Project Dragonfly | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Mon, 17 Dec 2018 19:34:09 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Project Dragonfly | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Reports are suggesting that Google has cancelled its Chinese search engine https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-tech-news/damien-cox/reports-are-suggesting-that-google-has-cancelled-its-chinese-search-engine/ https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-tech-news/damien-cox/reports-are-suggesting-that-google-has-cancelled-its-chinese-search-engine/#respond Mon, 17 Dec 2018 19:34:09 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=398670 Last week, Google CEO Sundar Pichai told the House Judiciary committee that the company currently had “no plans” to launch its censored search engine in China, leaving the possibility open for the future. Now, reports are suggesting that internal conflict over Project Dragonfly has seen work on the search engine come to an end for …

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Last week, Google CEO Sundar Pichai told the House Judiciary committee that the company currently had “no plans” to launch its censored search engine in China, leaving the possibility open for the future. Now, reports are suggesting that internal conflict over Project Dragonfly has seen work on the search engine come to an end for the time being.

Two engineers who remain anonymous have revealed to The Intercept that Google has supposedly shut down Project Dragonfly, seeing its April, 2019 release date withheld indefinitely. This is due to internal conflicts that had “massive ramifications” on the company, particularly to CEO Sundar Pichai who has advocated the effort for over two years.

The report explains that Google was utilising a Chinese website called “265.com” to collect data from the people of Beijing in order to build its library of censored information. Although queries have redirected users to Baidu, Google’s primary competitor in China, it looks as though the American company has been using the website as a “honeypot for market research” via an API key.

The straw that broke the camel’s back came when the publication revealed that Google’s privacy team were being kept out of the loop, causing major friction within the company. Development was fragmented to the point that engineers were told to “use different datasets for their work,” forgoing the ordinary protocol of running collected search queries by the privacy team.

Development on Google China has since reportedly come to a halt, with members moved from Project Dragonfly onto other plans within India, Indonesia, Russia, the Middle East and Brazil. It’s unclear whether China will come back into the equation at some point down the line, or what these other projects will consist of, but things don’t seem to be running too smoothly at the Google HQ.

KitGuru Says: Google has yet to speak out about the project, but its tone at Congress ensures that there is no definitive that the company has to abide by. I’m sure the US government is thrilled at the potential of Project Dragonfly being no more, but only time will tell if these reports hold water.

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Google CEO has “no plans” to relaunch the search engine in China but doesn’t dismiss the idea https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-tech-news/damien-cox/google-ceo-has-no-plans-to-relaunch-the-search-engine-in-china-yet-remains-open-to-the-idea/ https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-tech-news/damien-cox/google-ceo-has-no-plans-to-relaunch-the-search-engine-in-china-yet-remains-open-to-the-idea/#respond Wed, 12 Dec 2018 13:22:34 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=398153 Google found itself probed by members of the House Judiciary committee yesterday, as the US government attempted to understand reported efforts to re-enter the Chinese market. CEO Sundar Pichai told the panel that the company had “no plans” at this time to relaunch its search engine after its removal in 2010, yet continuously tiptoed around …

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Google found itself probed by members of the House Judiciary committee yesterday, as the US government attempted to understand reported efforts to re-enter the Chinese market. CEO Sundar Pichai told the panel that the company had “no plans” at this time to relaunch its search engine after its removal in 2010, yet continuously tiptoed around dismissing the idea entirely.

Aside from cyber-attacks originating from China, the primary reason Google pulled out of the Chinese market was due to mounting pressure from the country’s government to censor its search results. Reports of Project Dragonfly emerged earlier this year, doubling back on this stance with a catered search engine being developed specifically for China.

“Right now there are no plans for us to launch a search product in China,” Pichai told Congress, who questioned how this wouldn’t contradict Google’s core values. “We are, in general, always looking to see how best — it’s part of our core mission and our principles — to try hard to provide users with information.

“We always have evidence, based on every country we’ve operated in, us reaching out and giving users more information has a very positive impact. And we feel that calling but right now there are no plans to launch in China. To the extent that we ever approach a position like that I will be fully transparent, including with policymakers here. And engage and consult widely,” continued Pichai.

Regardless, effort is still under way on Project Dragonfly and Pichai is reluctant to shut the door on development. When asked whether he would use his leadership to “avoid launching a tool of censorship and surveillance in China,” Pichai simply responded that he “commits to engaging.”

“One of the things which is important to us as a company, we have a stated mission of providing users with information, and so we always — we think it’s in our duty to explore possibilities. To give users access to information… I have that commitment but as I said earlier on this we’ll be very thoughtful and we will engage widely as we make progress,” explains the CEO.

Fortunately, Pichai assured the panel that it was not actively cooperating with the Chinese government on the project, as work is “currently an internal effort” conducted by Google’s “search teams,” which had at one point consisted of over 100 employees. The use of the word “currently” is reiterated, still leaving things open for collaboration in the future.

Congressman David Cicilline stated that US-based companies must “reassert American moral leadership” among the “rising authoritarianism around the world when more leaders are using surveillance, censorship and repression against their own people.” That being said, Google’s Project Dragonfly has been “underway for a while” and would add revenue from a market of a seemingly unmentioned 1.4 billion people.

KitGuru Says: Given that Google’s latest AI principles involve avoiding the creation and reinforcement of unfair bias, among others, it remains to be seen how Google can uphold its morals while still accessing the sizeable market. How do you feel about Google China's catered search engine?

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Google employees pen an open letter chastising the firm’s Chinese-specific search engine https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-tech-news/damien-cox/google-employees-pen-an-open-letter-chastising-the-firms-chinese-specific-search-engine/ https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-tech-news/damien-cox/google-employees-pen-an-open-letter-chastising-the-firms-chinese-specific-search-engine/#respond Tue, 27 Nov 2018 17:02:06 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=396285 Google’s Chinese-catered search engine might be going “very well” behind the scenes, but that doesn’t mean staff are happy with the direction of the company. Instead, various employees have recently banded together to pen an open letter, pleading with Google to drop development entirely. Project Dragonfly, as Sundar Pichai dubbed the effort, has garnered criticism …

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Google’s Chinese-catered search engine might be going “very well” behind the scenes, but that doesn’t mean staff are happy with the direction of the company. Instead, various employees have recently banded together to pen an open letter, pleading with Google to drop development entirely.

Project Dragonfly, as Sundar Pichai dubbed the effort, has garnered criticism from humanitarian groups since its announcement, with many suggesting that it infringes on various human rights. Many of Google’s workers have already voiced their aversion; however the most recent development sees 36 members signing an open letter against their employer’s “unethical” efforts.

Concern specifically surrounds China “openly expanding its surveillance powers and tools of population control”, which could see the county use the ability to blacklist and manipulate information for propaganda. Not only does Dragonfly “enable censorship”, Chinese law requires “ready access to user data” including tracking and profiling of citizens. Signees allege that this makes Google “complicit in oppression and human rights abuses.”

“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,” continues 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. We refuse to build technologies that aid the powerful in oppressing the vulnerable, wherever they may be.”

Protests continue to be held outside Google’s offices, but the firm has yet to publicly address concerns and shows no public signs of slowing down.

KitGuru Says: We should never underestimate the power of the voice, as Ubisoft recently reversed its decision to standardise an authoritarian-imposed law into the Western world after hearing concerns. For now, though, it seems like Google is pressing on into the uncharted territory with scary implications.

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