Just weeks after news that Google "respects" the Chinese government's efforts to censor free speech, the Chinese have rolled out their own search engine, meaning that Google's efforts to suck up to the communists was all for naught.
The Accoona name, according to the Web site, "is derived from the Swahili phrase, Hakuna Matata, which means 'don’t worry be happy.'” In other words, the communist government has used a name popularized by a Disney character who, in the movie, went around saying, "Don't worry, be happy." Which kind of sounds, to me, like instructions to the Chinese people.
"Don't worry that we are cataloguing everything you look at. Don't worry that we are building a dossier of every single search you have ever made. Don't worry that we will throw you in jail and beat you for typing the word "freedom" in your browser. Don't worry that we can make you disappear if we feel the need. Just be happy."
Even stranger, the Chinese have hired Bill Clinton as a spokesperson. So now we have ex-presidents flogging communist-controlled search engines? What's next? U.S. Senators promoting Viagra?
I'll pass on this search engine. Hard as it is to imagine, this outfit will probably make Google look like good guys.