Posts tagged censorship
Google looks for the China alternatives…but comes up short
Jun 30th
Google is stirring up trouble in China, again. After Beijing voiced its objection to the way Google was diverting mainland internet users to a Hong Kong site, the company has now stopped the automatic redirect function and is asking China to renew its business licence in the country.
At present, users of Google in China are directed to Google.com.hk. This was the result of a lengthy battle between Google and China in January this year, a security scare being the catalyst for what turned out to be a debate over censorship.
But now Google is hoping China will agree to renew its licence as an Internet Content Provider – a precondition of keeping the China site open.
On its official blog, Google said that it has done its best to increase access to information while abiding by Chinese law.
Admitting that the task has “not been easy”, Google has now had several conversations with the Chinese government and says it maintains that it will not back down over censorship.
The Chinese government however, can now exercise the right not to renew the internet giant’s Internet Content Provider license (up for renewal on June 30), which could mean Google exiting China altogether.
And such threats should be taken seriously by Google. China is the most populous internet market in the world, which means advertising dollars times about 1.3 billion. Moreover, any other business that sets up in China has to abide by Chinese law so why not King Google?
Its decision to take on the government hasn’t exactly been looked on favourable either. In the first quarter of 2010, the company’s share of Chinese online search revenues slid from 35 to 30%, according to Analysys. People, especially the hardworking Chinese, don’t take too fondly to big greedy companies.
Google says that the prospect of leaving China is “dreaded by many of our Chinese users,” but adds that it has been looking at possible alternatives.
One such alternative could be that instead of automatically redirecting Google users, the site has started taking a small percentage of them to a landing page on Google.cn that links to Google.com.hk—where users can conduct web search or continue to use Google.cn services like music and text translate, which we can provide locally without filtering.
This approach ensures Google stays true to its commitment not to censor its results on Google.cn and gives users access to all of its services from one page.
Over the next few days Google will end the redirect entirely. The company has also re-submitted its ICP license renewal application based on the new approach.
The easiest thing for Google to do, and in order to remain in the lucrative Chinese market, would be for them to simply abide by Chinese law…unless that is, they have something to hide.
Google moves to Hong Kong. Is it a sure fire solution though?
Mar 23rd
Google has moved its China internet search engine offshore to Hong Kong, but how long will the ‘quick fix’ last?
The search engine will now provide uncensored search results while still maintaining some business operations in the country with traffic to the mainland google.cn site being redirected to google.com.hk.
But, the Chinese government will still be able to block access to the services, which include Google search, news and images. How long can this solution last?
Google is intending to continue research and development work in China and maintain a sales presence there. However, the size of the sales force will be dependent on how many Chinese users will actually have access to google.com.hk.
Hong Kong – a former British colony – is a special administrative region of China and enjoys more freedom, such as uncensored internet, but China is still able to monitor it carefully.
On Google’s official blog, David Drummond, SVP, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, said: “Today we stopped censoring our search services. We are offering uncensored search in simplified Chinese, specifically designed for users in mainland China and delivered via our servers in Hong Kong.”
Too sexy for Apple?
Feb 22nd
Believe it or not but Apple has finally got something wrong, upsetting customers – and no, I’m not talking about the iPad.
Apple has begun enforcing stricter policies around apps available from its app store in a move that could see some apps removed entirely.
While the tech giant has so far only removed adult-themed apps, some games have also been removed.
Techcrunch reports that no more applications with “overtly sexual content” will be allowed, however, the criteria in which apps on the Apple store will be measured remain unclear.
The policy is expected to alarm some developers, and like other attempts to censor internet content, could see some apps banned for no reason at all – or at least in a case of misunderstanding (think of how in India you can’t look up ‘sex discrimination laws’ because the search term ‘sex’ is banned.
The news has already prompted many scathing opinions and blog posts on Mac enthusiasts sites such as cultofmac.com and 9to5mac.com. Blog posts on the sites are warning developers to make sure they don’t feature any “sexy women in apps” deeming the bans “ridiculous”.
The pulling of apps is in response to what is being dubbed as “sexy apps”, which also includes porn.
The move comes at a rather convenient time, with many touting that the clean-up attempt is to ready the market for its iPad, which is due to hit stores next month.
The iPad is expected to be popular with schools – carrying textbooks.
It seems that no medium is safe from censorship these days. And it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. For years, the internet has known no or little inhibitions – there were no clear boundaries and anything and everything was available for download. We called it freedom. And until the internet giants got on board with censoring content available through their sites, there was no way to apply any laws on the world wide web as it isn’t confined to any one jurisdiction.
But the question is now, how much power should these ‘internet giants’ have over what content can and can’t be seen – and furthermore, what is too “sexy”?
Why web filters could be bad news for internet marketers
Jan 25th
We always hear of talk that web filters are hindering some businesses. SEO key words aren’t always so simple, or so innocent as one magazine in Canada has just found out.
The news that Google was to pull out of China over mounting frustrations over censorship laws last week shocked the search industry.
Just one week earlier, Yahoo and Bing had announced it was to succumb to internet censorship pleas from the Indian government, banning searches for terms such as ‘sex’.
Such searches would return this message: “Your country or region requires a strict Bing SafeSearch setting, which filters out results that might return adult content. To learn more about SafeSearch requirements in your country or region, see How Bing delivers search results.”
While we may have been confused (because sometimes ‘sex’ is within context…for example ‘sex discrimination’) by the actions of the Chinese and Indian governments, now we can be a little worried about the impact these censorship rules given that the internet is more global than ever.
Canadian magazine ‘The Beaver’ has recently had to rename the almost 40 year-old title as it has been deemed as ‘vulgar’ in internet search terms.
An alternative meaning to ‘The Beaver’ is something crass that has no relation to the Canadian semi-aquatic rodent, actually.
And that alternative meaning causes web filters at schools and junk mail filters in e-mail programs to block access to material containing the magazine’s name.
Needless to say, has internet filters become more common place not just in certain countries and governments but also in the workplace, the past two years have posed a problem for the magazine.
A few years before Internet use became common, the magazine, which now has a circulation of about 44,000, sought its readers’ opinions and decided to stick with the name.
The last issue as The Beaver, which announces the name change to Canada’s History, was mailed to subscribers last week.
Filtering ISP’s is bad news for some businesses, and makes the marketer’s job a little tricky when it comes to key words and what classification their brands and websites might come under.
Some of possible repercussions of this censorship are:
1. This will result in significantly lower connection speeds (in the order of 80%).
2. As the filters will rely on a ‘black list’ provided by a government body, it opens the door to potential misuse or political interference.
3. Perhaps a veiled attempt to ‘Control the Conversation’ emanating from a growing and more vocal constituency via blogs and social media.
Do you think internet censorship will eventually affect you?
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