Saturday, January 28, 2006

Censored Google Searches: Chinese Atrocities

A search for chinese atrocities is censored by Google.cn, in compliance with a request by the Chinese government. Some pages are showing, some are not. A site that is blacklisted for this particular query, and which consequently only appears on Google.com, is New Century Net at ncn.org.

New Century Net has an English language overview of their news stories. In it, they talk about press freedom in China after SARS, the Chinese government’s state terrorism against conscience, and more.

One article that caught my interest was titled, “Corporate America’s Role in China’s Building of an ’E-Police’ State” (from 2003). From the article:

After the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, Congress placed sanctions on China, which banned the sale of military, police, and “dual-use” technology and equipment. Yet, either through exemptions, subsidiaries, or blatant disregard of the law, US companies are rushing to outfit Chinese authorities with the latest breakthroughs in surveillance, identification and tracking technology. This massive undertaking, known in China as the “Golden Shield” project, will enable authorities an unparalleled ability to monitor and track data and citizens.

“American companies like Cisco are helping China develop state-of-the-art systems that will allow them to tighten its grip over dissidents, religious groups, migrant workers, and all other threats to their power,” Mr. Harry Wu, Executive Director of the China Information Center. “We must hold them accountable for transferring these tools of oppression to China. Sooner or later, these sales will be seen in the same light as IBM’s sales to Nazi Germany.”

All of the around 56,900 pages of New Century Net are missing on Google China.

Censored Google Searches: ... by Philipp Lenssen | Comments (0)

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