Google Gives Up Fight Against Chinese Censorship 96
judgecorp writes "Google has abandoned its policy of warning Chinese users against keywords that trigger censorship. The search giant had added a warning that advised Chinese users not to use search terms that could cause the Chinese authorities to shut off their access to Google, but has now abandoned these warnings. While Google says they were ineffectual, free speech campaigners have expressed disappointment."
Hint: in the next X weeks (Score:2, Insightful)
Google will be quietly allowed back into China. The timing of this news will coincide with some other big event, such as a new iPad release.
Re:Could still insert the warning after the search (Score:5, Insightful)
That's fairly pointless. Let's say I start typing "Tuna". My browser sends "Tuna" to Google's servers so it can get a list of suggested search phrases, including the two you provided. On its way to Google servers... it passes through Chinese ISP servers and I get flagged for searching for Tuna. Google's warning would come too late.
Google's system, though I never saw it myself, sounds like it would have sent a list of banned words to the browser as part of the page, before the user searches. Then when the user starts typing, the browser will NOT send anything to Google with a banned word in it until the user addresses the warning displayed. Your idea, if adjusted properly to not send traffic to Google with banned words in it, would end up being only a minor variation of this.
Re:It's okay, it's China (Score:4, Insightful)
Google isn't acclimating to their culture, I think they just realized that triggering the ire of the Chinese government is much less profitable than the alternative.
Re:It's not Google's job to warn users... (Score:5, Insightful)
not Google's capitulation to the lawful government of China.
Oh jeez, not this tired old bullshit again.
Legality is *no* justification. Morality and legality are entirely separate separate things and should never be conflated.
If you wish to Goodwin the thread there, then there are plenty of fine examples to illustrate the point.
i'm really sick of this bullshit (Score:5, Insightful)
there are plenty of cultural differences that are ok
but violating people's basic rights can not be justified with references to culture
this applies to problems in the west too, i'm not singling out china
you can't say chinese people are happy being slaves, so let them be, it's just culture. or muslim women are happy being slaves, so let them be, it's just culture. or poor people in western nations leaning towards social darwinism as plutocrats warp the politics are happy being slaves, so let them be, it's just culture
bullshit
NO ONE is happy being a slave. culture is no excuse