Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Google knows where you live, where you work, where you bank, who you're dating How do they know who I'm dating?
There are several ways to use information from your phone to take a good educated guess.
Such as?
Google's censored Chinese search engine: a catalogue of ethical violations?
141–150 of 184 posts
Re: Google's censored Chinese search engine: a catalogue of ethical violations?
#142For once, I am on Google's side with this one. Somewhat of a discourse. In the last years, "China and Russia" became a new racist norm against anything and everything there. My mom and dad are absolutely against totalitarianism, but their "cardinal sin" is that they were born in Russia and they lack the financial means to move to another country. For years, they can't even buy any good cheese because the cheese was "…
My parents also live in Russia, but I would prefer setting up a VPN for them over their having to live behind a great information curtain any day. Also after the invasion of Ukraine, indiscriminate bombing of Syria, etc etc, I would personally find myself unable not to implement all kinds of horrible sanctions against the regime, cheese included. Otherwise it would just smack of appeasement policy. > Google is necess…
My point is that "horrible sanctions against the regime" do absolutely nothing to the regime (or might even improve it, given the "whole world against us, but we will heroically prevail" rhetoric in Russian media), but hurt the lives of normal people, who are completely powerless to do anything with the said regime.
Re: Google's censored Chinese search engine: a catalogue of ethical violations?
#143Re: Google's censored Chinese search engine: a catalogue of ethical violations?
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are several ways to use information from your phone to take a good educated guess.
Such as?
This is for Facebook, but applies equally to Google as well: http://scitech.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/21/does-facebook-know-w...
Re: Google's censored Chinese search engine: a catalogue of ethical violations?
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
"sanctioned the murder of Germans who sought to escape" I have read a page on capital punishment in Germany, found no such claims. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_German...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Peter_Fechter Many similar cases.
I'd love to know why the parent has been downvoted.
Further evidence, if any is needed:
"The use of lethal force on the Berlin Wall was an integral part of the East German state's policy towards its border system."
"The Stasi took charge of "corpse cases" and those injured while trying to cross the border, who were transported to hospitals run by the Stasi or the police where they would recuperate before being transferred to Stasi prisons. The Stasi also took sole responsibility for the disposal of the dead and their possessions. Bodies were not returned to relatives but were cremated, usually at the crematorium at Baumschulenweg. Occasionally the cost of the cremations was covered by the victims themselves using money taken from their pockets.[25]
Stasi officers posing as policemen would inform the relatives, though not before trying to obtain "valuable pieces of information on the border violation". Deaths would be stated as being due to "a border provocation of his own causing", "a fatal accident of his own causing" or "drowning in a border waterway". Every border death was investigated in detail to identify how the attempt had been made, whether there were any vulnerabilities in the border system that needed to be remedied and whether anyone else had been involved. If necessary, the family, relatives, friends, colleagues and neighbours were put under surveillance."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deaths_at_the_Berlin_W...
Re: Google's censored Chinese search engine: a catalogue of ethical violations?
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
Google's situation is similar to many American authors' experience when confronted with the choice of 1) not publishing in China. and 2) publishing a censored version of their book. The decision is not an easy one, even for those who support freedom of information. Those who deem Google's actions unethical often fail to realize that without Google or foreign books, Chinese internet users and readers will have less ac…
> portraying limitations in other countries in a way that celebrates our own values. This rings very true to me. Like others have commented in this thread, google is unethical because "they are disrupting the foundations of democracy by abiding by totalitarian rules" as if democracy is the one True form of governance.
Democracy is the form of governance that led to the international phenomenon that has lately been a venue for free speech, anonymity, free exchange of ideas and has enabled innumerable communities to organize and work for the common good like never before -- more widely known as the Internet. Google as a company would not have been possible without the Internet, as its core business relies on Internet remaining open and free. The less freedom users have, the less useful the Internet becomes and the less business Google is able to do. Therefore in the long term Google is shooting itself in the foot, not to mention the rest of us who are betrayed by this huge corporation which we allowed to grow in hopes that it stays true to its roots and customers.
It is therefore our responsibility to take back control at this crucial point in time by regulating the responsibilities of companies such as Google to ensure that such companies can not and will not undermine our freedoms by conspiring with totalitarian regimes. If we fail to act, we will quickly find ourselves in a world where censorship and other forms of manipulation spread across Internet like cancer; even our own democratic governments will start abusing it and making up rules that benefit them or their powerful sponsors in the short term, but hurt everyone else. The Internet will become segmented and the quality of information will go down. The likelihood of someone, somewhere, snooping our traffic and using it against us will increase, until we no longer feel safe to state our opinions or share any personal info online. We will become segmented, disconnected, unorganized, going back to the pre-Internet era.
Re: Google's censored Chinese search engine: a catalogue of ethical violations?
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
But where does censorship starts? Google already have to comply with local laws everywhere it operates. Is the right to be forgotten censorship? Is removing piratebay from the listing censorship? Or does it have to do with anything that offends a US liberal political stance? Then is Google’s mission really meant to be a propaganda tool for a particular political viewpoint?
Political censorship that is supposed to keep current rulers in power by shielding them from criticism is categorically different from all other types of censorship. The difference is not gradual as you suggest, because political censorship works on a meta-level. It obstructs the democratic mechanism by which all other types of censorship can be debated and ultimately lifted. Opposing political censorship is not just…
A 1000 times this. The key difference (as you said very well) is that in countries with a free press you can openly discuss any restrictions that are in place for various reason, may it be historic (Nazi time in Germany), cultural (the "f-word beeps" in the US) or legal, like the "secret" trials in Australia https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/14/world/australia/george-pe... )
Re: Google's censored Chinese search engine: a catalogue of ethical violations?
#148I'm with Google. Many years ago when Google created the censored search site in China, it was the first one that showed the sentence "According to local laws, some search results are removed". Before Google, no search engine showed this and people didn't even realize they were seeing censored search results.
With a new censored search engine in China, Chinese users can access more accurate (and ethical) information than what they have now even if it has fewer results than google.com. This is not only about politics or democracy. In fact, even local players like Baidu will be forced to enhance their search results, which means their users (maybe forced to use it because it's the default one on their cellphones) can get better search results.
I don't think Chinese users will be stupid enough to think the censored search results reflect what the real internet looks like. People know about VPN but often find it difficult to use. VPN providers are being closed down or even sued everyday. Apple's AppStore no longer provide VPN apps. Those who claim only VPN users deserve to use Google are evil.
To me, the only bad thing is that the Chinese government will think they are "strong" enough to force a company like Google to obey them, but I think this is just a face gain for them but the ordinary internet users have much more benefits.
Re: Google's censored Chinese search engine: a catalogue of ethical violations?
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not partaking in evil IS the result. Any further ulitarian calculations are just rationalizations. You cannot predict the ultimate outcome of any course of action fully, but you can treat others like you want to be treated. If you wouldn't others to look the other way if you got disappeared, don't look the other way when people get disappeared. Period. Not because of how it affects world history, but because of how i…
If we completely drop the utilitarian approach, then we must admit our goal is not to help or improve, but to act morally superior. Righteous grandstanding on the world stage has a track record of failure to inspire change, or even causing conflict. If our goal is simply to keep our hands clean then perhaps we shouldn't take an interest in human rights or business. You cannot personify nations for many reasons, the f…
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Re: Google's censored Chinese search engine: a catalogue of ethical violations?
#150I'm with Google. Many years ago when Google created the censored search site in China, it was the first one that showed the sentence "According to local laws, some search results are removed". Before Google, no search engine showed this and people didn't even realize they were seeing censored search results. With a new censored search engine in China, Chinese users can access more accurate (and ethical) information t…
I agree there is a really big ethical difference if Google search shows that phrase or not. (Would that be part of their new censored engine?)