«Breaking News» Google builds prototype for censored Chinese search engine

Google has reportedly built a prototype of a search engine for China that will censor content and link users' searches to their phone numbers.

The Intercept reports that the engine, codenmaed 'Dragonfly', would censor and remove content to meet China's tough communist censorship rules.

On Friday, The Intercept revealed undisclosed details it obtained about the plan, which show Google's censorship blacklist including terms such as 'human rights', 'student protest' and 'Nobel Prize'.

This comes a month after Google came under fire by 1,400 employees who signed a protest letter over the company's reported work on Dragonfly.  

Google has reportedly built a prototype of a Chinese  search engine codenamed 'Dragonfly' that will link a users' searches to their phone number 

The Dragonfly search engine is said to be linked with a user's Android and their phone number - making it easy for the government to track. 

Sources say the search engine has been rigged to replace weather and air pollution data with information provided by a source in Beijing.  

CHINESE INTERNET CRACKDOWN

While China is home to the world's largest number of internet users, a 2015 report by US think tank Freedom House found that the country had the most restrictive online use policies of 65 nations it studied, ranking below Iran and Syria.

But China has maintained that its various forms of web censorship are necessary for protecting its national security.

It has cracked down on VPNs after the passing of a controversial cybersecurity bill last November that tightened restrictions on online freedom of speech and imposed new rules on service providers.

Since the regulation took effect this June, authorities have closed dozens of celebrity gossip blogs and issued new rules around online video content to eliminate programmes deemed offensive.

'This is very problematic from a privacy point of view, because it would allow far more detailed tracking and profiling of people's behavior,' Cynthia Wong, senior internet researcher with Human Rights Watch, told The Intercept. 

'Linking searches to a phone number would make it much harder for people to avoid the kind of overreaching government surveillance that is pervasive in China,'Wong added.    

Google has not confirmed Dragonfly, and has publicly declined to comment on reports about the project.

However, the company previously said that it is just doing 'exploratory' work on a search service in China and that it is 'not close to launching a search product.'

Google withdrew its search engine from China eight years ago due to censorship and hacking.

In August, Google employees demanded more transparency so they can understand the moral implications of their work, The New York Times reported. 

A letter was signed by 1,400 employees and began circulating on the company's internal communications system, the newspaper said, quoting three people who are familiar with the document.

The letter argues that the search engine project and Google's apparent willingness to accept China's censorship requirements 'raise urgent moral and ethical issues.'

'Currently we do not have the information required to make ethically-informed decisions about our work, our projects, and our employment,' they say in the letter, according to the Times.

With the secret project, Google employees are reportedly worried that they might unknowingly be working on technology that could help China hide information from its people.

'We urgently need more transparency, a seat at the table, and a commitment to clear and open processes: Google employees need to know what we're building,' the protest letter says, according to the Times.

 

Link hienalouca.com

https://hienalouca.com/2018/09/16/google-builds-prototype-for-censored-chinese-search-engine/
Main photo article Google has reportedly built a prototype of a search engine for China that will censor content and link users’ searches to their phone numbers.
The Intercept reports that the engine, codenmaed ‘Dragonfly’, would censor and remove content to meet China’s tough communist...

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Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca





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