With a hearing set for the world's leading internet service companies on the censorship offered by the recently launched Google.cn, a human rights watchdog is calling the search engine to rethink its decision.

|TOP|After Google Inc. offered a censored Chinese-based version of its search engine, opposition arose among human rights groups for the infringement on political and religious freedom. Human Rights in China (HRIC), a New York-based non-profit organisation, is now telling the Google company it's "not too late for corporate leadership."

HRIC conducted a comparison of four Google sites – Google.cn, Google.com.tw, and Google.com in English and in Chinese - to illustrate how certain search queries were filtered out using Google.cn. When searching for such phrases as "human rights in China," "Chinese Communist Party" or "death penalty," many websites were not found using Google.cn compared to the other search engines.

"Google joins a host of other leading technology companies, including Microsoft and Yahoo!, who have bowed to Chinese government demands in attempts to gain ground among the growing Chinese online population," HRIC lamented in a statement released last Thursday.

HRIC compared Google's newest search engine to the widely criticised actions of Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. While Yahoo had handed over information that led to the jailing of a Chinese journalist, Microsoft censored the blog of another Chinese journalist.

"Rather than exercising corporate leadership, these companies and others have instead engaged in 'a race to the bottom,' making concessions that curtail freedom of expression and access to information in China," the HRIC statement continued.

|AD|The censored search engine has also become a concern in its infringement on religious freedom. Many believers in China may be prevented from obtaining religious materials.

China Aid Association Chairman Bob Fu said Chinese Christians were among the internet savvy with many of the 100 million internet users in China being Christian.

"Christians are forming internet chatting rooms to discuss the gospel, their church. It's been increasingly influential to the ministry of the gospel in China," he said.

Fu also claimed that the Chinese search engine filters out religious words including "God" and "Christ."

A hearing with the US Congressional Human Rights Caucus is currently scheduled for Feb. 15 to investigate Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft for their collaboration with China to censor the internet.






Audrey Barrick
Christian Today Correspondent