Journal 11, June 21

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090619/ap_on_hi_te/as_china_google

The ever-rising popularity of pornography and other offensive sites on the internet is facing resistance in certain countries. China is on the forefront of blocking these sights primarily from its youth. Announced Friday, Google Inc. has agreed to step up its efforts to block these sights from its Chinese search engine. "We have been continually working to deal with pornographic content — and material that is harmful to children — on the Web in China," a statement released by Google after accusations from the Chinese Government. With China having the largest amount of internet users worldwide, at 298+ million, Google cannot afford to not make a conscience effort to fight this problem. Currently Google controls about 30% of the search engine market and wants to expand. With the strict restrictions of the Chinese government, Google executives must agree to cooperate with their regulations. Though the Chinese government claims to only do this in regards to pornographic, gambling, and other offensive sights, many think there is more. Some continue to see these restrictions as a means for the government to block many other topics such as sensitive political information. Whether that is the case or not, I think that there effort to block the offensive sights from its youth is very good. If a country as large as China can control such things from its people, I sometimes wonder why we cannot. I do not think that a very conservative filter needs to be put in place, but when it comes to children viewing these sights a lot more effort should be put in by our government. I believe human rights are very important in today's society, but at the same time I do not see some government controlled filters risking these rights. If Google is willing to make these efforts from China why not consider doing something for there country of origin. Perhaps if Google gets this problem engineered out in the near future for China, affects will be seen here in America. If indeed China is doing this with regard for their children and youth, I applaud them for their efforts.

http://www.reuters.com/article/bigMoney/idUS301290404020090619