Bonum Certa Men Certa

Internet Censor Google Claims to be Fighting Internet Censorship

Nobody knows Google censorship better than Seth Finkelstein

Seth Finkelstein



Summary: Google has a new charm offence/PR trying to paint itself as a battling force against censorship (depends whose)

In this age of intimidation and terror by secret agencies we quickly learn that British press is under attack by those secret agencies and overzealous politicians [1, 2, 3]. Some newspapers buckle [1], whereas others don't, although even those that pretend not to are selling out in other ways (yes, that would be The Guardian). The whole NSA scandal has taught us and continues to show us just how aggressive Western censorship can become. Wikileaks showed us something similar 3 years ago.



"Google is trying to impress us by saying that it's a force for good, but serious questions remain for Google to answer."Google says it will battle country-specific Internet censorship [2], but how does it intend to tackle surveillance, which acts as means of self-censorship? This is not going to help against Western censorship, which Google is collaborating with (many of examples exist*, including the infamous copyright censorship examples). Google says it will also help fight DDOS attacks which can attack NGOs [3] (DDOS can be an attack on free speech), but why does Google collaborate with the potentially biggest sources of DDOS attacks (some are initiated by the NSA, FBI, and their proxies/minions)?

Google is trying to impress us by saying that it's a force for good, but serious questions remain for Google to answer. Google wants people to view itself as a tool of emancipation rather than oppression (like Facebook or Microsoft, which are even worse). Be sceptical. ___ * Seth Finkelstein wrote about Google censorship even a decade ago. Wikipedia has a long article about it.

Related/contextual items from the news:



  1. The perfect epitaph for establishment journalism
    'If MI5 warns that this is not in the public interest who am I to disbelieve them?', says the former editor of The Independent


  2. Google's uProxy could help fight Internet censorship
    At its Ideas Summit in New York, Google has announced that it is working on developing a browser extension that will act as an easy-to-use way to bypass country-specific Internet censorship and make connections safer and more private.


  3. Google’s anti-DDoS service Project Shield activated
    DDoS attacks are a doubled edged sword – while it’s used by hacktivism groups anonymous as a means of online protest, they are also used to attack NGOs and activites to bring their sites down. Now Google is taking a stand against DDoS attackers by offering a service called Project Shield.




Recent Techrights' Posts

Topics We Lacked Time to Cover
Due to a Microsoft event (an annual malware fest for lobbying and marketing purposes) there was also a lot of Microsoft propaganda
 
Links 23/11/2024: "Real World" Cracked and UK Online Safety Act is Law
Links for the day
Links 23/11/2024: Celebrating Proprietary Bluesky (False Choice, Same Issues) and Software Patents Squashed
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, November 22, 2024
IRC logs for Friday, November 22, 2024
Gemini Links 23/11/2024: 150 Day Streak in Duolingo and ICBMs
Links for the day
Links 22/11/2024: Dynamic Pricing Practice and Monopoly Abuses
Links for the day
Microsofters Try to Defund the Free Software Foundation (by Attacking Its Founder This Week) and They Tell People to Instead Give Money to Microsoft Front Groups
Microsoft people try to outspend their critics and harass them
[Meme] EPO for the Kids' Future (or Lack of It)
Patents can last two decades and grow with (or catch up with) the kids
EPO Education: Workers Resort to Legal Actions (Many Cases) Against the Administration
At the moment the casualties of EPO corruption include the EPO's own staff
Gemini Links 22/11/2024: ChromeOS, Search Engines, Regular Expressions
Links for the day
This Month is the 11th Month of This Year With Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (So Far It's Happening Every Month This Year, More Announced Hours Ago)
Now they even admit it
Links 22/11/2024: Software Patents Squashed, Russia Starts Using ICBMs
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, November 21, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, November 21, 2024
Gemini Links 21/11/2024: Alphabetising 400 Books and Giving the Internet up
Links for the day
Links 21/11/2024: TikTok Fighting Bans, Bluesky Failing Users
Links for the day
Links 21/11/2024: SpaceX Repeatedly Failing (Taxpayers Fund Failure), Russian Disinformation Spreading
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Earned Two More Honorary Doctorates Last Month
Two more doctorate degrees
KillerStartups.com is an LLM Spam Site That Sometimes Covers 'Linux' (Spams the Term)
It only serves to distract from real articles
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, November 20, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, November 20, 2024