Google CEO Tells Lawmakers That It Has No Plans to Launch Chinese Search Engine

cageymaru

cageymaru

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Google CEO Sundar Pichai has told a U.S. congressional panel Tuesday that it has no plans to relaunch its search engine in China. "But he added that internally Google has 'developed and looked at what search could look like. We've had the project underway for a while. At one point, we've had over 100 people working on it is my understanding.'" Google employees have been vocal in their disapproval of project Dragonfly, the internal name for the censored Chinese search engine.

"Right now, there are no plans to launch search in China," Pichai told the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee. Pichai said there are no current discussions with the Chinese government. He vowed that he would be "fully transparent" with policymakers if the company brings search products to China.
 
Google did walk away from the US government contract about developing AI for the military. So, they do at least have some line that they are opting to not cross.

Of course, Microsoft has no such line and promptly took up that military AI contract.
 
They have no plans to release one themselves, but if the Chinese just so happened to acquire the search engine Google is working on... Well, that wouldn't be *Google's* fault.
 
Delicieuxz said:
Google did walk away from the US government contract about developing AI for the military. So, they do at least have some line that they are opting to not cross.

Of course, Microsoft has no such line and promptly took up that military AI contract.
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I can't condemn a company for taking a federal contract like that. Look, if I were offered a lucrative deal on a matter like this, I'd cross the picket line. Call me a rat bastard scab all you like.
 
They have no intentions until they have intentions. Kinda like corporate layoffs. I posit that what is said in a public forum can be used for purposes of mitigation/misdirection. The opposite can be true. How easily are you deceived?
 
Delicieuxz said:
Google did walk away from the US government contract about developing AI for the military. So, they do at least have some line that they are opting to not cross.

Of course, Microsoft has no such line and promptly took up that military AI contract.
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They also have a very popular search engine in China, as well as some very lucrative contracts with the Chinese government for everything from sign language translators, to facial recognition, to desktop OS's.
 
Here is the real issues.
Google, FB, and other internet tech giants have IMMUNITY from litigation and government inference. This misguided legislation was part of NAFTA. This is why they repeatedly lie and thumb their nose to congress.
 
Delicieuxz said:
Google did walk away from the US government contract about developing AI for the military. So, they do at least have some line that they are opting to not cross.

Of course, Microsoft has no such line and promptly took up that military AI contract.
Click to expand...
The military is going to develop AI tech no matter what. Would you rather Microsoft did it or a defence contractor?

Also, anyone wants to take a free coffee bet that a year from now a brand new search engine gets released in China that looks a heck of a lot like google?
 
Delicieuxz said:
Google did walk away from the US government contract about developing AI for the military. So, they do at least have some line that they are opting to not cross.
Click to expand...

Well left-wing idealists have a bizarre moral issue with the West, but for some reason they often have no issue with oppressive Communist regimes. Why? Who knows, but for Google to even claim they have a moral issue working with the US military while working with the Chinese government to promote censorship is nothing short of laughable.
 
I noticed just today someone in a group chat mentioned they could sometimes access Google without a VPN and they don't know why (with screenshots).
 
blkt said:
I noticed just today someone in a group chat mentioned they could sometimes access Google without a VPN and they don't know why (with screenshots).
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I assume you mean in China?
Yeah, it happens sometimes. YouTube, Facebook, Gmail, etc.....occassionally become usable in China but it's always short-lived. My guess is that once in a while folks change things up on one end or the other and some things get through that are usually blocked. A glitch in the matrix.
To me, the more interesting thing is that many Chinese sites will not load while a VPN connection is established outside of China. I really wasn't aware they were also hiding so many Chinese sites from the rest of the world.

EDIT: Just turned off my VPN and Google is blocked.
 
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Laowai said:
To me, the more interesting thing is that many Chinese sites will not load while a VPN connection is established outside of China. I really wasn't aware they were also hiding so many Chinese sites from the rest of the world.
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Any particular content that is being blocked?
 
Ultima99 said:
Any particular content that is being blocked?
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Many commerce sites oddly enough. Taobao (Chinese Ebay) opens but any search goes nowhere. JD.com won't load, Alibaba opens and searches but the searches bring up wildly different items and pricing in the Chinese version vs the English one, Amazon.cn won't open but other versions will. Those are off the top of my head.
General rule is if I want Chinese sites I turn off my VPN. For anything else it's on.
 
Master_shake_ said:
we have no intention of launching one.

but we made one anyway "for fun"

uh huh.
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they have no plans to launch it. They plan to develop it and hand it over to some Chinese company and let them launch it.

Google continues to be big brother without having its name in The press. Mission accomplished
 
RogueTadhg said:
I don't see the problem with them extending their Google arm into China.
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China has long since gotten away with freedom of speech. Their search engines and firewalls ban certain search terms. So you aren't able to search for any information that's pro-capitalist, pro-Buddhist temple demolishment, pro-Buddist in general, news about China from foreign news sources (you can only hear your news about China from the Chinese government and it's always positive news!!), etc.

Imagine if your internet tomorrow had only pro-Trump stories and all the anti-Trump stories were wiped off Google searches no matter what terms you used or vice-versa only anti-Trump and no positive Trump. Plus Google Chrome no longer opens Trump.com and prevents anyone from donating to the Trump campaign, etc. Or reversely, if you couldn't open the democratic candidate's campaign and couldn't donate to it. Leading up to an election, that would be a lot of bias and power for one side. If Google makes "Dragonfly" they are making that a reality for over a Billion people or about 3x all the people in the US.

The problem is your search engine has to abide by all the rules that are designed to prevent it's people from having access to the real open free internet and you're complicit in basically censoring an entire country. For some, it is a moral gray-line they don't want to cross.
 
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