Vast Active Library and Information Science blog. From a recent library science graduate in Wellington, New Zealand. A focus on reference and current awareness tools and issues, especially free, web-based resources.

 
On BBC News, Bill Thompson defends Google's actions, noting that Yahoo! and MSN also censor search results in China, and many sites are censored in Western countries too.

Danny Sullivan at SearchEngineWatch is a lot less happy, noting that Google is actively filtering sites on its own, without waiting for the Chinese government to specify which sites it wants to be filtered. Jessamyn West at Librarian.net has similar concerns, saying that the decision "calls into question the very idea of objectivity in search engines everywhere".

CNet reports that Google China had initially filtered sites relating to alcohol, teen pregnancy, dating and homosexuality, but that these are no longer filtered. John Batelle writes that the real irony is that Google is finally becoming a content editor. He also points out that Google has removed the page in its help area that said "Google does not censor results for any search term".

| posted by Simon at 5:39 pm