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posted by mrpg on Friday August 03 2018, @12:30AM   Printer-friendly
from the censorship dept.

Google is planning to launch a censored version of its search engine in China that will blacklist websites and search terms about human rights, democracy, religion, and peaceful protest, The Intercept can reveal.

The project – code-named Dragonfly – has been underway since spring of last year, and accelerated following a December 2017 meeting between Google's CEO Sundar Pichai and a top Chinese government official, according to internal Google documents and people familiar with the plans.

Teams of programmers and engineers at Google have created a custom Android app, different versions of which have been named "Maotai" and "Longfei." The app has already been demonstrated to the Chinese government; the finalized version could be launched in the next six to nine months, pending approval from Chinese officials.

Or does it not? China denies google's plans for a censored version

[...] Chinese state-owned Securities Times, however, said reports of the return of Google's search engine to China were not true, citing information from "relevant departments".

But a Google employee familiar with the censored version of the search engine confirmed to Reuters that the project was alive and genuine.

On an internal message board, the employee wrote: "In my opinion, it is just as bad as the leak article mentions."


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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 03 2018, @10:32AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 03 2018, @10:32AM (#716607)

    And where is the employee outcry about this? Where are the workers ready to walk out in defense of free speech?

    Anybody?

    But the Pentagon contract was evil because it supported an imperialist colonial regime?

    Two-faced Google fucks deserve to have their lunch eaten by Baidu.

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  • (Score: 2) by looorg on Friday August 03 2018, @01:42PM

    by looorg (578) on Friday August 03 2018, @01:42PM (#716682)

    This was my primary question to, I don't really care if Google wants to build a great-firewall-of-china-approved search engine or not -- after all they are already censoring information in most countries due to various local laws / right to be forgotten etc.

    I was wondering where the staff uproar is or was. So working for the US Government or the Pentagon or the Military Industrial Complex are EVIL and giant no-no:s but working for one of those most repressive governments in the world is somehow fine? Where are all the people that are normally up in arms about the Tiananmen square incident, 'Free-Tibet' crowds or the whole Taiwan issue? Gone ...

  • (Score: 2) by darkfeline on Friday August 03 2018, @07:09PM

    by darkfeline (1030) on Friday August 03 2018, @07:09PM (#716901) Homepage

    The employee outcry would be happening inside the company, not outside for you to see. Walking out is a last resort; you lose any power you may have to influence decisions.

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