Official Google Blog: A new approach to China: an update

Well, it's happened. Google has stopped censoring the results of its search engine in China, meaning users can search for results involving all sorts of sensitive topics including the Dalai Lama and the Tiananmen Square massacre. Users in China will be redirected to Google's servers in Hong Kong, which deliver unfiltered results. Sporadic reports from China are that access to the Hong Kong site has already been blocked by Chinese authorities.

Official Google Blog: A new approach to China: an update

Google the Hungry Beast

Although this blog is posted on Blogspot, a Google company, and Google is generally a well-admired company, there are a lot of privacy concerns surrounding Google's ever-growing business. The video posted on Youtube (another Google company) above illustrates why there's room for concern.

What Does China Censor Online? | Information Is Beautiful

If you're outside China, this webpage will show you, in red, the words that China censors. If you're inside China, you won't see the words. You'll just see... China.


What Does China Censor Online? | Information Is Beautiful

Farewell to Google?

Several Chinese citizens laid wreaths and flowers at Google's China headquarters yesterday to mourn the company's departure from China. It may be a little premature to close the book on Google, since the company says it intends on staying unless it's unable to work out a deal with the government to ease up on censorship restrictions. Since it's unlikely the government will allow search results dealing with Tiananmen, Falung Gong, or the Dalai Lama anytime soon, Google may indeed follow through on its threat to leave. The news is being covered cautiously in China, with few outlets mentioning Google's accusation of hacking into human rights activists' email accounts.

Google May Exit China

Google says that its services in China was attacked recently, and the target was Gmail accounts owned by human rights activists. The company doesn't say it's the Chinese government, but points the corporate finger in that direction.

In the extraordinary blog posting (hit the jump below), Google says it is no longer going to censor its web results, something it agreed to do as a condition of being allowed to operate in China. The company acknowledges that it may be unable to do this without violating Chinese law, and that it is prepared to shut down its operations and close its offices if that happens.

This is big, really big. Google's corporate motto is "Don't be evil." China represents a huge market for Google, which can sell gazillions of RMB worth of sponsored ads as the market grows. There's also huge potential for Google's other services such as cell phones and mapping technology. Pulling out will surely cost the company millions of dollars in lost profits, and will permit its hungry competitors, from Yahoo to Baidu, breathing room to grow.

Will the Chinese government care? Will the Chinese people care? Don't bet on it.

Official Google Blog: A new approach to China