The ever-creative, talented and snarky (our kinda) guys at TomoNews have done themselves proud with this amusing and informative animation of this week’s Google commotion – namely Hong Kong requesting increasing information about our internet activities.
With their trademark Communist Party panda tearing up power lines and projectile pooping in the face of Hong Kong protestors, the team explains all you need to know about “China’s boa constrictor strangling of Hong Kong’s internet freedom”.
According to the Google Transparency Report released this week, Hong Kong’s government and law enforcement agencies submitted 359 requests for information on 371 internet users from January to June this year. This is compared to 140 requests in 2010.
“The fact that data requests have increased significantly couldn’t have anything to do with mounting protests and dissatisfaction with Beijing’s rule, could it?” TomoNews pertinently asks.
Although the government’s official line is that the requests are “mainly related to crime prevention and detection as well as law enforcement”, only 48 percent were apparently approved by Google.
Lawmaker James To Kun-sun has suggested amending regulations to make it compulsory to obtain a court order before such a request is made.
And in a word of advice to the world’s biggest search engine, the video concludes: “The Hong Kong people have given you their trust, Google. Don’t betray it by tripping down that slippery slope.”
Picture:YouTube screengrab
