p2pnet.net news:- Where ongoing worldwide public concern and diplomatic pressure have singularly failed to convince Google it should be helping the people who use its services, the Dollar Almighty dollar might succeed.

Do No Evil Google which, with Microsoft and Yahoo, is: helping to spread the “virus of internet repression,” according to Amnesty International; which has censored its web site in China; and, which was the only firm to totally fail a six-month investigation into privacy practices employed by key Net-based companies, “is seeking help inside the Beltway to fight the rise of Web censorship worldwide,” says Associated Press.

Is Google turning over a new new leaf? Well, kind of.

But it isn’t worried about human rights violations. Rather,”Google sees the dramatic increase in government Net censorship, particularly in Asia and the Middle East, as a potential threat to its advertising-driven business model, and wants government officials to consider the issue in economic, rather than just political, terms,” says the story.

Google proudly told the world, recently, that it’s decided to become an international political force, with one Andrew McLaughlin organising things.

Now, “It’s fair to say that censorship is the No. 1 barrier to trade that we face,” AP has McLaughlin saying, going on that he’d, “met with officials from the U.S. Trade Representative’s office several times this year to discuss the issue”.

If censorship regimes, “create barriers to trade in violation of international trade rules, the USTR would get involved,” the story has USTR spokeswoman Gretchen Hamel declaring, even though human rights issues, such as censorship, typically falls under the purview of the State Department, she admits.

Slashdot it!

Also See:
virus of internet repression - Google, Yahoo, MS, ‘virus of repression’, June 6, 2007
Associated Press - Google Fights Global Internet Censorship
totally fail - Google flunks major privacy study, June 11, 2007
international political force - Google, world political force, June 19, 2007

If your Net access is blocked by government restrictions, try Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies. Go here for the official download, and here for details. And if you’re Chinese and you’re looking for a way to access independent Internet news sources, try Freegate, the DIT program written to help Chinese citizens circumvent web site blocking outside of China. Download it here.

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Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local politicians. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance. Don’t just complain. Do something!

This entry was posted on Monday, June 25th, 2007 at 1:17 pm and is filed under Freedom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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