If Google has reason to suspect that these interruptions are caused by active censorship by the Chinese government and are unwilling to do so out of fear of that censorship we are all in trouble.
It's not as if the population of China is unaware of censorship. Helpful reminders of what is socially acceptable and what are not have appeared in colorful cartoon form for years online.
It's not as if the Chinese government denies controlling access to information. They see it as a fundamental good to maintain the stability and health of society.
The only place and time where this matters is where the censorship is cast is a negative light. China doesn't want to be insulted on the international stage, and it doesn't want companies promoting unrest among its people. However that criticism is exactly what must happen.
Google could describe what's going on as relating to 'sensitive' terminology. They could describe the 'restrictions' as being imposed for the good of society and apologize that non-sensitive terms are being caught up in the fight for the greater good.
OR they could grow a pair.
Corporations in power have a responsibility to fight for the rights of those people without power. They have a responsibility to do so visibly to set a good example for others, and they have a responsibility to directly and honestly criticize people, companies, and governments they see as violating those rights.
This is an active debate with no guarantee of an outcome that favors American style freedom of information. If the players who can fight this fight won't, we're* fucked.
*We being those who want American style freedom's to exist globally.
They are fighting it by giving Chinese internet users access to a search engine that reveals when censorship is occurring. This is not a move that the Chinese government will be happy about. Google needs to carefully toe a line here. If they take a harder stance then the Chinese government will block them 100% from operating in China, which does far less good in fighting censorship.
you have no appreciation for subtlety. google are pretty clearly saying "look, china is censoring these searches", but they are doing it in such a way that the chinese government can't object without looking vaguely foolish. they're both making a show of sticking to the letter of the law (after all they havent said anything other than "there's a technical issue we can't figure out, here's a workaround in the meantime") and playing to the global audience.
If Google has reason to suspect that these interruptions are caused by active censorship by the Chinese government and are unwilling to do so out of fear of that censorship we are all in trouble.
It's not as if the population of China is unaware of censorship. Helpful reminders of what is socially acceptable and what are not have appeared in colorful cartoon form for years online.
It's not as if the Chinese government denies controlling access to information. They see it as a fundamental good to maintain the stability and health of society.
The only place and time where this matters is where the censorship is cast is a negative light. China doesn't want to be insulted on the international stage, and it doesn't want companies promoting unrest among its people. However that criticism is exactly what must happen.
Google could describe what's going on as relating to 'sensitive' terminology. They could describe the 'restrictions' as being imposed for the good of society and apologize that non-sensitive terms are being caught up in the fight for the greater good.
OR they could grow a pair.
Corporations in power have a responsibility to fight for the rights of those people without power. They have a responsibility to do so visibly to set a good example for others, and they have a responsibility to directly and honestly criticize people, companies, and governments they see as violating those rights.
This is an active debate with no guarantee of an outcome that favors American style freedom of information. If the players who can fight this fight won't, we're* fucked.
*We being those who want American style freedom's to exist globally.