Thursday, June 25, 2009
New Chinese Version of Google SafeSearch Eliminates Google Entirely
Google’s mission, to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible, has once again run afoul of the Chinese government, which has a similar goal, but would much prefer that certain information stay inaccessible. And so, on Wednesday evening, Chinese citizens found themselves once again unable to use Google, Gmail, and YouTube as their government condemned Google as a purveyor of porn.
China’s access to YouTube, which has been intermittent at best, ceased entirely late Monday, apparently choked off by the country’s legendary Internet filtering system. There’s no formal explanation yet for the block, though it may be in response to a seven-minute video posted to YouTube last week showing Chinese soldiers brutally beating Tibetans last March after the riots in Lhasa. China, after all, isn’t renowned for its tolerance of free expression or dissident speech.
