China ramped up its censorship considerably in the lead-up to today, both of words and Internet services. Google is by far the biggest company to find its services halted -- as anyone trying to access Gmail without a VPN knows well -- and Google has by far the best response to it. We really want this to be true, anyway -- via Jonah Kessel:
Reader James Weir noticed something peculiar when he image searched "China" on Google.ca, i.e. Canadian Google: "People Eating Babies" and "People Eating Dogs" were among the top results.
Google chairman Eric Schmidt has a new book ready to debut in April, The Digital Age, co-written by Jared Cohen, formerly of the State Department. As the Wall Street Journal puts it succinctly, the book is clear about one thing: “China is the most dangerous superpower on Earth.” Specifically, Schmidt writes that China’s hacking culture —... Read more »
In November, Angry Asian Man noticed a very peculiar Android app that was being sold in Google Play: “Make Me Asian.” The program works by superimposing straw hats and fu manchus on user-uploaded pictures, which, um… yeah, don’t do that. Oh hells no. At the risk of giving this damn thing more attention than it... Read more »
Google, the company, has quietly stopped its practice of displaying warning messages to Chinese users who search for sensitive terms on its service. “At the same time, they deleted the help article which explained how to use the feature,” writes GreatFire.org. “This indicates a new development in the relationship between the Chinese government and Google.”... Read more »
Yesterday, China took down Google, the decision of a Net Nanny who gets off by watching Internet users like you squirm and suffer. But the collective howl of pain and rage that emanated from behind the Great Firewall was actually heard, because this morning, authorities unblocked Google’s services, including Gmail. So what happened? The website GreatFire.org – which... Read more »
Ever been throttled by the Net Nanny in China while doing a simple Google search? Your IP gets cut (or gagged? dick-vised? Sorry, I'm not familiar with Internet's more technical terms) and you're unable to use Google for up to a minute or more. This may not seem like a big deal, but when you're in the middle of doing just one thing that requires the use of the Internet
