Internet Searches blocked in certain Countries

[BASE813 0]

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Reportedly users in China can't search for "forbidden" words like democracy when the source IP is from china.. MSN, Yahoo, Ebay and a few others are actively monitoring and blocking searches. Companies state they are just complying with China law.

A Google spokesman responds it does not filter searches from China - well they do filter searches and not just from countries but from certain search terms...............

Do you think this is fair? Is it blocking the freedom of the net and having American Companies controlling what people in other countries are able to search for?

[TomAiello 26]

Hey, as an Amuhrican, it's my god given right to rule over all you dang furriners from other nations.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[kelpdiver 2]

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Do you think this is fair? Is it blocking the freedom of the net and having American Companies controlling what people in other countries are able to search for?

Is it any different than MS complying with EU requirements to ship a slightly modified windows? If search engines didn't comply with China, they'd be cut off entirely. None of them want to lose access to a growing market of 1 billion Chinese.

[christelsabine 1]

Do you think this is fair? Is it blocking the freedom of the net and having American Companies controlling what people in other countries are able to search for?

[JohnRich 4]

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Is it... having American Companies controlling what people in other countries are able to search for?

No. It is the Chinese government which is blocking what their citizens can see on the internet. The search software companies are just complying with the law, as required to do business there.

The Chinese will still be able to see a vast amount of things that were previously unavailable, and this is a good thing. I have no doubt they'll also find a way around the forbidden search words.

[Zenister 0]

proxy servers are your friends..

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Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.