censorship - Google's fake arguments


Simon World gives here some links to the discussion on Google helping to filter the internet in China, and Andrea does here.
The discussion regarding large companies helping China to filter the internet has flared up again, after Google defended the way its new Chinese search engine works in the New Scientist. Mostly corporate supporters of the Chinese censor try do their activities in silence.
"In order to create the best possible news search experience for our users, we sometimes decide not to include some sites, for a variety of reasons," Google says a statement published in the New Scientist. "These sources were not included because their sites are inaccessible."
That sounds logical at first sight: why should our Chinese search engine show results the users cannot access anyway. Unfortunately, the argument falls short in China, where the situation is slightly more complicated. Most internet users know how to get around the official internet blocks, that is part of an almost daily routine. So, blocking information on the Google search engine is a real act of censorship. It would be better, not only to show all result, but add a banner to the blocked sites saying “proxy needed”.