Google in China

By dave on January 30, 2006 10:40 PM | Permalink

Google officially comments on their decision to censor search results from www.google.com.cn: Google in China.

It's pretty much what I expected they'd say, but this is an interesting bit:

And yes, Chinese regulations will require us to remove some sensitive information from our search results. When we do so, we'll disclose this to users, just as we already do in those rare instances where we alter results in order to comply with local laws in France, Germany and the U.S.

Now, the reference to France and Germany is that local laws in those two countries prohibit certain materials relating to Nazis, White Supremacists and other scum.

Just what restrictions are in place in the U.S.A.? It turns out (following a quick google.com.hk search), that:

For example, the Church of Scientology, invoking the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act, convinced Google to remove references to certain web pages critical of the religion and allegedly containing copyrighted material;

(See the full article here: Localized Google search result exclusions.)

You can see the full list (assuming that Google reports everything) of excluded items here: ChillingEffects.Org.

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