Google Defended @Cyxymu and Freedom of Speech

Less than 2 weeks ago, the DDoS attacks caused major sites, namely Twitter, Livejournal and Facebook to experience downtime.

The motive behind the DDoS attacks is no other than to shut the mouth of a Georgian blogger, Cyxymu whose blog includes content such as how Russia was preparing military aggression against Georgia and how they were training soldiers.

Google leading by example, spearheaded the DDoS crackdown, much relief to Twitter and its addicts. Just hours ago, Rick Klau, Product Manager of Blogger promoted Google as an advocate of Freedom of Speech with a blog post titled,

“Giving a Voice to Digital Refugees”

“As censorship techniques and online attacks become more pervasive, it’s clear that fundamental Internet freedoms are at stake. In the case of CYXYMU, entire services were knocked offline in order for one user to be silenced. This goes to show how far suppressive groups will go in order to impede on free speech.

Google collaborated with the other targeted services — LiveJournal, Twitter and Facebook — to help identify the origins of the attacks and minimize their impact. While Blogger was able to withstand the attack this time around, we hope that governments and companies will recognize the threats to free expression that exist today and will work together to ensure that the Internet continues to provide many safe havens for dissidents.”

Thoughts

We definitely appreciate the work of Google for reviving these brilliant sites but to protect freedom of speech?

Forgive me but it sounds like there is some corporate social responsibility marketing going on here.

Even so, it’s only natural for Google to do that. In fact, it is a great public relations technique that businesses should adopt. If it makes your business look good, great for you and putting any of our criticisms aside, what really matters is how much the community and society benefit from it.

Thumbs up for Google!