It may sound like a radio station taking song requests, but it’s really Google’s attempt to deal with the issues of censorship and user privacy around the world. With this new government requests tool, they’ll make it public when a government agency requests that content be removed from its services or to supply information about its users. And they’ll do so with internet speed.
Google’s FAQ on the tool says that their map doesn’t include things they already do — like identify and remove child pornography whenever they become aware of it or for violation of their content policies (for example, hate speech) in response to user complaints.
Google said the tool is another way in which it attempts to make its actions transparent to users. When they remove web pages from search results in accordance with specific country laws, they only remove them from the search results for that country’s domain and not globally.
In their Government Requests overview they say, “We believe that greater transparency will give citizens insight into these kinds of actions taken by their governments. We also hope this tool will be a valuable part of discussions about the appropriate scope and authority of government requests and that other companies will make similar disclosures.”
And about data requests, “At a time when increasing numbers of governments are trying to regulate the free flow of information on the Internet, we hope this tool will shine some light on the scale and scope of government requests to censor information or obtain user data around the globe – and we welcome external debates about these issues that we grapple with internally on a daily basis.”
So….let me get this straight. Google is going to cavein to the US Governments request to take off certain website that they deemed ‘Anti Friendly”.
Cut the crap google. The internet wasn’t designed for the government to pick what I say or see. Tell me google…do you of all entities believe in ‘FREE SPEECH’? Then tell the government to quit trying to become a kastopol.
And here’s why. BEFORE YOU KNOW IT…IT WILL BE ONLY GOVERNMENT FRIENDLY WEBSITES ON THE WEB. Each website will have to pass the goverments ‘APPROVAL RATING’, before it can be applied. But then the US government toppled Hussain. Who did the same thing. China tried it. North Korea is doing it. well….trying.
India tried to stop people from going to certain website because people were finding the truth. The US government is trying to suppress the people.
ISN’T THAT WHAT THE FATHER OF AMERICA WERE TOTALLY AGAINST?
We believe in FREEDOM of CHOICE. Obama is doing his best to destroy that. And this will affect GOOGLE.
So GOOGLE. Which side of the fence are you going to go on?
CHOICE OR CENSORSHIP? Think about it. The goverment will keep tightening the noose until they own your. Wake up and open your eyes.