Tech Quisling

Google must not capitulate to China's censorship demands
Amnesty International

Yesterday Google staff published an open letter in support of Amnesty International’s campaign for Google to #Drop Dragonfly.
Part of the letter reads: “Many of us accepted employment at Google with the company’s values in mind, including its previous position on Chinese censorship and surveillance, and an understanding that Google was a company willing to place its values above its profits. After a year of disappointments including Dragonfly and Google’s support for abusers, we no longer believe this is the case. This is why we’re taking a stand.”
The letter will continue to be updated with new signatures.

Google must not capitulate to China's censorship demands
Google’s plans to launch a censored search app in China could irreparably damage internet users’ trust in the tech company, Amnesty International said today, warning that going ahead with the app would set a dangerous precedent for tech companies enabling rights abuses by governments.

.

Google should be fighting for an internet where information is freely accessible to everyone, not backing the Chinese government’s dystopian alternative 

Joe Westby, Researcher on Technology and Human Rights

SHARE THIS

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Email

The organization has launched a global petition calling on Google CEO Sundar Pichai to drop the app, which is codenamed Project Dragonfly and would blacklist search terms like “human rights” and “Tiananmen Crackdown”.
Following a public outcry from Google’s own workforce, Amnesty International is reaching out to the company’s staff through protests outside Google offices and targeted messages on LinkedIn calling on them to sign the petition.
A spoof promotional video offering Google staff the chance to participate in Project Dragonfly ends with a twist on Google’s motto: “Don’t be evil – unless it’s profitable”.
“This is a watershed moment for Google. As the world’s number one search engine, it should be fighting for an internet where information is freely accessible to everyone, not backing the Chinese government’s dystopian alternative,” said Joe Westby, Amnesty International’s Researcher on Technology and Human Rights.

“Many of Google’s own staff have spoken out against these plans, unwilling to play a role in the Chinese government’s manipulation of information and persecution of dissidents. 
Their courageous and principled stance puts Google’s leadership to shame. 
Today we are standing with Google staff and asking them to join us in calling on Sundar Pichai to drop Project Dragonfly and reaffirm Google’s commitment to human rights.”

State repression
The Chinese government runs the world’s most repressive internet censorship and surveillance regime. 
In 2010 Google publicly exited the search market in China, citing restrictions to freedom of expression online.
Since then, the Chinese government has intensified its crackdown and it is unclear how Google would safeguard human rights in this environment.
Leaked internal documents obtained by The Intercept show that the prototype app that Google built under Project Dragonfly would comply with China’s censorship rules by automatically identifying and filtering websites blocked in China and “blacklisting sensitive queries”. 
According to The Intercept, the blacklist that Google itself developed for the project includes the terms “student protest” and “Nobel Prize” in Chinese, as well as phrases that imply criticism of Chinese dictator Xi Jinping.
Google would cooperate with Chinese censors in cracking down on posts related to developing social issues, such as the Chinese government’s response to the growing #MeToo movement and the Chinese government’s internment of ethnic minorities.
The prototype app would also make it easier for authorities to track individual users’ searches, which means that Google would be helping the Chinese government to arrest or imprison people.
Chinese laws and regulations force tech companies to cooperate fully with inspections by public security officials.
Launching Project Dragonfly would also legitimize China’s vision of the internet, which gives governments absolute control over what information is available to the population and the power to freely access all online data about their citizens. 
A recent report by Freedom House found that China is actively exporting its model of internet control around the world by conducting large-scale trainings for foreign officials, providing technology to other governments and forcing international companies to follow its rules even outside China.

Sundar Pichai must do the right thing and drop Project Dragonfly for good. 

Joe Westby

SHARE THIS

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Email

In response to criticism over Project Dragonfly, Google has said it is committed to respecting the fundamental rights of its users.
However, the company has failed to explain how it would square this commitment with a project that appears to accept censorship and surveillance. 
The company’s leadership has also tried to shrug off criticism by saying it has simply been exploring the possibility of re-entering the Chinese search market and that it does not know whether it “would or could” launch such a product.
However leaked comments by a senior Google manager suggest that before the project was made public, the company had been working to have Project Dragonfly ready to launch as soon as possible.
“Google needs to stop equivocating and make a decision.
Will it defend a free and open internet for people globally?
Or will it help create a world where some people in some countries are shut out from the benefits of the internet and routinely have their rights undermined online?” said Joe Westby.
“If Google is happy to capitulate to the Chinese government’s draconian rules on censorship, what’s to stop it cooperating with other repressive governments who control the flow of information and keep tabs on their citizens? 
As a market leader, Google knows its actions will set a precedent for other tech companies.
Sundar Pichai must do the right thing and drop Project Dragonfly for good.”

American Tech Quisling

Ex-Google Employee Urges Lawmakers to Take On Company

By Kate Conger

Google’s chief privacy officer is set to testify on Wednesday before a congressional committee about the company’s approach to data protection.

SAN FRANCISCO — Google is facing increased scrutiny by lawmakers in Washington over its size and influence. 

Now, a research scientist who recently resigned from the company in protest is urging them on.
In a harshly worded letter sent this week, the former employee, Jack Poulson, criticized Google’s handling of a project to build a version of its search engine that would be acceptable to the government of China. 

He said the project was a “catastrophic failure of the internal privacy review process.”
He said lawmakers should increase transparency and oversight of the company and technology industry, saying that there is a “broad pattern of unaccountable decision making.”
Dr. Poulson left the company after news articles revealed the existence of the project last month. 

It was first reported on by the Intercept news site.
Google’s chief privacy officer, Keith Enright, testified on Wednesday before a congressional committee about the company’s approach to data protection. 

Executives from Apple, AT&T, Amazon, Twitter and Charter Communications also appeared at the hearing.
Dr. Poulson said the Chinese project, called Dragonfly, had several “disturbing components.” 

A prototype would allow a partner company in China to view a person’s search history based on his or her phone number. 

He said the project also censored an extensive list of subjects that included information about air quality and Chinese dictator Xi Jinping.
He also pointed lawmakers to commitments Google made as part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission in 2011. 

Google, among other requirements, must submit to regular privacy audits and follow a comprehensive privacy program under the settlement. 

The privacy program includes reviews of all Google products for privacy issues before they are released.

Google’s privacy reviewers are assigned to analyze Google code and make sure it does not violate user privacy. 

But after Dragonfly became public, several reviewers said they had signed off on sections of code for Dragonfly without fully understanding the project or its privacy implications, according to two people familiar with the process. 

The reviewers felt that pertinent information about Dragonfly’s code had been withheld from them, and raised questions about the review process that went unanswered.
In his testimony on Wednesday, Enright said Google was not close to releasing a search product in China.
“If we were, in fact, to finalize a plan to launch a search product in China, my team would be actively engaged,” he said. 

“Our privacy and security controls would be followed, and any such project or product would follow and be consistent with our values in privacy and data protection.”
Google on Monday released a framework for privacy legislation that describes to lawmakers how the company views its role in data protection.
“Innovative uses of data shouldn’t be presumptively unlawful just because they are unprecedented, but organizations must account for and mitigate potential harms,” the framework says. 

“This includes taking particular care with sensitive information that can pose a significant risk. To enable organizations to develop effective mitigations, regulators should be clear about what constitutes a harm.”
In a blog post, Enright said the company supported comprehensive regulation on privacy. 

Google has also recently increased its privacy efforts, forming a team dedicated to privacy and data protection.
Google left China in 2010, denouncing government censorship. 

That year the company also said it had discovered that Chinese hackers had attacked the company’s corporate infrastructure.
“It should be pretty obvious that they should be asked what changed between 2010 and today,” said Cynthia Wong, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.