Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 8:22 pm Post subject: Google - behind the screen
Google: behind the screen (VPRO documentary 2006)
What if all the world's information would be available and easy to find? What if all the news, all books, all texts, photographs and videos would be collected in one place, and made available, always and everywhere?
This is the goal of Google, and the company seems to be realising its core mission at an amazing speed: through its popular search engine, through Google Earth, with which users can find any kind of information based on geography, and through Google Print, a project in which Google digitizes complete libraries.
Google is divulging ever more information, in the process hiring the smartest people in the industry. But is the company aware of the responsibility it has, being the guard to all the world's information, including personal information about its users?
This documentary takes a look into the world of Google, in the company's headquarters in Mountain View, California and in its London offices. We see --among others- Vint Cerf, named 'the father' of the Internet who explains the inner workings of Google as a company. Since 2004, Cerf has been working for Google, helping them to develop new applications for the Internet. What is his view on the development of the Internet, and on the role Google plays in today's world?
With its motto 'Don't be evil', Google seems to have the best intentions. But there are also claims that Google is slowly turning into Big Brother, keeping track of its users and continuously making decisions about the information it provides to an ever faster growing number of users.
Will Google turn out to be a new Library of Alexandria, serving as a middleman that brings all useful information to anyone? Or is it turning into a monopolistic Big Brother that challenges the freedom of information?
Link _________________ Nyetu pravdy v Isvyestyakh i nyetu isvyestyi v Pravde
This is from a documentary called The Tank Man (2006). Some Chinese University students are shown pictures of the Tiananmen "tank man" from 1989 - and appear to have absolutely no idea about what they are looking at.
A Chinese google search shows why....
Link _________________ Nyetu pravdy v Isvyestyakh i nyetu isvyestyi v Pravde
He'd made some more comments in the actual video interview, which I don't see in the transcript.
Basically his perspective was,
'we need to be pragmatic',
and
'Do you think the Chinese like it when they see that their search result is censored? Do they say, oh how nice, my government doesn't want me to see this information'.
Chinese bloggers and their encounters with censorship - and how companies like Google and Yahoo fully cooperate with the Chinese government's policing of the internet....
The great firewall of China
Link _________________ Nyetu pravdy v Isvyestyakh i nyetu isvyestyi v Pravde
Microsoft bans Scroogle • The Register
Updated Microsoft's MSN Messenger service doesn't want you talking dirty - and its definition of dirty talk is quite peculiar. If you send an instant message containing the word ...
AUSTRALIA will join China in implementing mandatory censoring of the internet under plans put forward by the Federal Government.
The revelations emerge as US tech giants Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, and a coalition of human rights and other groups unveiled a code of conduct aimed at safeguarding online freedom of speech and privacy.
The government has declared it will not let internet users opt out of the proposed national internet filter.
The plan was first created as a way to combat child pronography and adult content, but could be extended to include controversial websites on euthanasia or anorexia.
Communications minister Stephen Conroy revealed the mandatory censorship to the Senate estimates committee as the Global Network Initiative, bringing together leading companies, human rights organisations, academics and investors, committed the technology firms to "protect the freedom of expression and privacy rights of their users".
Mr Conroy said trials were yet to be carried out, but "we are talking about mandatory blocking, where possible, of illegal material."
The net nanny proposal was originally going to allow Australians who wanted uncensored access to the web the option of contacting their internet service provider to be excluded from the service.
Human Rights Watch has condemned internet censorship, and argued to the US Senate "there is a real danger of a Virtual Curtain dividing the internet, much as the Iron Curtain did during the Cold War, because some governments fear the potential of the internet, (and) want to control it"
Groups including the System Administrators Guild of Australia and Electronic Frontiers Australia have attacked the proposal, saying it would unfairly restrict Australians' access to the web, slow internet speeds and raise the price of internet access.
EFA board member Colin Jacobs said it would have little effect on illegal internet content, including child pornography, as it would not cover file-sharing networks.
"If the Government would actually come out and say we're only targeting child pornography it would be a different debate," he said.
The technology companies' move, which follows criticism that the companies were assisting censorship of the internet in nations such as China, requires them to narrowly interpret government requests for information or censorship and to fight to minimise cooperation.
The initiative provides a systematic approach to "work together in resisting efforts by governments that seek to enlist companies in acts of censorship and surveillance that violate international standards", the participants said.
In a statement, Yahoo co-founder and chief executive Jerry Yang welcomed the new code of conduct.
"These principles provide a valuable roadmap for companies like Yahoo operating in markets where freedom of expression and privacy are unfairly restricted," he said.
"Yahoo was founded on the belief that promoting access to information can enrich people's lives, and the principles we unveil today reflect our determination that our actions match our values around the world."
Yahoo was thrust into the forefront of the online rights issue after the Californian company helped Chinese police identify cyber dissidents whose supposed crime was expressing their views online.
China exercises strict control over the internet, blocking sites linked to Chinese dissidents, the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement, the Tibetan government-in-exile and those with information on the 1989 Tiananmen massacre.
A number of US companies, including Microsoft, Cisco, Google and Yahoo, have been hauled before the US Congress in recent years and accused of complicity in building the "Great Firewall of China".
The Australian Christian Lobby, however, has welcomed the proposals.
Managing director Jim Wallace said the measures were needed.
"The need to prevent access to illegal hard-core material and child pornography must be placed above the industry's desire for unfettered access," Mr Wallace said. _________________ Nyetu pravdy v Isvyestyakh i nyetu isvyestyi v Pravde
that'll be easy for them as the Internet is in its infancy there! They haven't even grasped the idea of online sales yet _________________ 'Come and see the violence inherent in the system.
Help, help, I'm being repressed!'
“The more you tighten your grip, the more Star Systems will slip through your fingers.”
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