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Google China vows to address porn 'problem' (2) |
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09:41, June 23, 2009 |
Many Web users said the incident not only hurt CCTV's credibility, but also makes the reports about Google look more like organized attacks rather than objective reporting. The only other people interviewed by CCTV were three teachers who shared the same opinion as Gao.
A blogger on Sohu.com, named Chezou, questioned the lack of balanced reporting, saying, "Where is Google China?" in the story.
The program was also accused of asking leading questions to an interviewee to solicit comments against Google China.
"Focus is famous for its in-depth reporting," Chezhou wrote. "But its June 18 program was nothing but biased reporting."
About half of the 3,600 Internet users polled by huanqiu.com, the Global Times' website, claimed that they believed Google China had a role, to some degree, in facilitating the spread of online pornography, while 37 percent ruled out the charge. Meanwhile, 52 percent of respondents said Google China deserves to be punished, though 40 percent held the opposite view.
Gauging Google's duty
"I don't think it is Google China's responsibility for what people want to search for," Linus Lee, a British expat in Beijing, told the Global Times. "As a private company whose main product is a search engine, Google's objective is to help people find what they are looking for as quickly as possible, not deciding what is and isn't an appropriate search."
But a search-engine specialist and IT engineer surnamed Zhang told the Global Times that it isn't unreasonable for authorities to task Google with helping prevent the spread of pornographic contents, adding that search engines help spread unhealthy information.
"Search engines, as means to spread information, give the same weight to porn or non-porn content on the basis of information sharing," Zhang said. "Ultimately, it is a matter of how overseas companies adapt themselves to Chinese law."
Zhang said it is easier, in terms of cost and technology, for the government to regulate domestic search engines rather than crack down on porn servers abroad.
Various takes on China's huge online population, estimated at 300 million, have filled the country's popular news portals and online forums.
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