中国网民昨日在使用谷歌(Google)中国搜索引擎时，得到的搜索结果大起大落，这个迹象表明，在谷歌将中国搜索引擎搬到香港后，北京方面难以决定针对谷歌香港网站的审查级别。
上午10时左右，北京网民无论键入什么中文词目，都只能得到浏览器故障的信息。搜索"新华社"、"商务部"和"卫生部"，都只能得到空白页面。大约30分钟后，这个问题就消失了。
在线游戏公司完美世界(Perfect World)的一名员工报告称，在谷歌香港网站(google.com.hk)搜索该公司的信息，未能得到任何结果。
不过，又过了一会儿，别的网民发现了一些谷歌仍在自我审查中文搜索结果时他们想都不敢想的链接。比如用中文"外交部"进行搜索，得到首条结果是中华人民共和国外交部，而下面一条结果便是台湾的中华民国外交部。
北京方面称台湾是中国领土的一部分，而且通常拒绝承认这个自治的岛上存在着另一个政府。在中国大陆，任何对台湾的称呼均按官方标准加以处理。
中国的互联网审查往往是反复无常的。这在一定程度上是一种战略，旨在让网民和网站管理者谨慎对待自己贴到网上或允许上网的内容。一家中国门户网站的一名高管表示，实施不同级别的审查，也有可能是一种意在鼓励中国网民不访问相关网站的战略。
不同政府部门之间的意见分歧，也在影响着北京方面的反应。周二谷歌宣布其决定后不久，这种情况就变得相当明显。
一方面，官方媒体援引国务院新闻办公室一名官员的话称，谷歌"停止对搜索服务进行过滤……是完全错误的"，另一方面，当日晚些时候外交部对这一事态作了淡化处理，称这是商业公司的个别行为。
"只要（在中国网民）能否登录（谷歌网站）的问题上存在不确定性，短期内谷歌会受到负面影响，但就更长远而言，这种风险将会消退，"北京研究机构易观国际(Analysys)搜索引擎专家李智表示。
谷歌将中国用户自动转往香港不受审查的搜索服务，还给北京方面制造了一个两难局面。
理论上，中国政府可以采取报复措施，封堵位于中国内地边境以外的所有谷歌网站，甚至包括Gmail电子邮件服务。过去一年，中国封堵了不少西方网站，尤其是那些带有社交功能和用户生成内容的网站，如Facebook、Twitter和YouTube。
但中国不少观察人士相信，北京方面不愿封堵谷歌，因为这可能损害中国的形象。"我敢打赌说，西方有不少人巴不得发生这种局面，以便给他们又一个妖魔化中国的借口，"学生刘俊（音）在QQ群上表示。
分析人士表示，中国政府可能会先花一段时间监视中国用户在新网站上的搜索习惯，然后再确定更可预测的过滤审查级别。
译者/何黎
http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001031908
Internet users experienced wild swings in access to results on Google's Chinese search engine yesterday, in a sign that Beijing was struggling to decide on the level of censorship for the site after Google moved the service out of the mainland.
At around 10am, users in Beijing were confronted with browser errors for every Chinese term they entered. Searches for "Xinhua News Agency", "Ministry of Commerce", and "Ministry of Health" returned a blank screen. Some 30 minutes later the problem had disappeared.
An employee of Perfect World, the online gaming company, reported that a search for company information on google.com.hk had failed to return any results.
A little later, however, other users found links they could have never have dreamt of when Google was still self-censoring its Chinese search results. A search for "Foreign Ministry" in Chinese returned the Foreign Ministry of the People's Republic of China as top result, followed by the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of China (Taiwan).
Beijing claims the self-ruled island as part of its territory and normally refuses to recognise that a separate state exists there. All references to Taiwan are purged from the web in China.
Censorship in China is often erratic. This is partly a strategy to make internet users and website administrators wary about what content they post or allow online. An executive at a Chinese internet portal said applying varying levels of censorship could also be a strategy aimed at discouraging Chinese "netizens" from using the site.
Diverging views between government departments are also influencing Beijing's reaction. That became clear soon after Google's announcement of its decision on Tuesday.
While state media quoted an official at the State Department Information Office as saying that Google was "totally wrong to stop censoring", the Foreign Ministry later in the day played down the development and said it was an individual commercial case.
"There will be a negative impact on Google in the short term as long as there is uncertainty over access but, in the longer term, the risk is going to recede," said Li Zhi, search engine specialist at Analysys, an internet research firm.
Google's move to redirect Chinese users to an uncensored search service in Hong Kong also presents Beijing with a dilemma.
In theory, the government could retaliate by blocking all Google sites outside the mainland's borders � something that could include even g-mail. China has blocked many western internet sites over the past year, especially those with social networking components and user-generated content such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
But many observers in China believe Beijing is reluctant to block Google because it could harm China's image. "I bet many people in the west hope that will happen to give you another pretext for demonising China," said Liu Jun, a student, on his QQ instant messaging group.
Analysts said the government was likely to monitor Chinese users' search habits on the new site for a period of time before settling for more predictable blocking practices.
没有评论:
发表评论