
Google Is Handing the Future of the Internet to China - walterbell
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/09/10/google-is-handing-the-future-of-the-internet-to-china/
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StreakyCobra
«In May, Google quietly removed “Don’t be evil” from the text of its corporate
code of conduct, deleting a catchphrase that had been associated with the
company since 2000.»

So it is now official, Google can not longer be considered as "not Evil". And
we know this thanks to this sentence that has finally served as a warrant
canary.

~~~
j88439h84
"And remember… don’t be evil, and if you see something that you think isn’t
right – speak up!

Last updated July 31, 2018"

[https://abc.xyz/investor/other/google-code-of-
conduct.html](https://abc.xyz/investor/other/google-code-of-conduct.html)

~~~
StreakyCobra
Yes, the article linked [1] also mentions it. But it also shows what have been
removed, such as:

«“Don’t be evil.” Googlers generally apply those words to how we serve our
users. But “Don’t be evil” is much more than that. Yes, it’s about providing
our users unbiased access to information, focusing on their needs and giving
them the best products and services that we can. But it’s also about doing the
right thing more generally – following the law, acting honorably, and treating
co-workers with courtesy and respect.»

The fact they removed this (e.g. "providing our users unbiased access to
information") and that they are now setting up a censored version of their
search engine shows that everything that they have removed in there should now
be considered as deprecated.

[1] [https://gizmodo.com/google-removes-nearly-all-mentions-of-
do...](https://gizmodo.com/google-removes-nearly-all-mentions-of-dont-be-evil-
from-1826153393)

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O1111OOO
Once a company becomes comfortable with censorship, search manipulation in the
name of their own politically motivated agenda... censorship and search
manipulation can be repackaged if the price is right.

There are many here (as well as those 1,400 Googlers who signed the letter)
who turned a blind-eye toward censorship and public manipulation when they
agreed with the politics. This is the end result. Sadly... it's just the tip
of the iceberg as the future looks much more bleak.

~~~
zapita
What are you referring to? Your reference to politics seem to come out of
nowhere, is there context for it that we’re missing?

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tanilama
Interesting title. What future would Google have, regarding China, if it
doesn't even exist in that country?

By exiting China, except pleasing the those moral puritans, I fail to see what
exactly Google achieves. China now has a self-contained internet ecosystem,
which is moderated and censored by the party's will, yet vibrant and providing
countless business potential and shaping the society at breakneck speed. The
only one holds China's internet's future is apparently, China.

~~~
394549
> By exiting China, except pleasing the those moral puritans, I fail to see
> what exactly Google achieves.

You don't even have to have much imagination to realize that by exiting China,
Google removed the leverage the Chinese government had over it. If Google has
operations in China that it values, the Communist Party can use those
operations as a hostage to manipulate Google, just like it did with the
airlines.

Do you want an authoritarian government to have leverage over _the_ service
that you use to search for the answers to your questions? It's not
inconceivable that that the CCP might use that leverage to get Google to
change the rankings of its search results to be more to its liking.

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kenhwang
Google's sure looking more and more like the Oracle of this generation.

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KennyCason
I wonder if Google having a stronger presence and relationships in China, even
if censored, would in fact be a better alternative than not having a presence
in China. Another way the west can influence China and its direction is from
the inside. It seems pretty clear that just avoiding the market due to
morality isn’t really achieving anything. It just leaves a bigger void for
local Chinese companies to fill. I’m in China now and I can tell you most
people don’t really know or care about Google. Also, for the most part, your
average person doesn’t even perceive the fact that their internet is
restricted, and those that do, use VPNs anyways and have probably traveled
abroad at some point. I’m beginning to think we should be injecting as much
influence INTO China as possible if we want to have any ground later.

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f055
We've seen this before. AOL was a monster on a ledge, and it fell. Google is a
monster on a ledge, and it will fall. Funny enough, it's the ledge(r) that
will bury it. All hail Internet 3.0 :P

~~~
apatters
I tend to feel the same way (in principle though not convinced it will be
because of "Dweb" tech). I've been using searx.me for a year or so. This is a
metasearch engine based on open source software, anyone can run an instance of
it. I get a mix of results from Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo. It tells me which
results come from which engine and I don't think it would be a big deal if
Google started censoring stuff, or if it was removed altogether.

If Google starts censoring results in the US or EU with clear political
motives, a Searx instance will be clearly superior (probably Bing and DDG
standalone will be too). Many people will switch and search will become a more
competitive market all of a sudden.

I'm not pro-censorship and I think Google censoring results for China would be
disgusting. But if they migrate the practice to Western democracies I think
they'll basically commit suicide. (Therefore they probably won't do it.)

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Paraesthetic
Excellent, an Internet that is heavily censored by Google. I guess thats the
ultimate agenda of most governments, which means its the end goal of Google's
greed.

~~~
peterlk
To be honest, I don't see this censorship as such a big deal, it's an annoying
speed bump, but not much more. Media has censored things forever, and as long
as the internet remains open, it's not like censoring search results will
prevent information from existing on the internet. It just means that we might
need to build some new channels to share it. To me, the scary thing is the
centralization of power with respect to networking (DNS/BGP/switching/etc. -
see net neutrality). If internet infrastructure remains open, we'll continue
to have the opportunity to build mastodon, duckduckgo, OSM, etc. And
eventually those things will overtake the walled gardens that "Megacorp"s are
cornering themselves into. Linux is the shining example of this.

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methou
And there's no way to stop it, yet there's no escape for it.

If Google is going to be more cooperative, there are more than just censorship
that Google and Alphabet can provide.

Personally I would flee China but the relocation would require a higher-than-
medium paying job which is difficult to get as a foreigner in most of the
Countries, and I believe the status also applies many others.

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394549
It feels like this story was suppressed from HN. Here's a story that's older
but has a similar number of points that's still on the front page
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17964942;](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17964942;)
64 pts, 13 hours ago), while this story is on page 4 (63 pts, 8 hours ago).
Seems to be happening a lot for stories on topics like this.

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Techpanda74
Money bypass morals I guess.

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amaccuish
> decisions over what content to algorithmically uplift or suppress can
> involve agonizing questions of interpretation, intent, and cultural context.

Or you know, why not bring back chronological feeds... I'm convinced part of
the polarisation in previous years can be put down to "algorithms" boosting
particular posts.

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yAnonymous
The censor ship has long sailed and its first passengers were American
copyright shills, followed by European criminals who wanted their crimes to be
removed from Google.

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faag39
Since this censored version of the search engine will only work in China, I
don't see how they are "handing the future of the Internet" to them.

~~~
YouKnowBetter
I presume that is on the premissis that every other state / regime will be
able to leverage that deal between Google & China to black out whatever they
think is not PC in their country.

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xbmcuser
Most of them already do this the slippery slope was started with Europe with
it's right to be forgotten US with its Dmca. It's funny how many people have
forgotten this if those things can be censored by Google because of these
countries laws why is results cencsoring for China under Chinese laws is any
different.

~~~
peteretep
Because Chinese laws are intended to stifle debate and oppress human rights,
where the EU laws protect privacy, and the US ones protect intellectual
property?

~~~
bushin
"It should be noted that no ethically-trained software engineer would ever
consent to write a DestroyBaghdad procedure. Basic professional ethics would
instead require him to write a DestroyCity procedure, to which Baghdad could
be given as a parameter"

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iamgopal
All this blaming Google for being evil, when they suffer due to political
implications, why we just watch and do nothing about it ? Because it's private
company ? So why now ? It's still private company.

