Google built a prototype of a censored search engine for China that reportedly links users’ searches to their personal phone numbers—therefore making it easier for the Chinese government to monitor its citizens’ queries. The app-based project, codenamed Dragonfly, also would remove content deemed sensitive by China’s authoritarian Communist Party regime, including information about freedom of speech, dissidents, peaceful protest and human rights, The Intercept reported. Previously unknown details about Dragonfly included a censorship blacklist allegedly compiled by Google that included terms such as “student protest” and “Nobel Prize” in Mandarin. Human rights organizations have criticized Dragonfly and seven engineers resigned in protest over the lack of accountability and transparency for the controversial project. However, Pichai has said that he wanted the world’s most-used search engine to be in China serving its 800 million Internet users.

Source: Fox News September 16, 2018 21:56 UTC