Skip to main content

Over 400 Google employees sign letter opposing censored Chinese search app

By

More than 400 Google employees have signed an open letter urging Google to cancel an in-development Chinese search app, on the grounds that it will enable censorship and human rights violations by the Chinese government. The letter was published yesterday with 11 signatories; as of this afternoon, it has 407, most of which are from software engineers. It follows an internal letter circulated earlier this year, which garnered 1,400 signatures.

The letter opposes Project Dragonfly, a China-focused version of Google search that would reportedly block certain search terms and make it easy for the government to surveil users’ searches. Google has repeatedly declined comment on Dragonfly, saying that its work is “exploratory” and that it is “not close to launching a search product in China.”

Dragonfly has drawn criticism from outside Google; among others, Vice President Mike Pence condemned it last month. It’s also garnered opposition internally, among employees who say Google executives have ignored their concerns. “Our opposition to Dragonfly is not about China: we object to technologies that aid the powerful in oppressing the vulnerable, wherever they may be,” the letter says. “Dragonfly in China would establish a dangerous precedent at a volatile political moment, one that would make it harder for Google to deny other countries similar concessions.”



from The Verge - Teches https://ift.tt/2Slo8gh
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to install Fortnite on Android

By
Epic Games launched its battle royale hit Fortnite on Android devices last week with a big catch: it was exclusive to Samsung-made phones for a few days as a way to help market the new Samsung Galaxy Note 9. Now, the exclusivity period appears to be over, and beta invite codes are going out to select users of non-Samsung phones like the Google Pixel 2 XL. If you’re itching to dive off the battle bus on mobile, you might have to hold on just a little while longer: there appears to be a waiting list, just like there was when the game launched on iOS. There’s also a bit of trickiness involving exactly how you get the app because Epic announced it would be distributing the Android version of Fortnite on its own terms . Last week, the app was distributed through Samsung’s app store, and Epic is using its own website and a Fortnite Installer program to distribute the game more widely on all compatible Android devices. (Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said this is basically to avoid paying Google...
Post a Comment
Read more

Apple’s Siri Shortcuts app now available for iOS 12

By
Apple is making Siri a lot more powerful in both iOS 12 and watchOS 5. Siri’s new Shortcuts feature is now available to download for iOS 12 users, and it allows iPhone and Apple Watch users to use Siri to step through multistep routines. Shortcuts replaces the previous Workflow app that Apple acquired last year, and is designed to allow you to create custom commands in Siri that launch apps or combine a number of actions in a similar way to IFTTT. You can do things like tell Siri you’re “watching a movie” and the digital assistant will switch your phone to do not disturb. A number of app developers are also launching their own custom Siri shortcuts with iOS 12, which will help the assistant display more information when you create a custom phrase. Citymapper is one of the first big apps with Siri shortcuts support, allowing you to create a shortcut to ask “when’s my next train” and get relevant updates and even platform information. You can download Siri Shortcuts from the App Sto...
Post a Comment
Read more