Google ‘working on censored search engine’ for China

Chinese human rights groups criticise internet company for reportedly designing software that would leave out blacklisted content

Google is working on a mobile search app that would block certain search terms and allow it to reenter China after exiting eight years ago due to censorship and hacking, according to US media reports.
The California-based internet company has engineers designing search software that would leave out content blacklisted by the Chinese government, according to a New York Times report citing two unnamed people familiar with the effort.
News website The Intercept first reported the story, saying the Chinese search app was being tailored for Google-backed Android operating system for mobile devices.
The service was said to have been shown to Chinese officials. Google did not respond to a request for comment. The state-owned China Securities Daily, citing information from “relevant departments”, denied the report.
There was no guarantee the project would result in Google search returning to China.
However, the Chinese human rights community said Google acquiescing to China’s censorship would be a “dark day for internet freedom”.
“It is impossible to see how such a move is compatible with Google’s ‘Do the right thing’ motto, and we are calling on the company to change course,” said Patrick Poon, China Researcher at Amnesty International.
“For the world’s biggest search engine to adopt such extreme measures would be a gross attack on freedom of information and internet freedom. In putting profits before human rights, Google would be setting a chilling precedent and handing the Chinese government a victory.”
US internet titans have long struggled with doing business in China, home of a “Great Firewall” that blocks content as seen fit by officials.
In early 2010, Google closed up shop in mainland China after rows over censorship and hacking.
Google had cried foul over what it said were cyberattacks aimed at its source code and the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.

The Guardian