Trackback from Think Happiness: Singapore Combats Blogs With Light Touch:

Singapore's regulation of the internet is a pragmatic one, and one that takes a risk-based approach. ...

No comments on this one because I read the wrong column thinking it was the essay - the one listing his credentials - and was too bored to death to continue.

Another search engine? But why?

Is he saying that a search engine with a limited number of websites (search capability) is a censored one? And so, it is wrong to describe it as uncensored?

Strange logic.

Does any search engine, for that matter, claim that it has all websites covered? Does every website submitted to a search engine get listed all the time on the list of search results?

A search engine can be censored/blocked even if it has millions more websites, and vice versa. What matters is, I can freely access what I want to read, and that the articles are uncensored. Conversely, it serves not purpose to have countless articles singing the same tune on a certain subject, especially when they hog the top spots on a list of results.

If you type "Tiananmen" into Google.CN, you get very different results from typing it into Google.COM. Is one search engine censored because of its limited search capability?

If there's a deliberate effort to restrict the search engine, then yes, it's censorship; if the limited search capability is due to the way the search engine works (including the way information is organised to make the search results more readable), then it's a purely technical/functional issue.

Speranza Nuova is simply pointing out that the name of the search engine is misleading. All it really does is limit your search to a couple of pre-selected sites instead of the whole internet. That is far from "uncensored".

Besides, it also shows that the creator(s) have a fundamental misunderstanding of how the S'pore Govt censors the internet. In Singapore's case, censorship is at the ISP level via proxy servers. So the type of search engine you use does not matter. What matters is whether you connect through one of the ISPs here.

If anything is misleading, it is the post itself. People who can't differentiate between limitations and deliberate censorship will be misled.

I don't think an engine is censored just because it is limited, unless it is proven that the search engine deliberately leaves out (undesirable) websites. An untouched engine is uncensored. Size, in this case, does not matter.

Also, just because censorship is done at one level does not mean it cannot be done on another level.

Who are the owners of this "uncensored" search engine to decide what is worthy of searching? As Speranza Nuova has pointed out, why has MrBrown's website not been included in the search? Who decides what should be "uncensored"? I thought only Bhavani & Co. were excluding Mr Brown...!!!!

"...why has MrBrown's website not been included in the search?"

Why don't you find out the answer? It'll be more convincing. Then we can debate on whether the search engine is censored or not. As of now, it seems like an assumption that if a website is not included, it means it was blocked.

Trackback from Speranza Nuova: “[Uncensored] Search” Revisited:

Any act of exclusion is an act of censorship....

"So what does this mean? More Singapore-related websites have been included, which is a step forward."

Hmm, so exclusion of wikipedia and inclusion of two Singapore websites = a step forward = less censorship???

Just because a website does not appear on the list of search results, it is a deliberate act of omission by search engine owners? That's something new.

Based on the logic in that post, all search engines will be considered censored.

Who cares? There are other more important things to analyse and fret over than the labelling of search engines.

Not happy about search engine, don't use it. There are other ways of getting information.

The way searches are done is very simple
1. The most visitors and traffic is taken in to consideration to find the sites
2. The wide range of listings can go on and on with centillion sites so it is narrowed down by the traffic and the information and the combination of codes and time the search engines can track it
3. There are many ways to control the searches made by the company or search engine provider for instance by just listing the mainstream commercial advertisements first that pay to be first
4. Everyone knows if you have money and pay for the advertisements you get what you pay for even if the site you make for the advertisement you give is not at all the same
5. Production of mass media is subjected to countless actions like porn sites separated from regular child like uncensored pages.
6. People want to search for every bit of information of course... we all are looking for the definition of the exact match to what we are looking for
7. The lives of the people who work at any search provider needs help by people who submit the most applicable truth about the subject witch people are looking for
8. The more people try to understand how hard it is to find the right website or picture is really harder then just a needle in a hay stack it's a bit of information through everything this whole universe has to offer
9. We are only at the beginning of our technological time in life so if you could wait till we make time travel then you will get the help you desurve
10. The vast quantity of information running though the super highway is enough information that if any human knew exactly everything you would not have a problem learning it all yourself or even making it

so keep on searching you'll find it someday
the best way to find what your looking for is make it yourself if you can't find it now