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Subscribe to RSSBEIJING – Google has started telling users in China when web searches contain keywords that could be tracked by the country's keen-eyed censors, one of the company's top officials announced.
“Starting today we’ll notify users in mainland China when they enter a keyword that may cause connection issues,” Alan Eustace, a Senior Vice President for Google, wrote on the company's Inside Search blog on Thursday. “By prompting people to revise their queries, we hope to reduce these disruptions and improve our user experience from mainland China.”
As the video on Eustace's blog shows (see below), triggering connectivity issues on Google.com.hk can be as easy as searching for one of the country’s greatest natural landmarks: The Yangtze River.
Presumably in this case, "Jiang" the Chinese character for river, is a sensitive term because it is also the last name of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin. The 85-year-old, who is thought to still be politically connected, is the focus of constant erroneous rumors and reports about his death.
Consequently, if you are looking for "Chang Jiang," the popular name of the Yangtze River here in China, you could run afoul of sensors looking to block rumors of the former leader's death and have your connection to Google temporarily terminated.
Online coup rumors spark China crackdown on social media websites
The video on Eustace's blog shows how it took about 90 seconds after each sensitive search for the connection to be re-established on several Internet browsers and devices.
This graphic shows the message that will appear when users try to search for these restricted words:
Google’s move will ostensibly allow users on the mainland to see when their searches are being censored and understand why the service is disrupted. Other Google products, such as Google Mail and Documents, often fail to load and frequently require refreshing or an enabled virtual private network (VPN) to access freely.
However, since Google’s high profile “pullout” of its search engine from China in 2010, Google’s share of the search market here in China has shrunk from 30 percent in 2009 to 16.6 percent in 2012, according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys International.
Much of that share has been ceded to its Chinese rival, Baidu, which now dominates the arena with 78.5 percent of the search market. Even Google Maps, which was the most popular online mapping service on the mainland for some time, recently lost the top spot to a competitor.
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Those dwindling mainland users who have undoubtedly already encountered search restrictions and disconnection issues before, but continue to rely on Google, will probably not benefit too much from the company's new measures. After all, many of the users who suffered through 90-second connection resets in the past have already turned to other ways to bypass the restrictions.
What this move will do, though, is help Google regain the moral high ground internationally by reclaiming “Don’t be Evil,” it's informal corporate motto. Google has long fought for a more open Internet around the world, and even created “Transparency Report,” which looks closely at net freedom issues.
Read more news from Behind the Wall
However, privacy issues in the United States and a European Union warning to Google to review its recently revamped privacy policies have haunted the Silicon Valley giant, forcing its data mining practices to the forefront.
Google’s new service may help some mainland Chinese users better understand how Beijing restricts its netizens from accessing certain material, but for the message to be really effective, Google first needs to get people to use its service again.
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Leave a Comment:
Does Google also tell them when a Chinese Tank is about to squish their house for sending censored material? What would happen if you Googled "Better Dead than Red"? I hear tank treads.......
Well, isn't that very un-Chinese of Google. lol!
Too bad they are still playing into their game by using terminology that implies this isn't censorship.
Yeah, when it comes to being ethical, the US reigns supreme!
*sarcasm
They could easily fix this by saying "This interruption is caused by the government of the People's Republic of China and censors employed by them, and is outside Google's control." on each dicey search.
Google has a problem? I've a bigger one, believe me when I say, you will never see a Chevy parked in my driveway. This is on Youtube, check it out.
Trouble is -- Google has tweaked their algorithm several times in recent memory to remove some choices [good, bad or indifferent] from the mix of responses to a search.
Because their reasons are grounded in the all-American flavor of capitalist ethics are they somehow more ethical?
Yes
I'll take free enterprise over left wing big government any day of the week.
As you very well know, DeVille, no one on the left is in agreement with the actions of the PRC.
The answer is: no. Ethics are separate from profit. For instance, it's unethical for banks to make risky investments with depositor's money; but it's no longer illegal. It's good business, but it's not very ethical at all.
Google's a bit different. They revise their product and, in general, it produces better results. Anything that was a result in the past can still be elicited by searching correctly.
Banks take those risks because they know that if they screw up big government will save the day and bail them out. It's called moral hazard, people and corporations are willing make to poor moral judgements if they know they have a safety net.
The banks took those risks with no such guarantee. Remember it took both the Paulson and Geithner bailout before the treasury found the agreement acceptable. They both were based on the false premise that investors were willing to unload toxic assets from the banks.
I didn't like the bailout. I really do think that the banks should have been trust busted.
In any case, it was still unethical on the part of the banks.
The question was if an action is more ethical by virtue of being profitable. The answer is obviously no. Murder for profit is no more ethical than murder for pleasure.
Are you kidding me? The banks are in bed with both politicans and the Fed. They want privtized profits and socialized losses, and that's exactly what they got. Until we reign in the runaway expansion of central government, audit the Fed, and return to sound currency we can only expect more of the same in the future.
Once again, that's not the point. I'm not going to debate this. It remains unethical and profitable at the same time.
An unethical action is not more ethical by virtue of being capitalistic. That's the point. That's all there is to discuss.
Shawn, it's quite obvious that DeVille does not know what he/she is talking about, I would just drop it.
@Shawn Allen Hornickel
Of course it remains uneithical and profitable. That's what happens when the government guarantees the survival of banks even after they make poor decisions.
@Infin1ty
I love it when libtards claim I don't know what I'm talking about without explaining why. Move along, you're clearly the clueless one here.
No. You're over complicating it.
That's what happens when companies commit unethical acts in the pursuit of profit. It has nothing to do with banks, the government, or anybody else.
Personal responsibility and self-reliance, remember? If a person does something wrong, it is by no one's fault but their own.
Chinese people should use a VPN connection, because that way the censors don't see what one is searching for.
You don't seem to understand how the Internet in China works. Unlike in other countries, it's not as easy as just setting a up a VPN connection.
Actually it is as easy as just using a VPN connection (I know this from personal experience). The main problem with that though- granted most people don't have the means to create their own VPN connection- there's not too many people who are willing to pay a fee every month to use one.
Perhaps Google should offer free VPN connections to people...
Perhaps people in China should just learn how to Google vpn, proxy, tor etc?
Perhaps the People in China should grow a pair and rise up against their crap self-absorbed communist government. The "Peoples Republic of China"... such an oxymoron. Just like the retard running N.Korea...It's time to stand up against those who oppress the people in the East. Nothing like social media to get it started!!
@snoman28 Yes! Grow a pair! Social media! What fantastic advice for the people of China! Your comment will surely be remembered as spark that started a revolution. I can't wait to see your face on the cover of the Times, standing in the middle of Tiananmen Square with throngs of people behind you, leading the charge against a corrupt government. I will get to say that I knew you when you were just another idiot posting on the MSNBC forums.
Tell me Chad, what's your brilliant solution to the censorship and oppression by the Chinese government, or are you ok with people being locked up and/or tortured for their political views? Social media, which you are so quick to cynically belittle, has been the catalyst for successful uprisings in the middle east. Or are you content to be a mindless contributor to MSNBC's forums?
Chinese people should defect but i wouldn't come here our politicians are trying to remove our constitution without our representation for the Queen and making it as bad as china and north Korea...
Down with the Queen!
Did you read the news report about the cop who said "Your First Amendment rights can be terminated"? That made me hot under the collar. If our rights go and the government turns against the people of this country, the police will be the first to turn against the American people.
This issue with China is nothing new though. I'm just glad Google is trying to find ways to stick it to the man.
I have a VPN and it allows complete free access to the internet when I am in China.
Every Chinese computer user I know wants one, but the offshore sites that sell them are all blocked in China. You have to set up one outside China and bring it in already set up.
The amount of censored material on the 'standard' internet in China is vast. They must have buildings full of censors working full time censoring sites that might not even be disallowed. But nobody is reviewing what they censor, so it's just up to workers' whims.
You can set up a VPN connection in China without any problem.....it does NOT have to be done outside of China...as for the other stuff......I hate Google and this is just another reason why....they are bending over for the RED devils and taking it in the backside to try to abide by Chinese law.....which by the way is the stupidest country I have ever been in! Yes.....I live in China...and I have been in over 10 countries in the world and China is by far the stupidiest most corrupt filthy disgusting place in the world! FACT!
Your statement is incorrect. I had a VPN when I was in China. It could only be obtained in China and does not work outside of China
Ah so Google, Chinese People's Republic all broken up about your complaint. We in the Politburo now feel so badly you have something to reproach us with. So sorry, we @!$%# on you and your complaints. Come feel the rightous indignation of Chinese people sometime with stout pole laid across nape of neck. We kill you like we kill John Birch 75 years ago.
"People seldom know when the Devil is about, even when he has them by the collar."
(Faust part 1, J.W. von Goethe)
As soon as the Chinese people start getting angry at the tyrants that govern them, the party's over for the chinese government.
Huge chinese tankers of koolaid prevent that. ;)
Now if only there was some way to know when our Corporate ISPs are censoring access to politically charged websites, or SuperPAC employed hackers are messing with the net. The Cyber War Defense Department contractors have their contracts to look out for in the Congressional elections.
It is important for people to know what they don't know/can't know. I think it is a wonderful bit of subtle corporate/civil disobedience.
I really google would do that for us in the U.S. or they applied something called double standard.
The lid's coming off. The Chinese Communist Party has maintained power by giving its people more and more. Problem with that is when you stop giving more, they are not too happy. Ask the politicians in the US. Difference here is we have more than one party, even they are both pretty much backwards thinking, crisis management, and useless. In some ways, we are just as dumb as the Chinese for acting like sheep and believing the nonsense our political leaders spout. However, in China, things are only going to get worse for the party and it is only a matter of time it starts unraveling. When that happens, two choices: clamp down and end it or get out of the way. The Chinese have had too much of a taste of good things, including some freedoms. Unlike Syria and Iran, I don't think the chinese will just sit back and I doubt the government will ever go to the brutality level of Syria. If they do, they will undo everything they'sv done for the last 50 years.
I agree with everything you said except this, "I don't think the chinese will just sit back and I doubt the government will ever go to the brutality level of Syria." Does Tiananmen Square ring a bell?
When will we get "We've noticed your search terms include "the following". Searching these terms in the US will cause the CIA to potentially wiretap your phone and internet usage under the PATRIOT act, and may cause them to open a file they will deny keeping." [Search Anyways] [Nevermind] ?
Call me a capitalist, but isn't it about time that we retaliated against China for interfering with Google's business? If China expects to have open access to the U.S., then we should expect the same from China. As a result, the U.S. should cut electronic shipments from China in the same amount that Google has seen a business loss as a result of China's censorship.
Censorship in China?
Ever hear a frank discussion of the privateley owned Federal Reserve (which owns the country) in the Media?
if you dont like the USA then move your sarcastic butt to China where the politik will make your head spin. The Chinese governement is cluttered controlling insecure little men with small errr personalities...
Opinions of mindless bullies don't count.
I didn't say I don't like the USA- it's a great country and I'm gratefull to live hear. I don't like the war-mongering large banks that own the Federal Reserve and the media, which run the country.
Google should do the same thing regarding key words that would raise eyebrows by the spys in this country spying on american citizens, and there are many words that belong to that list. I think there is a website that shows the words that will cause you to be tracked by our government.
Talkin bout a Revolution Well, you know.
We all want to change the world.
In a country where the media cartel controls what the people hear and how they hear it, why are we judging China?
I've often ask myself the same question, Here in the US we only hear what they want us to, and most of that is twisted,and we are so worried about another country. People need to take the blinders off and look at whats goin on around them.
The Supreme Court is suppose to vote In June , if the Obama Health Care is Constitutional, im about to bet it wont happen, it will be delayed till closer election time to see who's gonna win .
Bankruptcy is the ONLY way out for the US, They can tax the rich all they want till they take every penny they got, it still wont make up for 15% of what we owe. The only reason bankruptcy hasen't already happen, it would cause a major prob with the currency, US currency would not stay the number one and would lose value. Every time another country buy's oil and a lot more stuff, they have to do it with the US dollar. It's coming down to the end, we have a major problem here in the US and the media wants you to look the other way. The stock market is down,,and its going down more to, look for it to happen. If you have a 401k the best you could do is take your loss and take what you got left.
I once worked for an Iranian gentleman who told me to "Googalize" things, whenever I didn't know the definition for something.. It was hilarious. XD
There is no media cartel. There is however Faux News. Paranoia strikes deep....
The media got us into a Near-East war and continues to push for expansion after ten years of fighting.
Good for Google, throw Chinese censorship back into the government bastard's faces. Governments need to learn that censorship of information is only going to be tolerated for so long before someone stands up to them as the bullies that they are.
I think they should openly say that their results are being censored though, pull out all of the stops and if China says they are going to block Google they will just be throwing fuel on the fire.
So why doesn't our government stand up to the media which censors what we hear?
Because it is Government sanctioned usually and we have freedom of the press, something China does not have.
Freedom of the press doesn't mean anything when you have a media cartel. Just like a free market is meaningless if all companies are controlled by the same group of people.
The essence of a free press is the ability to publicize and hear all points of view.
Objective, i agree there are stories the MSM should be devoting more attention to, but I doubt some nefarious media cartel or the government is dictating what they can report. You don't have to look very far to find people in the media and supporters of those people/media who say whatever the hell they want about our government without fear of being censored or pressured to say the "right thing". If you're at all familiar with Bill Maher, The Huffington Post, and many other people and/or websites that challenge our government's policies on a regular basis, as do the many people who comment on stories and opinions contained therein, you would know they don't come close to censoring themselves. So objective, I suggest you remove the tinfoil hat and try to be a bit less paranoid, and a bit more objective.
What we see here by Google is no different than all the other exploitation for profit by numerous other multi-national corporations in China. These multi-national criminal businesses do not care if a society has defacto slave labor, lack of democracy, lack of human rights, lack of free speech or a economic system that is predicated on fair currency value worldwide.
These corporations care more about the accumulation of absurd wealth at any expense whether if be American jobs, funding a dictatorship/communist government, funding military espionage in the US, destroying our industrial infrastructure or the well being of either the US population or the Chinese for that matter.
This is nothing we have not seen. Most of our products come from China and defacto slave labor. The Chinese have no rights to refuse to be US multi-national tools as we have no choice to purchase these flooded cheaply made products. Its a market takeover by those at the top eliminating all competition by price point due to the defacto slave labor.
Its corporatism which is destroying our economy and uplifting the top 1% here and proping up censorship in China. The Chinese government throws an economic bone to a few but mass peasantry still resides there. Which mind you is the model here desired from our corporate monoliths.
We (top 1% and big business) fund this communist country although a brutal regime why? Our top 1% are making a killing off the slave labor. America or its society be damned to these scoundrels.
Chinese, North Koreans = paranoid schizophrenics
They are deathly afraid of western sponsored revolutions promoted by the western media creating death and destruction in their country, as happend to Libya, Egypt and Syria. Can't say as I blame them, and our controlled media are hardly the ones to judge what they do to protect themselves.