[Edu-sig] OLPC vs. CP4E

[kirby urner]

On 5/2/07, Ivan Krstić <krstic at solarsail.hcs.harvard.edu> wrote:
> kirby urner wrote:
> > We'll be wanting an opt out option vis-a-vis Google
>
> It's not an opt-in/opt-out kind of feature. Google is just the default
> backup sink; you can swap it out for an Amazon S3 sink, your favorite
> backup service sink, or no sink at all.
>
> --
> Ivan Krstić <krstic at solarsail.hcs.harvard.edu> | GPG: 0x147C722D

OK, sounds feasible.

Google is being pressured by some of its shareholders to actually
withhold service from downstream establishments practicing censorship
over search results, as a way of protecting the brand from any kind of
dumbing down.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/05/02/google-urges-censorship_1.html

Technically, such service denials would probably be as ineffective as
trying to police every counterfeit use of the Google name and logo on
a search page, but the advantage of publicly stating you're blocking
certain IP numbers (while doing so) is to protect one's own reputation
in the eyes of one's other clients and backers.

Anyway, given the above scenario (which I'm not saying will ever play
out), certain spoiled brat spawn of elite government officials, among
the first to get an XO, yet angry about the bad press their ruling
cadre is getting, might grow to hate Google and what it stands for.

No reason to make OLPC a monkey in the middle, should such antipathies
develop among some global youth.  They can simply switch over and
synch with their dictatorship's service, if that's what they prefer
(or their parents demand).

http://controlroom.blogspot.com/2006/01/memo-re-google-in-china.html

Kirby