Google, we hardly knew you
Frida Ghitis The Boston Globe

THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2006


ATLANTA A few years ago, I walked into an Internet room in Tibet's capital, Lhasa. There were no Chinese soldiers in the room, and no visible government censors nearby. A sign on the wall, however, reminded Web users that even after entering the stateless world of the Web, China's all-seeing eye had not disappeared. "Do not use Internet," the warning instructed crassly, "for any political or other unintelligent purposes."

Since then, China's ruling regime has perfected the science of controlling what the Chinese can read or write on the Internet to such a degree that it has become the envy of tyrants and dictators the world over. We might have expected that from a regime that has proved it will do whatever it takes to stay in power. What we never expected was to see Google, the company whose guiding motto reads "Don't be evil," helping in the effort.

Google's decision to help China censor searches on its brand-new Chinese Web site is not only a violation of its own righteous-sounding principles and an affront to those working to bring human rights to the Chinese people. No, Google's sellout to Beijing is a threat to every person who ever used Google anywhere in the world. That means all of us.

That's no exaggeration. Google saves every search, every e-mail, every fingerprint we leave on the Web when we move through its Google search engine, or its Gmail service, or its fast-growing collection of Internet offerings. Google knows more about us than the FBI or the CIA or the NSA or any spy agency of any government. And nobody regulates it.

When a company that holds digital dossiers on millions of people decides profits are more important than principles, we are all at risk. Google will now participate actively in a censorship program whose implications, according to Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, "are profound and disturbing." The Chinese government blocks thousands of search terms - including censorship.

To be fair, Google is hardly alone in its decision to capitulate to Beijing's rulers in order to gain a Web share of... [more]

(Frida Ghitis writes about world affairs and is the author of ''The End of Revolution: A Changing World in the Age of Live Television.'' This article first appeared in The Boston Globe.)

[personal quote]

If I didn't care, I'd sound sickeningly agreeable.
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As usual

I seem to have this habit of being wrong a lot more than right- I make an assumption on something, and it turns out otherwise, frequently. Ah, but see, I only trick myself in thinking one way because I know the situation won't turn out that way but exactly the opposite, therefore I can still be right by assuming wrongly. See? Reverse psychology on one's self.

Anyway, this given principle applies to the car wash; it turned out rather okay. I hated sign holding, as I'm not an enthusiastic service-seller and more of a better service-provider, but we did earn nearly $100 in about 2 hours. The young senior members for our CAP squadron were great being around, so it helped to keep the atmosphere "cool." :P

Groove of things, part ii.

Well, with all the earlier ranting aside about college, they finally emailed me about my acceptance...the Friday before I'm supposed to register (Monday), but they haven't snail-mailed me any physical letter to present at the time of registration (sigh). Furthermore, I've decided not to start classes this term, as I want to work longer hours to save up a bit before I do start, which would be Term 4 in April. So, not too long from now- three months of saving.

What else...nothing much except that I'm frequently imagining myself moving to NZ on a working holiday because I want a long vacation...and to sort of settle down.

Currently however, I'm munching on buttered cinnamon-raisin bread as I type, and I'm supposed to get ready for an early morning car wash fundraiser. Hm, I hope that the guy who organised it has a good plan to implement because I dunno how much we'd raise those funds...

more to update later.

For all you ego-deficient people out there.

Here's one for you.

Thanks to the Kiwi for the link.

Most Special Mention

I nearly forgot about the feast day of my school's patron saint, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton- January 4. Furthermore, it took me 6 days to realise that on the same day, it was my little sister's birthday! Little Faith should have turned 9 years old today. Pray for us up There, Little Sister, and forgive your sister's failing memory; she's getting old.

Groove of things

I'm getting this urge to get back into the grove of blogging, but as it is, my life is so pedestrian. I need a creative outlet, being one of those artsy-by-moment people, but I think that I just need to face the fact that I'm not as highly creative as I've secretly, arogantly thought myself to be.

Well, naturally, this moment of writer's block must be broken by an update.

First of all, I want to remember my grandfather who passed away on 15 December in the Philippines. Mom flew back there for three weeks, but didn't have an easy time with the family and the Issues. She's back now, and hopefully she can get on with her life for awhile without having hers and ours interrupted with something else. Lolo, rest in peace.

The beginning of December marked the end of one job and the start of my life as a Senior Store Associate of the Powerzone (Electronics) department under an AAFES (Army Air Force Exchange Service) mainstore BX (Base Exchange; the military loves acronyms). It has now been one month since I've began and so far I've been working in the music/dvd section, only to fall back into the newbie stage again with reacquainting myself with a cash register in the middle of a section I have little knowledge about (heaps of cameras, computers, peripherals galore; and I want to get into a technical field, yipe). Hopefully, with time, I'll learn and hopefully they'll give me plenty of opportunities to pick up what I don't know- a lot.

Then there's college. I hate it when they don't give me the information I need until the deadline is so close by. I thought I had figured everything out and that I just needed to register, pay the fee, pick a class, and start (they don't accept early applications before the rego date for non-active duty military- it's a rather different college from most US ones that you'd hear about). Turns out that I need to mail a letter of reccommendation from my high school counselor (Latin, maths, and writing courses aren't done yet) to the registrar of this college I'm going to, but I've only mailed it about a week before the registration period begins because I was not told that it is only possible to mail (not hand in) the letter and that was not clearly indicated in the college handbook. Then, I need to wait for some new student package, but I'll have no idea what I'll expect when I go to register on the 17th of January because I don't know if and when I'll get that package "or whatever," which was also not said in the handbook. That lack of information when you've tried your best to find out what you need to know is just grating. This is just to get an education; people can convey such vague information.

Beside all that, there's not much going on. Dull, yeah. Hate to sound pessimistic, but I don't mean to. Things could get worse, and they have been, but otherwise, there isn't much I'm looking extremely forward to. College for me isn't like many of the stories you might hear, but with it being a new stage in life and me feeling like I'm getting somewhere, it's probably the only exciting thing in my life at the moment.

No more pity parties; they stink and I don't mean to start one :P Okay, so, I had to cups of coffee less-than-half full and, like, three sticks of German chocolat with cream in the middle...

Oh, btw, my classes start 23 January, and according to my schedule, provided I get the instructor I want, they're on Monday and Wednesdays for three hours for 8 weeks.

And remember, fush are frends, not fewd.