23 March 2010 ~ 1 Comment

China’s Miniskirt of Google

dino

China continues to go rogue on Google, accomplishing both the most massive redirect crime in internet history (legally) and giving the biggest entity of SEO dynamic driving all development worldwide. The doings of Google and the Chinese government on this issue has made headlines around the world and not just for domainers.

But how valuable can a Google ranking be if it elides all Chinese internet traffic? Is Google still Google? China is a big place. That is a lot of inputs missing from the matrix. Many articles extensively trace the invisible bureaucracy of China and examine the role of Chinese business practices in yet another milieu of international trade.

Both Google and China are the biggest titan players in their respective milieus and yet each is attempting to give the most profitable opportunity and most advertising revenue creating power on earth the finger. That’s not small potatoes, and China has an ambitious start in its national internet derby for world dominance. China may hope to attract international customers by closing its door to Google search results, but it’s not clear how.

How efficient can a Google result be if the operator knows one fifth of potential word traffic is missing from its mathematical result? Can Google operate in a world where a huge tranche of its results are known to be missing? How can China set up a competitor search engine brand to vend internal China internet search result oriented traffic?

What does it mean that Google is being turned off in China? Well, it could be the start of a newly mechanized internet model, perhaps the first without the premier decision maker mover and shaker in the online world involved. But will Google learn to do business missing one of the most populous nations on Earth? If you ask Chinese experts,

Cross-pollinating the whole mess is the mobile phone connection, which can drive mobile Internet traffic.The China Google model for defeat seems to stem any input to a search engine driving value from inputs. So, is Google getting brushed off the world stage in China, or is Google getting away from the constriction of Chinese business tactics while they can?

The news reports stemming from these activities both by Google and by China are confusing. is China standing up for its rights or is it crimping the style of the Internet’s leading pioneer? How can a government decide to blanket is citizens in censorship? How can public use of the sites convince Chinese regulators otherwise?

The world is watching. And clicking.

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22 March 2010 ~ 2 Comments

Good Internet, Bad People

owllogoowl

The downside of the Internet is that often the few who have no scruples don’t hesitate to exploit the online sale portal network when possible. It’s an abuse of the Internet age that sales of tropical birds, protected wildlife, and substances like coral and other natural flora and fauna are vended illegally.

According to recent reports, the Internet has emerged as one of the greatest threats to rare animal and plant species, fueling the illegal wildlife trade and rare substance market. From medical uses to ornamental display, the Intenret has made it easier to buy everything from live baby lions to wine made from tiger bones.

A body of concerned conservationists and law enforcement officers made statements to the media Sunday. But for a long time the domaining community has known that rogue vendors and scammers are a  law unto themselves. Even hosting companies allow a 30-day disconnect when notified of such illegal material sales.

The Web’s impact was made clear at the meeting of the 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES. Delegates voted overwhelmingly Sunday to ban the trade of the Kaiser’s spotted newt, which the World Wildlife Fund says has been devastated by the Internet trade. Iranian newts have been sold so volubly online their number has shrunk to one fifth its natural population(200).

“The Internet is becoming the dominant factor overall in the global trade in protected species,” he said. “There will come a time when country to country trade of large shipments between big buyers and big sellers in different countries is a thing of the past.”

What happens when a country like Japan decides to cement its economy selling bluefin tuna and Mediterranean coral? The internet becomes a portal to vend goods in a manner that defeats ecologically sound practices and methods. To think that the Internet has supported tiger farms and tiger deaths because internet vending has encouraged tiger encroachment is stunning.

The IFAW has done several surveys of illegal trade on the Web and a three-month survey in 2008 found more than 7,000 species worth $3.8 million sold on auction sites, classified ads and chat rooms, mostly in the United States but also Europe, China, Russia and Australia.Many such sites, even Ebay, can let such forbidden or illegal sales through the cracks.

Most of what is traded is illegal African ivory but the group has also found exotic birds along with rare products such as tiger-bone wine and pelts from protected species like polar bears and leopards. Such sales often take place under false labels and mislabeled import statements.

A separate 2009 survey by the group Campaign Against the Cruelty to Animals targeted the Internet trade in Ecuador, finding offers to sell live capuchin monkeys, lion cubs and ocelots. Conscientious domainers should police themselves and support a community of moral and ethical trading and move toward a community of standards which voluntarily do not cross globally established cultural and natural species protection norms.

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