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Google reveals statistics on government requests of its data

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Re: Google reveals statistics on government requests of its data

#21

Post by tsally »

ycseattle wrote: post #18
kevindication wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget possible retribution upon any Google employees left in China as well.

Get real. Do you really believe the government will go after Google's Chinese employee?

Uh, yes?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_the_People%27s_...

More specifically:

"On 17 Oct 2009, Reuters reported that Guo Quan a professor in Nanjing Teachers University was sentenced to 10 years in jail for "inciting Subversion" of Government. There are more than 40 people in jail for criticizing the government."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_the_People%27s_...

Threatening to provide or actually providing uncensored search results to the public could certainly be construed as inciting subversion.

Re: Google reveals statistics on government requests of its data

#22

Post by yellowbkpk »

Honestly, I would be more interested in hearing about Google's requests of government data.

For example, the fact that they have tax parcel information showing up on the map in my neighborhood means that they also have the amount of taxes I paid, my name, and property value. I know this is all public information, but an "ordinary citizen" would have to walk to the courthouse and pay $1/page for a printed copy of the city records and then scan it back in. Did they really do this throughout the country?

Re: Google reveals statistics on government requests of its data

#23

Post by ycseattle »

tsally wrote: post #21
ycseattle wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get real. Do you really believe the government will go after Google's Chinese employee?

Uh, yes? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_the_People%27s_... More specifically: "On 17 Oct 2009, Reuters reported that Guo Quan a professor in Nanjing Teachers University was sentenced to 10 years in jail for "inciting Subversion" of Government. There are more than 40 people in jail for criticizing the government." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_the_People%27s_... Threatening to provide or a…

So you think the government will go after the google employee because they are going public to support Google? Have you heard any Google Chinese employee "reportedly" supporting the employer and bashing Chinese government, even those living in US?

Do you know the full story of the 40 people in jail for criticizing the government? Do you know the population in China? Do you know how many people are jailed in US because of Patriot Act, with no reason and no trial?

Re: Google reveals statistics on government requests of its data

#24

Post by ycseattle »

ajkirwin wrote: post #20
ycseattle wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get real. Do you really believe the government will go after Google's Chinese employee?

Yes. I do.

Let me guess, you've never been to China and you don't know anybody who grow up in China.

Re: Google reveals statistics on government requests of its data

#25

Post by kevindication »

ycseattle wrote: post #18
kevindication wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget possible retribution upon any Google employees left in China as well.

Get real. Do you really believe the government will go after Google's Chinese employee?

They've been afraid of this before.

From http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/new-approach-to-china... :

Finally, we would like to make clear that all these decisions have been driven and implemented by our executives in the United States, and that none of our employees in China can, or should, be held responsible for them. Despite all the uncertainty and difficulties they have faced since we made our announcement in January, they have continued to focus on serving our Chinese users and customers. We are immensely proud of them.

Re: Google reveals statistics on government requests of its data

#26

Post by travisp »

yellowbkpk wrote: post #22

Honestly, I would be more interested in hearing about Google's requests of government data. For example, the fact that they have tax parcel information showing up on the map in my neighborhood means that they also have the amount of taxes I paid, my name, and property value. I know this is all public information, but an "ordinary citizen" would have to walk to the courthouse and pay $1/page for a printed copy of the…

>I know this is all public information, but an "ordinary citizen" would have to walk to the courthouse and pay $1/page for a printed copy of the city records and then scan it back in.

This definitely isn't the case everywhere. My county (not a particularly tech savvy one) has it all available online on their own website, including full assessment information on the house, your name, amount you paid in taxes, etc.. You just type in the address you want. Or, you can search by name instead of address!

Re: Google reveals statistics on government requests of its data

#27

Post by stingraycharles »

ycseattle wrote: post #23
tsally wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh, yes? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_the_People%27s_... More specifically: "On 17 Oct 2009, Reuters reported that Guo Quan a professor in Nanjing Teachers University was sentenced to 10 years in jail for "inciting Subversion" of Government. There are more than 40 people in jail for criticizing the government." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_the_People%27s_... Threatening to provide or a…

So you think the government will go after the google employee because they are going public to support Google? Have you heard any Google Chinese employee "reportedly" supporting the employer and bashing Chinese government, even those living in US? Do you know the full story of the 40 people in jail for criticizing the government? Do you know the population in China? Do you know how many people are jailed in US becaus…

Those points do not refute the argument that the Chinese government might go after the employees, and Google is being careful with that. Google's position in China is sensitive given the things that happened there in the past months, and I can imagine they don't want to fuel the fire any more than necessary.

Re: Google reveals statistics on government requests of its data

#28

Post by wdewind »

naz wrote: post #11
wdewind wrote: post #4

This is a bit unrelated, but does anyone know how google manages to make those three pages load without showing the refresh flash? It doesn't look like they are being loaded via AJAX so I can't figure it out...

The pages share a stylesheet that has a expiry date in the future.

Ahh thanks! Was wondering this for a long time. So does that mean the google logo needs the same?

Re: Google reveals statistics on government requests of its data

#29

Post by ycseattle »

kevindication wrote: post #25
ycseattle wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get real. Do you really believe the government will go after Google's Chinese employee?

They've been afraid of this before. From http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/new-approach-to-china... : Finally, we would like to make clear that all these decisions have been driven and implemented by our executives in the United States, and that none of our employees in China can, or should, be held responsible for them. Despite all the uncertainty and difficulties they have faced since we made our announcement…

This statement is exactly why I think Google is evil in this case. This is what Google PR talk, you will never know how their employee feels. In reality, if you read Chinese and the other side of story, you probably will feel the employees are more a victim of Google instead of China. I think Google deliberately add this statement to make them sounds like "caring."

I won't even try to convince you with my opinion, just encourage you to talk to Chinese living in western countries to get a full story. Google has good information about "emotion" and it is a media company. A popular media theory is "if you control their emotion, you control their opinion."

Re: Google reveals statistics on government requests of its data

#30

Post by dschobel »

ycseattle wrote: post #24
ajkirwin wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. I do.

Let me guess, you've never been to China and you don't know anybody who grow up in China.

What's your point? We live in a world where communication obviates the need for everyone to be first hand witnesses. The entire concept of news reporting is predicated on credible third parties.
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