

Google to Censor Blogger Blogs on a ‘Per Country Basis’ - stfu
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/01/google-censoring-blogger/

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domador
Why does Google need to operate locally in each country in the first place?
Isn't that just a needless expenditure? More employees, more domain names,
more dealings with localized bureaucracies and pesky removal requests? Rather
than put itself in a losing position against local governments, Google should
let local governments take on their own constituents (and risk angering them
by censoring the international version of Google's sites.) A tradeoff between
full access or no access to Google is safer for freedom than the complacency-
inducing availability of a watered-down, locally-censored Google.

Now, if it's a matter of maximizing profit, this move seems to make sense from
Google's standpoint. Having some ads on localized, yet partially-censored
Google properties would produce greater profit than showing zero ads in a
country that completely censors the international version.

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rryan
Well, for one Google doesn't operate locally in every country. Moving into a
given country comes with tradeoffs which Google surely weighs. Off the top of
my head, I assume the decision to move into a country is a balancing act
between these pros and cons:

Pros:

* Quality of sales operations are probably much better when run by people local to the country. Out-of-country call-centers are probably a huge turn-off compared to someone local who can build rapport and speak fluently in the local tongue.

* Google can't hire smart engineers fast enough -- they're just too hard to find. Since smart people are found worldwide, to maximize effective hiring you need to hire worldwide.

Cons:

* You pay taxes in the country.

* You have more responsibility to adhere to local laws, takedown requests, etc.

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domador
Good points!

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ElbertF
Previous discussion: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3535502>

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magicalist
Thanks. As I pointed out there, google censoring content on a per-country
basis is truly a shocking and unprecedented event:

[http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/governmentrequests/...](http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/governmentrequests/removals/)

It's weird. The last time Wired covered this topic, they focused more on the
US government issuing by far the greatest number of requests for user data,
and hanging out with Germany and South Korea in the number of content take
down court orders (including 18 in 2010 and 16 in the first half of 2011 from,
wait for it...Blogger blogs).

[http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/10/google-data-
request...](http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/10/google-data-requests/)

If Google and Twitter are going to be asked to be conscientious objectors from
internet censorship (as moral representatives for the citizens who can't get
their shit together), I can think of the first country they should probably
pull out of...

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junto
What does this mean for blogger custom domains?

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pasbesoin
2012: The year the Internet died.

I guess the Arab Spring et al. must have really scared TPTB.

[snark] Now waiting for the first U.S. "per country" based censoring, e.g. of
Occupy communication.[/snark]

Seriously, though. The lack of wholesale "per country" censorship seemed to be
working to some extent to pull world society closer together in terms of
understanding and supporting each other. These recent choices seem to fly in
the face of such trends.

~~~
motters
Arab Spring/Occupy probably expedited the timeline, but I've been noticing an
increasing amount of country specific stuff on the internet over the last few
years.

~~~
pasbesoin
Do you mean with respect to identification/segregation of content by content
providers, or with respect to geographic entities' attempts at censorship? Or
do you simply mean more and/or more prominent sites using country code TDL's?

The second, of course, we have. (Quip: "China was the prototype.")

The first, with attendant variation of content (i.e. you get a different view
of an individual Blogger blog depending upon whether you are e.g. in Sweden or
in Italy) seems rife for efforts to more quietly and piecemeal "pick apart"
the Internet's "common voice".

Perhaps I'm being alarmist. But placed within the context of everything else
that's going on right now with respect to Internet communication, it's
worrying.

The third I have no real problem with, although I find the many attempts to
use country code TDL's to make "catchy" domain names to mostly be ineffective
if not annoying. (I'll leave that at the level of personal preference.)

~~~
motters
I mean a combination of explicit censorship (for example, access to
sourceforge in certain countries) and also content providers attempts to
control what is seen where (seems like BS to me).

------
asabil
The end of the the Web as we know it is getting closer

