p2pnet view Politics | Advertising:- Giant US advertising company Google has ruled the Australian censorship plan untenable.

With senator Stephen Conroy (right) as its front, the Oz government wants to officially tell Australians what they can and can’t access online, complete with a blacklist of questionable sites.

Google has itself long maintained a level of censorship on Google.cn.

Yesterday, it moved its China agency from the mainland to Hong Kong, one of the People’s Republic of China’s two special administrative regions and a means by which it maintains its capitalist interests.

Of course, China itself has for years been operating a rigid censorship system.

Now, “Users visiting Google.cn are now being redirected to Google.com.hk, where we are offering uncensored search in simplified Chinese, specifically designed for users in mainland China and delivered via our servers in Hong Kong”, says the company on its blog.

In Australia, “We have talked directly with parents around Australia about their views on ISP level filtering”, Australian IT has Google saying, going on, “The strong view from parents was that the government’s proposal goes too far and would take away their freedom of choice around what information they and their children can access.

“The importance of a better effort to educate parents and children about online safety was repeatedly highlighted as the area where most effort should be focused.”

The company’s submission was among 174 others “received by the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, which had called for public feedback on transparency and accountability measures for the refused-classification list”, says the story, continuing >>>

The filtering scheme, championed by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, is mainly aimed at blocking child pornography web pages but Google argues that the RC category is too wide.

“RC is a broad category of content that includes not just child sexual abuse material but also socially and politically controversial material – for example, educational content on safer drug use – as well as the grey realms of material instructing in any crime, including politically controversial crimes such as euthanasia.

“Decisions in relation to instructional, educational, scientific or current affairs video material will often be much more complex than in relation to entertainment ‘films’,” Google said.

“Scenes of war or terrorist activity may ‘offensively depict real violence’ and rate RC when the video is not in any way ‘gratuitous violence’ or posted for entertainment.”

Three Google executive were recently found guilty of privacy violations in Italy in a case involving a cellphone video.

“In 2006 a high school student posted a three-minute YouTube clip of himself and three others bullying a 17-year-old with Down syndrome” said p2pnet, quoting, said  Online Media Daily.

It was taken down after Google received complaints, but “Italian prosecutors demanded a one-year sentence for three executives — David Drummond, senior vice president and chief legal officer; Peter Fleischer, global privacy counsel; and George De Los  Reyes, a former chief financial officer, said the New York Times. They also wanted a six-month sentence for Arvind Desikan, head of consumer marketing in Britain, it said.

Judge Oscar Magi  convicted three of them of privacy violations, said the BBC. Fleischer, Drummond and De Los Reyes each received suspended six-month sentences, while Desikan was acquitted and the defamation charges thrown out, it said.

Back in Australia, Australian IT has Google saying when it “receives a legal request, such as a court order to remove material, it would investigate the legitimacy of the request but not automatically comply”.

But “Beyond these clearly defined parameters, we will not remove material from YouTube.”

Google says “under the filtering regime, the likelihood of material on high volume sites being assessed as RC and appearing on the blacklist would be higher”, states the story, adding:

“The company reiterated views made in December that the scope of content to be filtered is too wide, and that the government’s plan was heavy-handed.

“According to Google, moving to a mandatory ISP level filtering regime with a scope that goes well beyond child sexual abuse material would raise genuine questions about restrictions on access to information.”

(Cheers, Filip and Andrew aka Comeoncomcast)

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moved its China agency – Google: ‘Farewell, China, we hardly knew ye’, March 22, 2010
blog – A new approach to China: an update, March 22, 2010
Australian IT – Conroy’s filter plan unworkable, says Google Australia, March 23, 2010
cellphone video – Four Google execs face jail in Italy, February 3, 2009
p2pnet – Google execs guilty of privacy violations: court, February 24, 2010
Online Media Daily Molto Disgusto: Video Brings Italian Wrath Down On Google, February 3, 2009
New York Times – Prosecutors Press Case Against Google in Italy, November 25, 2009
BBC – Google bosses convicted in Italy, February 24, 2010

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Net access blocked by government restrictions? Use Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Go here for details. Click here to learn what technologies might help you bypass censorship in your area.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 at 9:33 am and is filed under Advertising, Politics. 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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