Online Journalism News

China searches censored

Internet companies Google and Yahoo! have been accused of bowing to the demands of censorship in their enthusiasm to break the Chinese market.

Press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) claims that Yahoo! China censors search results as directed by the Chinese government. A search for 'Free Tibet', for example, will not produce any results.

Search engine Google has previously been blocked by the Chinese Government because it refused to censor results, but has since purchased a large share in Baidu, a Chinese search site that filters out content deemed to be subversive.

RSF has written to Lorne Crane, US assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labour, and Earl Wayne, assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs, to ask that a code of conduct be introduced for US firms selling products abroad.

"The US government is supposed to be at the cutting-edge of the fight for online freedom, especially since passage of the Global Internet Freedom Act," said the group.

"Yet it places no restrictions on private-sector activity - even when firms work with some of the world's most repressive regimes."

More news from dotJournalism:
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Chinese journalist begins hunger strike
China blocks press freedom site

See also:
RSF: http://www.rsf.org
Google China: http://www.google.com/intl/zh-CN/
Baidu: http://www.baidu.cn/
Yahoo! China: http://cn.yahoo.com

Tags (click tag to find related articles; click icon for feed):
google | yahoo! | china | internet | us government | united states | search engine | m&a | search site | internet freedom act | online freedom | chinese government | press freedom group | press freedom site | reporters | find web news | baidu | google china | lorne crane | earl wayne |

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