Google employees revolt over plans for a censored Chinese search engine as senior executives sign letter demanding ‘Dragonfly’ is cancelled
- Letter has received over 275 signatures, some senior managers and engineers
- They urge Google to cancel Project Dragonfly, warning of human rights abuses
- Comes as Amnesty International is protesting the project across the globe today
- Project Dragonfly would have to comply with China’s rigid censorship laws and reportedly blocks terms like human rights, democracy and peaceful protests
Google employees are again speaking out about the company’s plans to build a censored search engine in China, otherwise known as ‘Project Dragonfly.’
In the new letter, penned by more than 275 managers and engineers, they rail against Google’s Project Dragonfly for its potential to ‘enable state surveillance’ and ‘aid the powerful in oppressing the vulnerable.’
The letter urges Google to cancel Project Dragonfly and says the firm’s response to their demands has so far been unsatisfactory.
It comes as Amnesty International is hosting protests across the globe today calling for Google to end the controversial project.
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In a new letter, managers and engineers rail against Google’s Project Dragonfly for its potential to ‘enable state surveillance’ and ‘aid the powerful in oppressing the vulnerable’
WHAT IS GOOGLE’S DRAGONFLY PROJECT?
Recent reports have suggested Google plans to build a censored version of its search engine in China, as part of a project called ‘Dragonfly.’
The app would have to comply with China’s rigid censorship laws, which would mean restricting access to content that government officials consider unfavorable.
Search terms about human rights, democracy, religion and peaceful protests will be blocked from the app.
Linking searches with a user’s phone number would allow officials to easily track activity on the platform, potentially allowing them to target political activists, journalists and dissenters.
The letter warns that if Google moves forward with Project Dragonfly, it has the potential to set a dangerous precedent, enabling other oppressive governments to request similar technology to spy on their citizens.
When the letter was first released Tuesday morning, it had only nine signatures.
But by midday, the letter had racked up more than 275 signatures by Google employees – many of which are senior engineers and managers.
‘Our company’s decision comes as the Chinese government is openly expanding its surveillance powers and tools of population control,’ it explains.
‘Many of these rely on advanced technologies, and coming online activity, personal records, and mass monitoring to track and profile citizens.
‘…Providing the Chinese government with ready access to user data, as required by Chinese law, would make Google complicit in oppression and human rights abuses,’ the letter continues.
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It goes on to say how Project Dragonfly would likely be used by the Chinese government to ‘silence marginalized people and favor information that promotes government interests.’
Amnesty International have launched a petition to stop Google censoring their search engine in China. Activists hold a giant dragonfly-shaped balloon with a banner reading ‘Google, do not censor in China, no to the Dragonfly project’ during a protest outside the firm’s Madrid HQ
Google has said little about its plans for Project Dragonfly, aside from an Aug. 31 letter to six senators made public in October.
In it, Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said the company was ‘thoughtfully considering a variety of options for how to offer services in China in a way that is consistent with our mission.’
The firm said it was ‘unclear’ if it would move forward with a search engine in China, and that it was ‘not in a position to be able to answer detailed questions.’
Senator Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said on Friday he was ‘really disappointed with Google’s response,’ through the letter, to questions from senators about the company’s plans in China.
In the letter published Tuesday, Google employees said Project Dragonfly contradicted with what they believed were the firm’s original values.
Google has said little about its plans for Project Dragonfly, aside from an Aug. 31 letter to six senators made public in October. In it, Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said the company was ‘thoughtfully considering a variety of options for how to offer services in China
‘Many of us accepted employment at Google with the company’s values in mind, including its previous position on Chinese censorship and surveillance, and an understanding that Google was a company willing to place its values above its profits,’ the employees wrote in the letter.
‘After a year of disappointments including Project Maven, Dragonfly, and Google’s support for abusers, we no longer believe this is the case.
‘This is why we’re taking a stand,’ they added in the letter.
The letter follows an earlier one signed by more than a thousand Google employees in August, which also protest Project Dragonfly.
The Amnesty International protests are slated to take place outside Googles HQ’s in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia,Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, The Netherlands and Spain.
Amnesty have launched a petition to stop works on the ‘dystopian’ platform which are said to launch in China between January and April 2019.
The human rights group say that the move would ‘set a dangerous precedent for tech companies enabling rights abuses by governments.’
Google is currently wrangling with what is arguably the toughest period in the company’s 20-year history. Thousands of high-paid engineers and other Google staff walked out of their offices in protest last week over over the company’s male-dominated culture (file photo)
CHINESE INTERNET CRACKDOWN
While China is home to the world’s largest number of internet users, a 2015 report by US think tank Freedom House found that the country had the most restrictive online use policies of 65 nations it studied, ranking below Iran and Syria.
But China has maintained that its various forms of web censorship are necessary for protecting its national security.
It has cracked down on VPNs after the passing of a controversial cybersecurity bill last November that tightened restrictions on online freedom of speech and imposed new rules on service providers.
Since the regulation took effect this June, authorities have closed dozens of celebrity gossip blogs and issued new rules around online video content to eliminate programmes deemed offensive.
The search engine would have to comply with China’s rigid censorship laws.
It would reportedly link users’ activity to their personal phone number, while search terms about human rights, democracy, religion and peaceful protests will be blocked from the app.
Dragonfly is also designed to replace weather and air pollution data with information provided by an unnamed source in Beijing, the Intercept reported.
The search engine has already been ‘essentially hardcoded to force [Chinese-provided] data,’ the Intercept added.
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