Google: From "Don't Be Evil" to Spying and Censorship Tool for the Chinese

[PastTense]

Google bosses have forced employees to delete a confidential memo circulating inside the company that revealed explosive details about a plan to launch a censored search engine in China, The Intercept has learned.

The memo, authored by a Google engineer who was asked to work on the project, disclosed that the search system, codenamed Dragonfly, would require users to log in to perform searches, track their location — and share the resulting history with a Chinese partner who would have “unilateral access” to the data. …

The Dragonfly memo reveals that a prototype of the censored search engine was being developed as an app for both Android and iOS devices, and would force users to sign in so they could use the service. The memo confirms, as The Intercept first reported last week, that users’ searches would be associated with their personal phone number. The memo adds that Chinese users’ movements would also be stored, along with the IP address of their device and links they clicked on. It accuses developers working on the project of creating “spying tools” for the Chinese government to monitor its citizens.

Google Suppresses Memo Revealing Plans to Closely Track Search Users in China

I suppose I’m just a gullible person but a decade ago I believed Google actually believed in doing good.

[Wesley_Clark]

Why does China even need google, I thought they had their own home grown search engines now.

Also google was getting bad press for working with the Chinese government to suppress dissent over a decade ago. Not much has changed.

[Tom_Tildrum]

It’s also being reported that employees discussed tweaking the search algorithm to resist Trump’s travel-visa restrictions. Management says that no changes were actually made, but it’s still damaging publicity. Tough couple of days for the company.