Скачать или смотреть Google self-censors China search engine

(26 Jan 2006)

1. Wide of Beijing Internet cafe with people seated at screens
2. Medium man staring at computer screen
3. Mid of faces watching screen
4. Close of computer screen showing animation of basket ball game
5. SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin) Mr Li (First name not given), Internet user:
"I don't think it has any bad influence on me. On the contrary I think it will make things better because now we are always getting junk information from people we don't know. So I hope this will block bad information and prevent people from using bad language on the Internet."
6. More of internet users
7. Set up shot of IT consultant Duncan Clark
8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Duncan Clark, managing director of Beijing-based consultancy BDA China Ltd:
"And Google, by avoiding e-mail domestically, they are saying we don't want even to get into that situation. You know you can take your own views on whether that's a craven thing or that's an ethical thing or not. One way I would characterise all of this is, a lot of people expect the Internet to be this incredible force for good and Google itself had tapped into that spirit with its "don't do evil" mantra. And the reality is, there's a long history in China of Westerners battling. It's the merchants verses the missionaries and the missionaries think that can proselytise and change centuries of tradition but it's the merchants that often get their way."
9. Mid of internet user
10. Close up of hands on keyboard
11. Close up of computer screen showing animation of figures dancing on screen

STORYLINE:

US Internet search engine Google launched a service in China on Wednesday that censors material about human rights, Tibet and other topics sensitive to Beijing.

Instead users are directed only to Web sites espousing the government's views on such issues.

Mountain View, California-based Google Inc. said its decision to launch a sanitised version of its famed search engine using China's ".cn" suffix was aimed at reaching China's massive Internet audience.

Google's decision is a major triumph for the regime's campaign to have the Internet censor itself, observers said on Thursday, amid mounting criticism of the move.

But in countless Internet cafes across China, video game players paid little attention to government efforts to block information.

Many Internet users were not aware of Google's self censorship and some said it was a good thing to block some information.

Google, who's motto is "Don't Be Evil," says the new site aims to make its search engine more accessible in China, thereby expanding access to information.

Yet the move has already been criticised by media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, which has chided Yahoo and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN.com for submitting to China's censorship regime.

However, technology analyst Duncan Clark said such criticisms probably wouldn't generate problems for Google's business elsewhere, given weak responses to previous cooperation between foreign Internet companies and Chinese authorities.

The analyst said Google likely hoped to avoid the bad publicity incurred by Yahoo last year after it provided the government with the e-mail account information of a Chinese journalist who was later convicted of violating state secrecy laws.

Google is not offering email services in China.

Google hopes the new market will shore up its competitiveness against competitors such as Yahoo, and domestic Chinese ones like Baidu.com Inc.

Baidu.com is currently China's most popular search engine.

China has more than 100 million Web surfers and the audience is expected to swell.


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