Google's Censored Search Would Help China 'Be More Open', Said Ex-CEO Eric Schmidt (theintercept.com) 91
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has defended the company's plan to build a censored version of its search engine in China. From a report: In an interview with the BBC on Monday, Schmidt said that he wasn't involved in decisions to build the censored search platform, codenamed Dragonfly. But he insisted that there were "many benefits" to working with China and said he was an advocate of operating in the country because he believed it could "help change China to be more open." As The Intercept first revealed in August, Google developed a prototype of the censored search engine that was designed to remove content that China's ruling Communist Party regime deems sensitive. The search engine would have blacklisted thousands of words and phrases, including terms such as "human rights," "student protest," and "Nobel Prize" in Mandarin.
No, it would not (Score:5, Informative)
Once again, you fail to understand how China really works.
Re: (Score:2)
The ex-ceo of one of the most valuable corporations in the world doesn't understand how China works?
Of course he does. If it sounds like he's lying to you well, that's because he is.
Re: No, it would not (Score:1)
Right. They know exactly how it all works...they just want that money.
No corporation does things with your best interests in mind. They do things with THEIR best interests in mind
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Yes, anyone who genuinely believes this either is too naive or doesn't learn anything from history. Ever since the PRC was established in 1949 the CCP has demonstrated time and time again that they simply cannot be trusted.
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No, you fail to understand how control really works. What's more "secure" and airgapped network? A network with a single managed firewall? Or a network with hundreds of firewalls managed by many parties on request?
The more players are in the game the more information slips through.
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Sigh. You are so naive.
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And you fail to understand how the US intelligence works.
Censored or not, they can tap into google's servers even in china and collect data on what the populace is searching for, regardless if it will result in an actual page or a censored message.
They probably already have that information, but doing via Google will be *much* cheaper than all the bribes they have to pay to get this from an entirely Chinese ecosystem.
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Lol, you are funny. I knew Barr when he lied to you as to what we did beforehand. Learn better English, ok?
Claims, but doesn't say how. (Score:4, Informative)
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No.
This argument is false.
You ignore the followup: if Google bows to this censored need, then every group following will do similarly.
Thus leading to more censorship.
Your argument is a form of "but if we pay the ransom, our kidnapped child will be OK, and that's a good outcome!"
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1) We really want to make a lot of money in *foreign country*. Morals be damned, it should really be fine for us to enable human rights abuses.
2) Ok world, here's how us helping an oppressive regime oppress its people is actually good for the people.
3) Profit.
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How is anyone's life worse in China after Google brings their search page there? How is anyone's life better if they stay away? They only have access to censored searches either way.
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Presumbly in the same way that selling guns to a warlord is going to make him more peaceful somehow. "Once he has my guns, then the rebels will be less likely to attack, which will make him less likely to use those guns--which makes the huge profits I make off selling him guns okay. In a way, my selling him guns is very Christ-like in that regard, you see."
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Of course, wh
Claims were censored. (Score:2)
He fails to explain in what way it would 'open up' China.
That's because his explanations were censored.
Let us apply some anti-censoring magic VPN sauce:
Google's Censored Search Would Help China 's wallet 'Be More Open to send money to Gooogle ', Said Ex-CEO Eric Schmidt
ah... okay...
So who is in control of censorship? (Score:1)
So the government controls what is censored so how is this a benefit to anyone but likely Google getting their foot in the door? Certainly not the people of China who will see Google search as just another engine manipulated by the government.
Personally I'm a bit confused on it in general (Score:2)
while I get everyone hates what china does censorship wise, I'm at a lost to why people view google applying it enables it at all.
Universe 1, google doesn't comply with china, china bans google, users only have access to uncensored results if they use a vpn
Universe 2, Google complies with china, China allows censored google, users only have access to uncensored results if they use a VPN
I mean is the difference google's expecting the user experience from baidu or whatever the china approved search engi
Re:Personally I'm a bit confused on it in general (Score:4, Insightful)
Most moral people do not consider "but someone else would do it anyway" as a valid excuse for doing bad things.
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Most moral people do not consider "but someone else would do it anyway" as a valid excuse for doing bad things.
But many moral people do consider "but someone/something else would do it worse" as a valid excuse for doing things which appear bad without context. Cutting off someone's leg is bad, but gangrene is worse. Did you think Schindler's List was about someone utilizing Jewish slave labor or someone saving Jews from execution? Do you think Oskar Schindler could have done more good by fleeing Germany instead of running his plants as soon as he realized how bad?
I don't really buy Google's position that they are im
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So normalizing China's authoritarianism and allowing Google to cater to their internationally illegal whims, that's the lesser consideration because Google "needs" to make money off Chinese clicks, in your math?
Idiot apologists lol. Pull your head out of your excuse maker.
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I'm not really sure who you meant to reply to, but I don't agree with Google on this issue and I stated this in my post. I was refuting what I feel was a weak argument made by the AC I was responding to, not agreeing with Google's behavior.
Risk to society outstrips Reward (Score:2, Interesting)
In the best case, Google makes money out of China, and then uses that money to promote anti-censorship; in other words, the Chinese would be indirectly funding opposition to their own censorship.
In the worst case, Google's own resources (which you are probably helping to fund) are being poured into developing technology that allows a tyrannical, authoritarian, possibly totalitarian government to control the flow of information among billions of people. Once Google makes censorship and propaganda so easy tha
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And as said up-thread, the ends-justify-the-means is for public consumption (and the shareholders).
Eric Schmidt is the king of the Slippery Slope. What Google has done to online privacy is a travesty.
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Google/others are normalizing autocracy in the international business sphere. That's why. Enabling cabalistic kleptocrats never ends well. This encourages other autjoritarian shitholes to stay closed and still be treated well by western business.
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Two problems off the top of my head.
First,
Someone's going to do it and make a lot of money. Why shouldn't it be us?
is kind of the definition of amoralism. Google's free to be amoral, but they deserve to be called on it and judged accordingly.
Second, once Google demonstrates they are able and willing to censor based on the whims of the "evil" Chinese, they lose a lot of ground when the next government comes and tells them to enforce equal or more strict censorship. It's been done. There's precedent.
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By giving them "the least crappy censored internet you can" you are certainly giving the Chinese less reason to want to risk rebelling. Maybe we export "Keeping up with the Kardashians" too?
Do you believe the Chinese won't block Google and charge people in the local offices if Google puts up more than a token show of resistance? Do you believe local Google management would sit in jail instead of give up the data? Do you know the Chinese aren't already requiring the same live feed from Google that you th
What about the rest of the world? (Score:2, Interesting)
What about Google censorship outside of China all over the world...
https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2016-06-22/google-is-the-worlds-biggest-censor-and-its-power-must-be-regulated
things are happening in places to people (Score:1)
China openly admits that it limits information to it's people. It's people must be ok with that.
America openly admits that it puts a gag-order on information. It's people must be ok with it.
It was a warning, not a manual. (Score:2, Insightful)
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
Censorship is Openness
Sure it will (Score:3, Informative)
Yeah, like how capitasm made China more open? (Score:5, Insightful)
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the equilibrium and normal state of human society is to have absolute central power, it takes effort and energy to have something else.
Google finds the market of China too tempting and so will support state censorship and oppression
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Well democracy is a bucket of shit in the USA as well, so I'm not surprised people didn't take the whole package.
Dear Eric Schmidt (Score:2, Interesting)
Dear Eric Schmidt,
Shut the fuck up, you tool.
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Dear Eric Schmidt,
Shut the fuck up, you tool.
No, sorry . . . you got it wrong . . . we are his tools . . .
IBM agrees (Score:2)
Oh, come on, Eric! (Score:3)
What stunning arrogance! (Score:2)
China has been swallowing up invaders since the rule of the Yellow Emperor around 2700 BC. But this jumped-up, superannuated fratboy fucktard thinks Google is going to make a culture that has persisted for almost five millennia (four millennia if you count from the Xia Dynasty) "more open"? What a joke!
Google should just admit it plans on being on the inside of the power structure when personal privacy is abolished globally and quit pretending it has any ethics or scruples left at all.
1984 (Score:2)
LOL, seriously? (Score:2)
"Google's Censored Search Would Help China 'Be More Open', Said Ex-CEO Eric Schmidt"
In other news, "war is peace" and "water is dry".
"Freedom is slavery", and gunshot wounds "extend your lifespan".
All is well, Citizen, remain calm.
Censorship is openness (Score:3)
Schmidt went on to add that war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength.
The Ministry of Truth tweeted a thumbs-up emoji in response to Schmidt's speech and rated it "doubleplusgood".
Scumbag Scmidt (Score:1)
If they do Its only a matter of time before China's communist government starts to demand that Google start censoring content outside Chinese borders least the loose access.
We should have never started doing business with these communists in the first place.
Not finding (Score:1)
Stop supporting a Communist nation.
Support the real China, Taiwan.
South Korea. Japan. Nations around Communist China that like and support the USA.
The 1990s called, they want their big lie back (Score:1)
In the days of the Clinton administration, there were many business people who desperately wanted to "open China up to the world" because they were told there were a billion consumers there desperate for new products and services. This lead to a series of nearly "official" lies being formulated at various think tanks on the American East coast and those lies were told over and over again to the American people as part of the public debate over China policy. This was a totally bi-partisan thing with both Rep
Hate Speech 2.0 (Score:3)
Perhaps (Score:2)
Perhaps we should institute a "Scummy assist to dictator" tax.
You know, to make doing that costly?