January 25, 2006
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Trying On the News
A lot of y'all I'm sure heard about Google's new Google China service. Quick link here: Google to Launch Censored China Service.
Long
story short, Google is censoring search results on some topics deemed
sensitive by the Chinese government (e.g., Taiwan, Falun Gong). I'm not
gonna talk about the ramifications of it; you want that, read official
sources, not some guy's blog. ...except for Chinese blogs, but that's a
different case.Anyway, I wanted to try this out for myself. So out of curiousity I check out www.google.cn and try the following:
Man, even I
was surprised at what I got. Every single article was something harshly
negative about Falun Gong. I mean, I'm not big on the history behind
them, and I tend to give folks the benefit of the doubt, but it was a
lot even for me. Check it for yourself here: falun gong - Google China / 法轮功 -Google ChinaHeadlines
include stuff on their "wickedness", "spiritual shackles", "anti-social
behavior", and a lot on them having hacked into a satellite signal back
in 2004. (I don't understand Chinese (yet), so I'm sticking with the
English link up there for now.) Compare Google.com and Google.cn (click
on images to follow link):Google.com 
Google.cn 
My favorite is the line at the bottom:
据当地法律法规和政策，部分搜索结果未予显示。
Translation: Due to local laws and regulations, only partial results have been displayed.Strange...
Yet expected. Though, it ain't as bad as Microsoft's MSN-China that
barred the use of "freedom" or "democracy" in blog names.I'm reminded of something once said by Commissioner Pravin Lal, Chief of Surgery of the U.N. Alpha Centauri mission (bio):
As
the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow
of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained
people whose leaders at last loose their grip on information flow will
soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually
constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide
into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information,
for in his heart he dreams himself your master.
~Commissioner Pravin Lal, "Librarians Preface"All the best science fiction has a firm basis in reality. KF
Comments (1)
That is sad. I did searches and had similar results with Tiananmen Square and Chairman Mao / cultural revolution. Yes, history has a way of repeating itself.