Google Inc faces a new controversy in China after a Web site run by the Chinese Communist Party’s main newspaper accused the US search giant of trying to keep Internet users away following its reports on a copyright dispute.
The online People’s Daily book section said the three-day disruption began last Wednesday after it reported on a Chinese group’s complaint that Google’s plan for an online library of digitized books might violate Chinese authors’ copyrights.
Google searches returned a warning that the site might contain software that could harm computers, said Pan Jian, the section’s manager.
“We got complaints from readers that they couldn’t access our channel via Google,” Pan said yesterday. “We thought it might be related to our reporting on the conflict between Google Library and Chinese authors.”
An unidentified People’s Daily official quoted on the paper’s Web site said the section was “maliciously blocked by Google.”
A Google spokeswoman, Cui Jin (崔瑾), denied the warning was prompted by the site’s reporting on the copyright dispute.
“This is absolutely incorrect,” Cui said.
She said the warning was generated by software that is “an automatic function without any human interference.”
Pan said his site’s technicians found nothing wrong. He said the Chinese search engine Baidu did not return a similar warning, but Cui said that might be because Baidu does not use the same screening software.
The software was produced by StopBadware.org, an industry group that promotes Internet security, Cui said. The group’s Web site says it is coordinated by Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society and supported by companies such as Google, PayPal, Mozilla, AOL and Trend Micro.
Google, based in Mountain View, California, has faced other complaints about its operations in China, where the government uses an extensive filtering system to try to block access to material deemed lewd or subversive.
In June, Beijing accused Google of allowing access to pornography. That followed an unexplained outage that temporarily blocked users in China from seeing Google’s US site, its China-based site google.cn and its Gmail e-mail service.
Google has struggled to expand in China, where it has less than 30 percent of the search market, versus more than 60 percent for local rival Baidu Inc. China has more than 338 million Internet users, a group bigger than the entire US population.
In the copyright dispute, the China Written Works Copyright Society called on Google last week to negotiate compensation for Chinese authors.
Google has reached a tentative agreement to compensate US authors and publishers. It applies only to the US, but Google said it is encouraging rightsholders abroad to register for the settlement.
Baidu also has faced complaints about its operations.
Last November, it was accused by a state television news program of allowing unlicensed sellers of medical products to pay for better placement in search results without informing users. Baidu launched a review of whether advertisers had required licenses and said it dropped links to some merchants.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS