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Leaked Transcript of Private Meeting Contradicts Google's Official Story on China
"We have to be focused on what we want to enable," said Ben Gomes, Google's search engine chief. "And then when the opening happens, we are ready for it." It was Wednesday, July 18, and Gomes was addressing a team of Google employees who were working on a secretive project to develop a censored search engine for China, which would blacklist phrases like "human rights," "student protest," and "Nobel Prize."
"You have taken on something extremely important to the company," Gomes declared, according to a transcript of his comments obtained by The Intercept. "I have to admit it has been a difficult journey. But I do think a very important and worthwhile one. And I wish ourselves the best of luck in actually reaching our destination as soon as possible." [...] Gomes, who joined Google in 1999 and is one of the key engineers behind the company's search engine, said he hoped the censored Chinese version of the platform could be launched within six and nine months, but it could be sooner. "This is a world none of us have ever lived in before," he said. "So I feel like we shouldn't put too much definite into the timeline."
[...] Google has refused to answer questions or concerns about Dragonfly. On Sept. 26, a Google executive faced public questions on the censorship plan for the first time. Keith Enright told the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee that there "is a Project Dragonfly," but said "we are not close to launching a product in China." When pressed to give specific details, Enright refused, saying that he was "not clear on the contours of what is in scope or out of scope for that project."
Senior executives at Google directly involved in building the censorship system have largely avoided any public scrutiny. But on Sept. 23, Gomes briefly addressed Dragonfly when confronted by a BBC reporter at an event celebrating Google's 20th anniversary. "Right now, all we've done is some exploration," Gomes told the reporter, "but since we don't have any plans to launch something, there's nothing much I can say about it." Gomes' statement kept with the company's official line. But it flatly contradicted what he had privately told Google employees who were working on Dragonfly — which disturbed some of them. One Google source told The Intercept Gomes's comments to the BBC were "bullshit."
Here's an article written by Dave Lee, the BBC reporter that Ben Gomes misled.
Previously: Google Plans to Launch Censored Search Engine in China, Leaked Documents Reveal
Uproar at Google after News of Censored China Search App Breaks
"Senior Google Scientist" Resigns over Chinese Search Engine Censorship Project
Google Suppresses Internal Memo About China Censorship; Eric Schmidt Predicts Internet Split
(Score: 2) by Kilo110 on Wednesday October 10 2018, @08:29PM
Zombies are to brains as megacorps are to growth. They can't stop chasing it.
It was inevitable that
googlealphabet would start doing evil things. I mean, after all, executive bonuses are at stake!(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Wednesday October 10 2018, @08:53PM
So the guy managing the project claims that it will launch in a year, but claims the timeline is subject to change?
That definitely sounds like "not close to launching" to me.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 5, Insightful) by archfeld on Wednesday October 10 2018, @09:00PM
Alphabet, a for profit corporation delivers what the government(customer) requests for a profit and ensures it continues a very profitable business relationship with a foreign government. Sounds like business as usual. Anyone depending on a corporation to make a moral stand an not make a profit is umm hopelessly naïve.
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 10 2018, @09:13PM (10 children)
If I was a Chinaman I would be using DuckDuckGo now.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 10 2018, @09:26PM
If you were a "Chinaman" you probably wouldn't use the term "Chinaman".
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday October 10 2018, @09:26PM (6 children)
Any reason to refrain from using DDG if you are not a Chinaman?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 10 2018, @09:36PM (5 children)
DDG is good for Chinamen and non-Chinamen alike.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 10 2018, @10:41PM (1 child)
How about the women and all the other genders?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 12 2018, @07:28PM
I believe women and other genders fall under the category of "non-Chinamen".
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday October 10 2018, @10:42PM (1 child)
"Also, Dude, "Chinaman" is not the preferred nomenclature! Asian-American, please. "
http://thebiglebowski.wikia.com/wiki/The_Chinaman [wikia.com]
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 11 2018, @04:51PM
fuck your "preferred nomenclature" and your pronouns.
(Score: 3, Funny) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday October 11 2018, @02:25AM
That's why I use their Tor Hidden Service
But tor is a pita so mostly I use Google in the clear
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday October 10 2018, @10:16PM
https://www.comparitech.com/privacy-security-tools/blockedinchina/duckduckgo/ [comparitech.com]
No, you wouldn't.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Thursday October 11 2018, @07:34PM
I just wish DDG's image search wasn't somehow actually shittier than Bing.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday October 10 2018, @09:47PM
liars lie
Judges, presidents, corporations..
Even when caught out, lie again
Welcome to 2018.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 10 2018, @10:10PM (1 child)
Since there was that other leak where google is literally talking how to be "The good censor", "Finding the right amount of censorship". And their previous attempt at a censored version for China, I don't know how people are suprised that google is tap dancing over the grill, so they eventually find that "right amount of censorship"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 10 2018, @11:29PM
Breitbart's timeline is an index of the stories from that report. [twitter.com]
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday October 10 2018, @11:08PM (2 children)
I've been using mostly DuckDuckGo for a while now but this tears it. Falkon works as well as Chromium for me, DDG is good enough to find what I need, and I don't use GMail or any of their other products. Screw them. I hope they crash and burn for this.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 3, Funny) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday October 11 2018, @02:29AM (1 child)
This weekend I will prioritize fixing whatever is wrong with my outgoing mail server
Rather than fix it when it failed, I took The Proud American's Way Out by signing up for G Suite.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by DrkShadow on Thursday October 11 2018, @05:25AM
Have you e-mailed anyone @gmail.com recently?
Does that ecommerce site use Google for their e-mail?
(how about your office?)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 10 2018, @11:09PM (1 child)
So what's it going to be, are we going to round up Muslims the world over and put them all in Gulags [scmp.com] or not?
Worldwide condemnation and extensive economic sanctions on China would be the normal response, obviously Google executives have other plans.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 11 2018, @12:34AM
There's a great topic for a Soylent poll...
Should we round up Muslims the world over and put them in gulags?
[] Yes
[] Inshallah
[] Only the terrorist ones
[] is Guantanamo full already?
[] Let's ask Google
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 11 2018, @12:34AM (3 children)
This was exclusively obtained by Breitbart. Why not mention that?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 11 2018, @01:14AM (1 child)
Truth triggers (American) liberals, can't have that now. They'll just dismiss it as fakenews.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday October 11 2018, @02:22AM
During my more-conservative moments anyway
I heartily commend the liberal young man who wrote Glenn Beck to thank him for speaking out against today's divisive political climate. Beck pointed out that among other things we all support the bill of rights
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2, Offtopic) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday October 11 2018, @08:42AM
Believe me, it ain't just Google that censors.
What about the 2 Subs in the Subs Queue. From Anonymous. They're "Pending." Supposedly. They call it pending, it's not pending. It looks like IGNORE. It looks like, didn't read. But, maybe the Editors made VERY SECRET TWEETS about them. And they'll say, "oh those were terrible terrible Subs. And we can't tell you what the Editors said about them, it's very private. But they're definitely not going on the Front Page." And they won't say, "oh, by the way Anonymous did some Subs, we made a better one, we think it's much better than you could do, but thank you Anonymous." No credit to Anonymous. They'll be Pending then the Robot Editor will reject. So sorry!!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 11 2018, @01:04AM (1 child)
People laughed at Alex Jones when he has been saying Google is in league with the Chinese, for a while now.
Cospiracy Theory my ass. With all tge sp called Conspiracy Theories I witnessed since 2016, just wondering how many more are true.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 11 2018, @08:57AM
You mean like the Conspiracy Theory that Russia meddled with the US 2016 election?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 11 2018, @02:17AM
Google skews its search results outside of China already to suit its ideology.
Why not skew it as its newest customer wishes?
Google is already in the business of controlling information access.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday October 11 2018, @02:18AM
But it's not.
There Oughta Be A Law that penalize US companies that facilitate human rights abuses: Cisco supplied the routers for The Great Firewall, Apple removes apps from its Cihense stores upon government request and back in the day a US company supplied I think it was the Indonesian police with cattle prods
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2, Troll) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday October 11 2018, @08:25AM
They are assholes -- BIG TIME!!! Especially @DaveHogue [twitter.com]. Antitrust?