Google ceases censorship, threatens China pullout (1 Viewer)

Rafy

Retired
Joined
Sep 30, 2004
Messages
10,719
Gender
Female
HSC
2005
Uni Grad
2008
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
 
Last edited:

Mcmc

New Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
Messages
11
Location
Sydney
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
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

Ecclesiastical Die-Hard
Joined
Jul 14, 2004
Messages
7,765
Gender
Male
HSC
2004
tear down this wall
 

Slidey

But pieces of what?
Joined
Jun 12, 2004
Messages
6,600
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
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

et tu
Joined
Mar 6, 2007
Messages
6,960
Location
Vespucci Beach
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2009
Uni Grad
2018
'bout time. The chinese should know how shit their government is.
 

JonathanM

Antagonist
Joined
Feb 1, 2009
Messages
1,067
Location
Israel
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
This does not absolve them of the crime of having assisted China.
 

Slidey

But pieces of what?
Joined
Jun 12, 2004
Messages
6,600
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
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

<3 Prophet 9
Joined
Jun 14, 2008
Messages
4,670
Location
Sydney
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
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.
 

BlackDragon

Active Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2005
Messages
1,534
Location
Under The Tree
Gender
Male
HSC
2006
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

candied queen
Joined
Mar 6, 2009
Messages
78
Location
Airstrip One.
Gender
Female
HSC
2010
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.
 

twistedrebel

Active Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
1,502
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
Numerous Chinese serach engines will fill in the market share. I dont see people rioting because they can't google any more.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top