the web.
Info wars and Alex were the first, then Candace went, then Tommy. The rest will follow and all these leftist valley run companies will paint a completely twisted picture of reality for their remaining leftist users who will again be
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Orwell is spinning in his grave.
Actually, his ghost is saying "I told you so!"
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The search engines cater to the commercial crowd. ... We need a search engine for blogs that really works.
As I understand it, what really happens is that the commercial crowd reverse-engineers the search engines and tunes their "message" pages to rank highly.
If there really was a "search engine for blogs that really works", and it became popular, they'd do it again for the new engine and it would no longer "really work". Just as they did with Yahoo, Google, and the dwarves.
The operators of these search eng
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Info wars and Alex were the first, then Candace went, then Tommy. The rest will follow and all these leftist valley run companies will paint a completely twisted picture of reality for their remaining leftist users who will again be shocked and suffer further bouts of explosive diarrhea as they continue to lose elections and be utterly confused by this (and blame Putin) because they dont know anyone who voted conservative.
Alex Jones was the canary. He was unpeopled in a very Stalin style, being removed from almost everything resembling social media in one day, in a coordinated effort across a dozen companies. They even nuked his linkedin page. (For some reason, Twitter of all places didn't ban him, which I find quite confusing).
He certainly won't be the last.
I think it's time for a Digital Bill of Rights, protecting freedom of speech, religion, and free assembly on corporate sites, not just government. Living with most o
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Time to give Google the corporate death penalty. Destroy all companies that help support dictatorships.
Nah, it's all good.
Just have Hillary give the Chinese a 'reset button'.
Problem solved!
(Can't wait to see how bad the translation of the label on *this* 'reset button' is, it's sure to be even more hilarious than the Russian version, LOL!)
Strat
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"Destroy all companies that help support dictatorships"
So that would be the entire fortune 500? I think China would be pretty happy with that.
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Anyone else's brain segfault while parsing the headline?
Actually, I parsed it right the first time.
What luck.
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"Anyone else's brain segfault while parsing the headline?"
Same.
If Google really intends to censor search results like China wants them to, why don't they just ask the government what to censor rather than use the convoluted means the headline and quotes seem to be implying.
You sure the main site wasn't the prototype? (Score:1)
I'm surprised that google.com itself wasn't the prototype. Those of us who use the other search engines know how... opinionated the results are. To the point where when I'm searching for something very specific, I can't find it but it's a first page result on other engines.
I used them before they had their own domain name, but they're too manipulated now by people who care about things other than whether or not I can find the information I'm looking for.
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A life. The other search engines just tell you to go get one; Google wants to suck the life and data out of you, thus it doesn't want you to find what you're looking for.
Google's former motto: "Don't Be Evil" (Score:1)
I guess that's an "inconvenient truth".
Google is a despicable capitalist corporation that eats up people like you and shits out perfumed turds.
Don't Be Evil
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Their motto has always been "Don't, be evil".
Re: 265.com (Score:1)
Google was tiny in China even when it was allowed.
Their translations also suck ass compared to Chinese sites translations, so even English searches would be mostly useless for Chinese information.
Google already missed its chance in search. Now it's about advertising in other ways.
So no more (Score:5, Interesting)
Tiananmen Square protests and the date1989.
No mention of the June 4 incident.
No Gang of Four https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Thats some might fine freedom of speech for a US brand....
Not going to find two term limit.
No searching for 1984, Brave New World, Personality cult, emperor’s reign, ascend the throne. No yellow gown.
Nothing on a third consecutive term, continued rule.
Communism bringing censorship to a US brand for every user.
Re:So no more (Score:4, Interesting)
They block zh.wikipedia.org but allow en.wikipedia.org - Chinese-language sites are more restricted than English-language ones (it's implemented as a TCP blackhole on the IP addresses, DNS lookup works fine).
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Thats some might fine freedom of speech for a US brand....
Google doesn't give a shit about freedom of speech. They (via Youtube) were part of the coordinated, multi-platform purge of Alex Jones.
They also refuse to work with the US government but happily work for the Chinese government.
Ideologically Google is closer to a Chinese brand than a US brand.
Re:So no more (Score:4, Funny)
Freedom of speech is about preventing censorship by the government (meaning: the stuff that China for example is doing), it's does not mean that private corporations cannot choose which content they allow on their platforms. In other words: no-one is limiting Alex Jones' freedom of speech by blocking them from their platforms as his nonsensical bullshit is deemed damaging to their brand(s). That's the free market at work for you. Arguing otherwise is like saying that if I write a column on how the moon landings were all faked by the lizard-illuminati-freemasons and newspapers refuse to publish said column because it's unscientific conspiratorial BS my freedom of speech is being limited, which is a moronic argument.
So once again, repeat after me: private entities are not required by law in any western country to allow anyone to use their platform to spread their opinions.
How this can be so hard for some people to understand is beyond me.
If you have evidence that Google has refused to follow the laws of the US, I'd be interested to see that. What I've gathered as a European following the events in the recent years, it seemed pretty clear to me that all the major tech companies were involved with the security apparatus of the US, based on the information leaked by Snowden, and I also do not remember seeing cases where Google wouldn't provide the authorities with required information when they're legally required to do so, so frankly I have no idea what you're referring to here, but then again neither do you probably, as you're not even aware of the definition of free speech.
Tiananmen Square massacre - BAD (Score:5, Insightful)
Tiananmen Square heroic tank maneuvers... GOOD!
Foxconn suicides - BAD.
Foxconn dormitory attached trampolines... GOOD!
VPN how-to - BAD.
Loving government monitoring for citizens’ protection... GOOD!
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I agree. If you look for the causes behind most unrest in the world, economic profiteering is bound to come up.
And the others? Yahoo and Bing bent over already (Score:1)
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It's time for everyone to stop bending over for China. Instead of helping them develop even more effective methods of oppression, the rest of the world should stand together and disconnect China from the internet.
Then they disconnect themselves from the Treasury Bill Auction and cash in their T-Bills.
Gotta do something about that balance of payments and/or the national debt if we want our great-great-great grandchildren to finally escape being held hostage in that way.
Sleeping with the enemy (Score:3)
Can almost see Google in a VW rolling down the street with fanta in hand, stack of holerith cards in the trunk snapping kodaks for the AP.
Fucking Hypocrites (Score:1)
They love to shit all over the US, such as not working on AI for military projects, but they are sure as hell happy to work on a search engine to censor ordinary citizens in China.
Seriously, Google has lost their way and deserves to die a slow death because of it.
Do it in a backhanded way. (Score:2)
Google helping its investors (Score:1)
Cen-sai (Score:2)
Corporate slogan: Do be evil.
Google doesn't own the site (Score:2)
All corporations in China are majority owned by the Chinese Government.
Google is not the owner, merely one of the owners.