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Google censors its new Website
(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2006-01-26 08:50 Google, the world's most
popular Internet search engine, yesterday launched a Chinese-language service
that will be stripped of content deemed offensive or subversive.
The self-censorship was the first for Google in China. The company does not
restrict access to Websites on its English-language search engine, though
government censors do block links to forbidden material.
Other Internet giants including Yahoo and Microsoft's MSN have also censored
material "in exchange" for being allowed to tap a market comprising 110 million
Internet users, the world's second-largest market.
The government bars access to 20 broad content categories, including
pornography and other banned material. Cyber surfers who enter forbidden
keywords in the search engine at the new www.google.cn will receive this
message: "In line with local laws and policies, parts of the result are not
listed."
People who use Google's English service in China won't be affected by the
company's self-censorship, though they will still be restricted by government
censors who monitor Internet activity.
Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba and Yahoo China, and a Microsoft spokesman also
said they respect Chinese policies and censor content in their search engines,
blogs and e-mail services.
"The new Website is a platform designed specifically for Chinese users, and
we plan to launch products similar to those on our English-language service here
as well," Cui Jin, a Google China public relations representative, said
yesterday.
The new Chinese-language products may include the map service Google Earth,
blog searches and video services.
Google, whose China market share lags Beijing-based rival baidu.com, plans to
establish its first research and development center in Beijing in the third
quarter.
Under the lead of Kaifu Lee, Google China's incoming president and a former
Microsoft vice president, Google has recruited more than 50 engineers to advance
its plans, according to Cui.
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