In the News: Censored Version of Google 'Project Dragonfly' Coming to China

Google, the company with the motto, “Don’t Be Evil”, is planning to re-enter the Chinese web with a censored search engine code-named “Dragonfly”. The Intercept [1] revealed that exposed, confidential documents state that:

“Google’s Chinese search app will automatically identify and filter websites blocked by the Great Firewall. When a person carries out a search, banned websites will be removed from the first page of results, and a disclaimer will be displayed stating that ‘some results may have been removed due to statutory requirements.’”

This censorship will not only affect direct search queries, but also affect recommendations and similar results, so that censored topics and results will not be shown to the Chinese public. Google had previously attempted to enter the Chinese market, but withdrew in 2010 after public backlash for complying with the censorship laws of the Chinese government.

Currently, several topics are prohibited from social media and websites on Chinese domains. These topics include the events of 1989 in Tiananmen Square [2] , George Orwell [3] , Winnie the Pooh [4] , and Peppa Pig [5], amongst others.

Questions to think about:

What do you think about this decision by Google to build a search internet for a foreign government?

Do you think corporations should be allowed to participate in political censorship?

How do you think the public in North America will react to this decision?

Let us know in the comments of this article!

Read the original article by The Intercept here: https://theintercept.com/2018/08/01/google-china-search-engine-censorship/

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not constitute legal or financial advice.

Always do your own research to make informed decisions.

Image Attribution

Caricature of Apollo B. “Iskra” by P. Kurenkov (1863)

Work in Public Domain

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