Thoughts from the Middle of Nowhere

Study: Child Porn Isn't Illegal in Most Countries

At a press conference in Washington, D.C., the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children and other participants including Microsoft presented a study on Thursday that reveals the woeful inadequacy of child pornography laws around the world.

The ICMEC's global policy review of child pornography laws in 184 Interpol-member countries shows that more than half have no laws that specifically address child pornography and in many others the existing laws are insufficient.

"It's hard to arrest and prosecute if you don't have the legal foundation on which to build," said Ernie Allen, ICMEC president and CEO.

Wow, this took me by surprise. Way too many countries have no laws about child pornography. That's sad. What can be done? The US is one of only 5 countries that, according to this story, has laws deemed adequate to protect children.

Children are the future and need protected. Another worthy cause.

The world today is changing rapidly, and we are helping to make it better for our children's future. Ginny B. Waite

The other day I gave Google a big thumbs up or their stance on not releasing information to the government just because they wanted it. This was the right stance to take at the right time.

Now I wonder if over at Google the right hand knows what the left hand is really doing.

Google Spells Censorship in China

Online search engine leader Google has agreed to censor its results in China, adhering to the country's free-speech restrictions in return for better access in the internet's fastest growing market.

To obtain the Chinese license, Google agreed to omit web content that the country's government finds objectionable. Google will base its censorship decisions on guidance provided by Chinese government officials.

Although China has loosened some of its controls in recent years, some topics, such as Taiwan's independence and 1989's Tiananmen Square massacre, remain forbidden subjects.

Google officials characterized the censorship concessions in China as an excruciating decision for a company that adopted "don't be evil" as a motto. But management believes it's a worthwhile sacrifice.

"We firmly believe, with our culture of innovation, Google can make meaningful and positive contributions to the already impressive pace of development in China," said Andrew McLaughlin, Google's senior policy counsel.

This whole episode really brings a question up in my mind. Did Google not release search results to our government to win points with free speech advocates in advance of their announcement limiting search results in China? Sure seems like it to me. I have to give them a big thumbs down overall for everything they have down over the past couple of weeks. Trying to make themselves look good prior to this announcement is hypocritical. Bad Google, bad.

Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain. Niccolo Machiavelli