Google vows to fight porn in China after govt rebuke

Posted: 20 June 2009 1512 hrs

Chinese youths play online games at a Internet cafe in Beijing

BEIJING: Internet giant Google promised to work harder to eliminate pornography from its Chinese Web pages as state media reported authorities had shut down some of its search services.

"Google has continually taken measures against vulgar content, particularly material that is harmful to children, on the Internet in China," a statement by the company said.

"Google is currently stepping up its efforts in this regard."

Xinhua news agency reported that the government had already "stopped some of Google China's searching businesses and asked it to clear up its lewd content."

"Google China was ordered to suspend its overseas web-page searching services and associated word-search services," Xinhua said.

The report gave no other details.

Neither Google officials nor authorities that handle Internet supervision could immediately be reached to confirm the report.

A nonprofit group devoted to "traditional American values" on Friday followed in China's footsteps, calling on Google to be more vigilant about limiting access to online porn.

The Media Research Center's Culture and Media Institute released a self-conducted study to back a demand for Google-owned YouTube to be more "family friendly."

The study indicated that YouTube searches turned up pornography, crude commentary, and videos that serve as teasers for sex websites.

"There's sexual material, including soft-core porn, all over the site," Matthew Philbin and Dan Gainor wrote in report findings.

Media Research Center founder L. Brent Bozell III and institute vice president Dan Gainor signed a letter asking Google chief executive Eric Schmidt to personally look into the group's concerns.

The letter asked Google to explain what further actions it will take to "make objectionable material inaccessible to children."

The China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Centre (CIIRC) slammed Google China on Thursday, saying the US-based portal was continuing to facilitate searches for pornographic material.

"Google China's website has not installed filters to block pornography in accordance with the laws and regulations of our nation," the centre had said in a statement.

It said the centre "strongly condemns Google China and demands that it thoroughly clean up the pornographic and vulgar content on its sites."

"CIIRC calls on concerned departments in charge of implementing the law to punish (Google China) in accordance with the law," Thursday's statement added.

China has vowed to crack down on Internet content that it deems unhealthy, which has included pornography and information critical of authorities.

Computer makers were notified by the government recently that all personal computers sold from July 1 must be shipped with anti-pornography software, a move that has led to widespread censorship fears both inside and outside China.

China has the world's largest online population at nearly 300 million web users.

Authorities have a history of blocking websites they deem politically unacceptable or offensive, a censorship system that has been dubbed the "Great Firewall of China".

Google's statement said the company "strictly abides by all rules and regulations in China and will work to eliminate vulgar content."

Google was among 19 large Internet portals that the government named in January as continuing to provide links to pornography, ordering them to clean up.

At the time, Google was singled out as having failed to take action on government complaints that its search engine results contained a "massive number of links to pornographic web sites."

Xinhua reported separately on Friday that Beijing plans to recruit an "army of tens of thousands of volunteers" to scour the Internet for porn and report back to authorities in the capital.

- AFP/yb

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

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Google drops idea of buying newspaper

Posted: 21 May 2009 0923 hrs

Google Chairman and CEO Dr. Eric Schmidt

WASHINGTON: Google considered buying a newspaper but dropped the idea, the head of the Internet search giant said in an interview with the Financial Times published on Wednesday.

Google chairman and chief executive officer Eric Schmidt said the California company had also considered using its charitable arm, Google.org, to support news businesses seeking non-profit status but was now unlikely to do so.

He told the FT that Google had looked at buying a newspaper but concluded that potential acquisition targets were too expensive or carried excessive liabilities.

The Mountain View, California-based search and advertising company, he said, was "trying to avoid crossing the line" between technology and content.

Instead, Google was working with The Washington Post and other newspapers to improve their online products and with publishers to make their websites "work better" for online advertising, Schmidt said.

He told the FT that "clever ideas" about sheltering newspapers in non-profit structures had been suggested to Google.org but "are unlikely to happen without some massive, massive set of corporate bankruptcies."

US newspapers have been grappling with a steep drop in print advertising revenue, steadily declining circulation and the migration of readers to free news online.

The FT said Schmidt would not comment on reports this month that Google had been approached about buying a 20 per cent stake in the New York Times Co. owned by hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners.

It said Schmidt played down industry calls for Google to increase the amount of revenue it shared with news organisations whose content appears on Google News, saying it would have to take money from "another pocket" to do so.

The Google CEO also said it was highly unlikely that people would pay for general news on the Web when so much was available for free.

Subscriptions and micro-payments would work for specialised content, he said, but were unlikely to do so for general news such as political reporting.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is among the media groups which have announced plans recently to begin charging readers on the Internet.

The FT said Schmidt, whose name has been mentioned as a possible candidate for governor of California, also ruled out any political ambitions.

"I can assure you I'm not going to run for politics," he said. "There is no second life after Google."

- AFP/yt

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

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