In
the early years of the internet, when modems made sounds and pages took
ages to load, Google had a corporate slogan, which was a simple one:
‘Don’t be evil.’
The latest news to come out of Silicon Valley shows once again that they
dropped that cloak a long time ago. Just last week, Amnesty International
held an action in Google’s worldwide offices. The human rights
organization called on the tech behemoth to immediately stop the
development of a search app for the Chinese market which would make it
impossible for the 1.6 billion Chinese to search for terms like 'human
rights'.
On 28 November, Google employees published an open letter expressing their
support for the Amnesty action with the hashtag #Drop Dragonfly.
Dragonfly is the provisional name of a search app for the Chinese market
that blocks certain search terms.
“I
worked as a research scientist at Google when Dragonfly was revealed —
including to most Google employees — and resigned in protest after a
month of internally fighting for clarification,” writes Jack Poulson.
https://t.co/waD46WFVfd
— The Intercept (@theintercept)
December
1, 2018
The letter states, among other things: "We are Google employees, and we
support Amnesty International's call to Google to stop the" Dragonfly
"project. Many of us have started working at Google where we endorse the
values of the company, the earlier point of view regarding Chinese
censorship and surveillance and assuming that Google values values more
than making a profit. After a year of disappointments, including Project
Maven, Dragonfly and Google's support for abusers, we believe this is no
longer the case. That's why we speak out now. "
More than five hundred employees have now signed the letter. Amnesty
praised the courage of Google employees who expressed their concerns and
calls on Google to protect whistleblowers and others who speak out.
'Project Dragonfly' would cause irreparable damage to the confidence that
internet users have in the world's largest search engine. Moreover, it
would create a dangerous precedent in the area of tech companies that
allow governments to violate rights.
Worldwide
petition
Amnesty has launched a worldwide petition, calling the human rights
organization Google CEO Sundar Pichai not to launch the search app.
Amnesty supports Google employees who publicly criticize Project Dragonfly
by demonstrating at Google offices.
Repressive
policy
Internet censorship and surveillance are nowhere near as strict in the
world as in China. In 2010, Google withdrew from China.
Ever since then, the repressive policies of the Chinese have only become
stricter. It is not clear how Google can guarantee human rights in such an
environment.
— Amnesty International (@amnesty)
November
27, 2018
Google's search app not only blocks search terms like 'human rights', but
also makes it easier for authorities to monitor the search terms that
people enter. This means that there is a real danger that Google will help
the Chinese government to arrest or imprison people.
China
exports internet expansion
Also, with the launch of Project Dragonfly, the risk would arise that
China's approach to the web would be legitimized, with the government
having absolute control over what information citizens have at their
disposal and having insight into all their online data.
Imagine what it would be like if the US or Europe would launch a similar
internet control system.
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