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Editorial: Google whacked over Chinese censorship

1 February 2006

GOOGLE’S halo has lost a bit of its shine. The company that has defined itself as the champion of internet users with its slogan “Don’t be evil” was slammed last week as hypocritical and self-serving for going ahead with a Chinese version of its search engine that will censor pages unpalatable to Beijing.

The critics are especially incensed because the news comes shortly after Google refused to give the US government access to search data, claiming it would violate its users’ privacy. The decision to cooperate with one of the world’s most repressive regimes therefore smacks of double standards, they…

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