China Google War

The Official Google Blog has an update on Google's approach to the cyber attack Google exposed. The announcement made by Google on January 12, 2010 to stop censoring search results has been covered in a previous blog entry. Follow-up entries can be found here and here.

On March 22, 2010, Google stopped censoring search results in mainland China. Searches conducted through Google.cn are being redirected to Hong Kong servers which will deliver uncensored results. According to the Google blog, "the Chinese government has been crystal clear throughout our discussions that self-censorship is a non-negotiable legal requirement." Google believes they have found a legal solution but one that is precarious since China could decide to block access to Google at any time. Google has created a web site to report daily on which Google services are available in China.

Sify News reports that AP reporters have been testing different search words and findings vary widely.

Thenextweb.com describes Google's move to use Hong Kong servers as a "subversive move" which may be damaging to the company. China has reacted to Google's move by blasting it through the state-run People's Daily. The Chinese government stated that Google's

...collusion with the U.S. intelligence and security agencies is well-known…All this makes one wonder. Thinking about the United States’ big efforts in recent years to engage in Internet war, perhaps this could be an exploratory pre-dawn battle.

Meanwhile, support for Google continues to be shown through the numbers of Chinese people leaving flowers on the sign outside of Google China's headquarters.

For Chad Catacchio’s take on the situation, check out the video.



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