Comments on: China vs. Germany: Comparing Google’s Censorship Practices

By: Privacy Digest: Privacy News (Civil Rights, Encryption, Free Speech, Cryptography)

Sat, 13 May 2006 23:34:59 +0000

Is Google.cn Still Evil if No One Uses It?…

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By: Michael Zimmer

Michael Zimmer — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 01:54:01 +0000

>Mr Schmidt has graced us with a form of that argument so perfect one would
>think it fiction if we didn’t know it was in fact real – “Because we have censored
>Nazi sites (in Germany) (there is no moral difference in), we then censor human
>rights sites in China”

Agreed – it is uncanny that he (or his PR folks) don’t see the fallacy in this logic.

By: Seth Finkelstein

Seth Finkelstein — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 18:57:06 +0000

Good find.

You might enjoy a comment I posted to the thread in response:

As a long-time free-speech activist, I’d like to point out I’ve seldom seen such a pure example of the slippery-slope argument being demonstrated.

Usually, slippery-slope arguments run “If we start censoring Nazi sites, then we’ll end up censoring human-rights sites”. And someone is sure to say “No, we can make a distinction, it won’t happen” (sometimes in an aggressive way – “if you can’t tell the difference, you are morally obtuse”)

Mr Schmidt has graced us with a form of that argument so perfect one would think it fiction if we didn’t know it was in fact real – “Because we have censored Nazi sites (in Germany) (there is no moral difference in), we then censor human rights sites in China”