中国昨日开始对谷歌(Google)重组后的中国搜索服务进行过滤审查，显示中国对谷歌不再配合其严格网络限制的举动作出强烈回应。此前这家美国公司遵循中国审查制度已有四年。
尽管没有完全封堵谷歌网站，但与其它海外网站受到的对待相比，中国官方似乎对谷歌搜索结果进行了更严厉的过滤审查。
谷歌在周一宣布，公司决定终止遵循中国审查制度，而将把源自中国内地的搜索请求转至香港。谷歌称，这种安排“将显著提升中国内地人民对信息的获取。”
但这一声明周二受到中国互联网用户的挑战，因为中国内地用户向香港搜索引擎提交的许多政治敏感性搜索，都只能得到空白页面。
在谷歌上搜索中国领导人的姓名，只能得到一条错误信息：“本网页无法显示”，而同样的搜索请求在中国本土和其它海外搜索引擎上均得到了结果。
“短期而言，显然吃亏的是中国网民，”中国互联网专家麦康瑞(Rebecca MacKinnon)表示。“就更长期而言，影响真的难以预料。我们找不到任何可以借鉴的先例。”
尽管中国官方显然对谷歌采取了严厉行动，但当局并没有像许多专家曾经担心的那样，全面封堵内地网民对香港搜索服务的访问。
哈佛大学伯克曼互联网与社会中心(Berkman Center for Internet & Society)研究主任罗伯•法利斯(Rob Faris)将中国进行更严格过滤的明显举动，称为“中度反应”。他补充说：“我们当中有不少人会预期他们将全面封堵谷歌。我不肯定是什么让他们有所克制。”
中国此前从未企图干涉在香港显示的谷歌搜索结果。根据香港回归中国的协议，这个前殖民地获得了50年的言论自由权利。
分析人士表示，关于北京方面会不会继续克制，不采取进一步报复措施，仍有待观察。谷歌周一宣布决定后，北京方面最初采取了低调态度，试图将此事当作一个纯粹的商业问题处理，但后来转变语气，针对美国政府发出尖锐的政治指责。
英国《金融时报》席佳琳(Kathrin Hille)北京、约瑟夫•梅恩(Joseph Menn)、理查德•沃特斯(Richard Waters)旧金山报道。
译者/和风
http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001031884
China began censoring Google's restructured Chinese search service yesterday, signalling a strong response to the US company's move to end its four-year compliance with the country's tough online restrictions.
While stopping short of blocking Google outright, Chinese authorities appeared to be filtering search results more aggressively than they do other foreign internet sites.
Announcing its decision on Monday to end compliance with local censors and instead send search queries from inside China to Hong Kong, Google said that the arrangement “will meaningfully increase access to information for people in China”.
But that statement was challenged by internet users in China on Tuesday, as many politically sensitive searches done on the Hong Kong engine from the mainland turned up blank pages.
Searches on Google for the names of Chinese leaders turned up an error message saying “the web page cannot be displayed”, while the same searches delivered results on websites inside the mainland as well as other foreign search engines.
“In the immediate term, clearly the Chinese net user loses,” said Rebecca MacKinnon, an expert on the China internet. “In the longer term, the impact is really hard to predict. We don't have any precedent to go on.”
While apparently acting aggressively against Google, however, Chinese authorities stopped short of imposing an outright block on access to the Hong Kong search service, as many experts had feared.
Rob Faris, director of research at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, called the apparent move to apply stricter filters “a medium reaction”. He added: “Many of us would expect them to block Google entirely. I'm not sure what's holding them back.”
China has not attempted to interfere with Google results displayed in Hong Kong, which was granted 50 years of free-speech rights under the deal that returned the former colony to mainland control.
Analysts said it remained to be seen whether Beijing would refrain from further retaliation. Following Google's announcement in January, Beijing also initially adopted a low-key approach and tried to treat the case as a purely commercial issue, but later switched to shrill political accusations against the US government.
没有评论:
发表评论