I stumbled upon some old tests that were run by a couple of guys over at the Harvard Cyber Law School that are quite interesting. This analysis is from way back in 2002, but it is still of some relevance today considering Googles agreement to censor sensitive search results to gain market share within China.

The analysis found that “China does indeed block a range of web content beyond that which is sexually explicit. For example, we found blocking of thousands of sites offering information about news, health, education, and entertainment, as well as some 3,284 sites from Taiwan.”

Here is the tests FAQ and empirical analysis. The once real time filtering list is what I found most interesting. Take a look at some of the sites in the censored list.

It’s kinda interesting to see exactly what kind of sites are censored within China and so to speak, what sites Google might therefore be filtering by agreeing to their censorship. Sites like Unicef Canada & Amnesty International or even Time Magazine. There are numerous religious sites censored regarding Islam or Christianity aswell as pretty much anything from Taiwan.

Do we think Google is right to censor such sites in China?