Google ceases censorship, threatens China pullout (1 Viewer)

[Rafy]

BBC News - Google 'may pull out of China after Gmail cyber attack'

Internet giant Google has said it may end its operations in China following a "sophisticated and targeted" cyber attack originating from the country.

The company did not accuse the Chinese government directly, but said it was no longer willing to censor its Chinese search engine - google.cn.

This could result in closing the site, and its Chinese offices, Google said.[...]

Google relaxes self-censorship in China - CNN.com

Within hours of Google's announcement that it was no longer willing to self-censor in China, Google.cn was retrieving results for sensitive topics including the 1989 crackdown at Tiananmen Square, the Dalai Lama and the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement.

Previously, a search for "Tiananmen" would only return images of the square itself. By early Wednesday, Google.cn linked to pages with information about the bloody government crackdown in 1989, though the page appears to have fluctuated between uncensored and somewhat censored throughout Wednesday.

Google said it was rolling back its self-censorship this week in a move that seems to indicate that -- despite attempts to build strong government relations and retool its own stated ethics -- the search engine has finally had enough of doing business the China way.

The tipping point came after what Google calls "sophisticated" cyber attacks originating from within China, targeting G-mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. The company says the attacks "have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China."

In an official blog post issued Wednesday, Google's chief legal officer David Drummond said the company was "...No longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn...This may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China."

Later in the day, employees in Google's Beijing office were reportedly put on paid leave. Security was unusually tight. Employees reported they were unable to access many of the internal resources usually available from Google headquarters in Mountain View, California.[...]

Official Google Blog: A new approach to China

 

[murphyad]

Good on 'em.

 

[Mcmc]

Who cares if China blocks google, anyone with two brain cells can simply use a proxy or vpn to bypass the government firewall. People in china do this with youtube all the time.

 

[Iron]

tear down this wall

 

[Slidey]

The US government has issued a formal diplomatic rebuke of China on this issue and asked it to explain itself: Statement on Google Operations in China

Basically, the fact that all this is out in the open means that both Google and the US government are extremely pissed off with China and are now playing hardball. One thing the Chinese governments absolutely hates is public shaming, and the very visible ammo this provides critics of China's gross human rights violations is almost physically tangible.

Not to mention that China occupies 30% of the Chinese search market. 1/3 Chinese net users are gonna know that something is very wrong when Google is taken offline. Maybe they're willing to put up with the little things like filtered porn results, no Tiananman Square Massacre pictures, etc, but when their entire search engine is blocked they're going to start asking "why?"

Google has also moved Gmail to HTTPS permanently to prevent things like the MITM attacks which the Chinese government launched to try and compromise the accounts of some Chinese human rights activists so that it could arrest (and probably execute) them.

 

[kaz1]

'bout time. The chinese should know how shit their government is.

 

[JonathanM]

This does not absolve them of the crime of having assisted China.

 

[Slidey]

This does not absolve them of the crime of having assisted China.

Part of it was that back in 2006, Google entered the market thinking it would be able to provide a less censored search experience then the Chinese native engines (i.e. "If we enter the market, there will be LESS censorship - less of two evils"). The Chinese government nuked that idea though, and increased censorship even (porn is now illegal in China).

For example, this doesnt happen in Google.cn's searches, but if you ever use one of the Chinese search engines (which of course are all government owned), try this:

Step #1: Visit http://www.baidu.com
Step #2: Search for Google or blogspot.com. Note that both work.
Step #3: Now search for google.blogspot.com.
Step #4: Enjoy your Baidu lockout. You should be able to search again in 5-10 minutes, I haven't timed the duration exactly.

 

[annabackwards]

I'm glad google are finally standing up to the Chinese Gov!

Part of it was that back in 2006, Google entered the market thinking it would be able to provide a less censored search experience then the Chinese native engines (i.e. "If we enter the market, there will be LESS censorship - less of two evils"). The Chinese government nuked that idea though, and increased censorship even (porn is now illegal in China).

For example, this doesnt happen in Google.cn's searches, but if you ever use one of the Chinese search engines (which of course are all government owned), try this:

Step #1: Visit ٶһ£֪
Step #2: Search for Google or blogspot.com. Note that both work.
Step #3: Now search for google.blogspot.com.
Step #4: Enjoy your Baidu lockout. You should be able to search again in 5-10 minutes, I haven't timed the duration exactly.

That is very interesting.

 

[Absolutezero]

That is very interesting.

I couldn't get it to work. Page would not be displayed, but there was no lockout.

 

[BlackDragon]

I couldn't get it to work. Page would not be displayed, but there was no lockout.

That is the lockout I think. Happened to me after I searched for the google blog.

 

[Planck]

Good on google for showing some chutzpah

 

[loquasagacious]

This does not absolve them of the crime of having assisted China.

A step in the right direction is still a step in the right direction.

 

[BlackDragon]

This whole thing is kind of scary. I couldn't image living in a totalitarian state. And what's worse is that our internet is about to be filtered.

 

[Luxxey]

I was in China a few weeks ago. The amount of censorship is ridiculous. Social networking sites such as Twitter and, recently, Facebook have become inaccessible. There were some riots in Xinjiang some months ago, and the government discovered individuals had joined groups on Facebook to co-ordinate protests, discuss issues, etc.

I didn't know this when I arrived, and when I searched for it on Google, some of the news pages were blocked. When searching for images, most of them don't load, even with safe search on.

The filtering of porn is also ridiculous. All the major virus-free sites are censored, leaving behind the malware-riddled ones that any fool without a VPN will turn to out of frustration.

Good on you Google. It's about time.

 

[CecilyMare]

Why would we want to interact with foreign Chinese people on the net anyway.

 

[SylviaB]

Baidu probably quite happy right now

 

[twistedrebel]

Numerous Chinese serach engines will fill in the market share. I dont see people rioting because they can't google any more.

 

[annabackwards]

I couldn't get it to work. Page would not be displayed, but there was no lockout.

Yeah i think that's the lockout

 

[occer]

This whole thing is kind of scary. I couldn't image living in a totalitarian state. And what's worse is that our internet is about to be filtered.

Better damn not be.