Googling China
Updated on 25 January 2006
Google has agreed to censor its search engine in China. Is the internet giant living up to its don't be evil motto or letting down the freedom of the internet?
A Chinese Internet user browses for information on the popular search engine Google in Beijing January 25, 2006. (Reuters)
The world's most popular internet search engine Google has agreed to censor itself in China denying its people access to certain site functions.
Google took the decision after it was overtaken in the market by a home-grown search engine. It will now offer only four core services preventing users from accessing email and chat rooms.
A cursory search on google for the name Tiananmen on Google.Com brings up a list of pages devoted to what happened in the Tiananmen Square massacre. The Chinese version Google.CN brings up a tourist guide for the Square.
>>Watch the report
Google's image sprang from its genesis - two student co-founders who invented what they thought was a better way to search the internet. Its California headquarters are as bright and friendly as its mission statement, "don't be evil".
But in its transformation to international media behemoth, with a market value of over $100 billion, economic realities weigh ever more heavily
Especially in China, where the number of web users is rising by 20m a year, and Google's been losing out to locally based search engines.
To set up locally the company has agreed to block search terms deemed sensitive - like "Taiwanese Independence" -- it will also be removing its email, chatroom and blogging services.
In a statement, the company said:
"While removing search results is inconsistent with Google's mission, providing no information (or a heavily degraded user experience that amounts to no information) is more inconsistent with our mission."
And Google isn't alone - other international players like Microsoft and Yahoo already abide by the Chinese government's rules.
But back home, things are very different - unlike Yahoo and Microsoft, Google has very publicly refused to give the US Supreme Court a list of its users search requests, over an investigation into internet pornography and child protection
But the row's caused jitters on the markets - exacerbating worries about Google's upcoming fourth quarter earnings report - all the more need then to open up new earning potential in new markets.
Today saw the first special Chinese New Year flight between China and Taiwan, an annual exercise which some might see as evidence of the potential for greater openness in China...
Google says it's presence here, even in a restricted form, will only add to political and social change. But it'll also add to the coffers back in California
A Chinese Internet user browses for information on the popular search engine Google in Beijing January 25, 2006. (Reuters)
Google's new Chinese search engine is now live at www.google.cn, and it is possible to compare how searches for key words vary according to results found on Google UK.
We've compared the results from these following links, showing the top current results from google.cn and google.co.uk:
Searching for "Dalai Lama"
a. Top result from google.co.uk:
"His Holiness The Dalai Lama -From the official site of the Government Of Tibet In Exile. Provides a biography, bibliography, list of awards won, prayers, lectures and statements."
www.tibet.com/DL/
b. Top result from google.cn:
Photograph of the Dalai Lama on 'China's Tibet' website
http://www.tibet-china.org/cxl/dalai/first.html
Searching for "Tibet"
a. Top result from google.co.uk:
"Tibetan Government in Exile's Official Web Site - His Holiness the Dalai Lama and truth about Tibetan Freedom and International Development..."
www.tibet.com/
b. Top result from google.cn:
"Tibet - China Tibet Information Centre "
http://www.tibetinfor.com/ (English version: http://en.tibet.cn/)
Searching for "Tiananmen Square massacre"
a. Top result from google.co.uk:
"Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests (Tiananmen Square Massacre or June 4th Massacre or 6/4 Incident), were a series of student-led demonstrations held in ... "
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989
b. Top result from google.cn
"In China, Two Books but One Party - The book, "Political Struggles in China's Reform Era," by Yang Jisheng, is also
an attempt to redefine the legacy of Zhao Ziyang, the party chief purged for opposing the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. It features three interviews ..."
www.chmp.sdu.edu.cn/index.php?P=26&pid=240& S=2&subtitle=In%20China,%20Two%20Books%20but%20One...
4. Searching for "Falun Gong"
a. Top result from google.co.uk:
"Falun Dafa -Falun Dafa, a cultivation way of the Buddhas' School, as created and organized
by Mr. Li Hongzhi."
www.falundafa.org/
b. Top result from google.cn
"Outlawing Falun Gong Cult - Chen Shumin, general manager of a Chongqing-based technology company and a Falun
Gong cult practitioner, and four other people received ... Teng Chunyan: I Am
Pleased to Shake off the Spiritual Shackle of the Falun Gong Cult (11/20/01) ... "
www.china-embassy.org/eng/zt/ppflg/default.htm
