Google recognizes Palestine as ’independent nation’
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Google seems to have recognized Palestine as an independent nation. The influential technology company last night changed the description of the area from ’Palestine Territories’ to ’Palestine’ on www.google.ps, a portal that serves Palestinian people.
The notion of Palestinian state and its physical boundaries is a controversial topic. But it seems that the Google’s move to term Palestine a nation is influenced by the developments in the United Nations (UN) last year. Despite the objections from Israel and the United States, the UN last year recognized Palestine as a "non-member observer state". India had voted in favour of the proposal in the UN General Assembly.
Google, a multinational company, in the past has often punched above its weight on certain issues even though they have little to do with technology. During the revolution in Egypt in 2011, the company listed three phone numbers that could be used by protesters to make tweets through voice mails even if internet connections were down.
Google also publicly criticized China in 2010 over what it called illegal surveillance. The company shut down its Chinese search engine and said it was not possible for it to keep its services running because in China "self-censorship (was) a non-negotiable legal requirement".
While Google complies with all the local laws across the world, the company, along with other technology firms like Twitter, is also vocal about what it perceives to be the rights of its users. It publishes data on the government requests it receives for removing content from its websites.
In many cases, Google refuses to take down content if it feels the requests are not ’justified’. One such example was the controversial film "Innocence of Muslims" that was uploaded on the Youtube last year. Despite requests from several governments, including the US, the company refused to take it down. Though, it did censor the film in some countries.
Article from: indiatimes.com
